June 14--Art and "How Great Thou Art"

Well, we officially said goodbye to the COOLEST hotel ever! You know, this place LITERALLY had everything – clean rooms, good bathrooms, heating that worked, good breezes in the evening, common spaces where I could make phone calls in privacy AND WiFi that was SO GOOD, I mean it was just perfect! Haha, except that the “shuttle” to the hotel is just this guy named Fernando and his old minivan where the trunk is considered the seat ;) as a veteraned youngest sibling, I was happy to hop in there for the ride to breakfast. 

Before we started the Camino proper today, we stopped by Art’s studio which is literally IMMEDIATLEY off the path. It is seriously the cutest building. The upstairs is dedicated to his art – he paints there, sells his stuff there, does sellos there - while the bottom is dedicated to his actual home where he sleeps. He requested that we sing How Great Thou Art, but first he made a little speech – I wish I had recorded it because it was so sweet – while we hummed the melody. Then he saing the first verse alone before we joined in on the second with a harmonious chorus. Afterward, a lady who had come into the building a little bit before we sang told a story about literally being in a church yesterday and praying that someone would come and sing How Great Thou Art with her. It was very sweet. It was also touching to hear the background behind Art and his singing. So when he was a kid, his mom would sing in the choir at church, and she would often solo (meaning she must’ve been pretty good). Because Art was a pretty rebellious teen and religiously unsure, he never sang, and instead listened. But now in his old age, he actually really enjoys singing, and he’s got a sweet voice!

We obviously bought some art, some postcards, and left laden with new souvenirs to bring back home  Of course, being the raccoon-person I am (who loves to hold things in my hands), while I was looking for a bigger piece of art, I chose and bought six postcards. I continued to walk around the studio and at some point put down the postcards and FORGOT about them until I was about a mile down the path. Thankfully, some of the other students were willing to go back with me, and we actually had a very sweet conversation with Art about how much his sellos meant to us personally when we saw him again. Before me, he had only been doing abstract stuff, but then I gave him my book and he did a lighthouse, which being from Michigan, is SO meaningful! It was so cool – it just shows some people are spiritually sensitive, and artists can use that to create these amazing experiences.

The walk was beautiful of course, but the highlights of the day were the Cats of the Camino! Usually, the cats around here are super scraggly and not friendly cause they are basically just pest control, but these two were not only clean and NOT mangy, but they were so nice! Also, an interesting fact in this area, a lot of the stray cats have SUPER Siamese traits, like blue eyes and Siamese coloring. It’s crazy. 

We had a very nice lunch in the afternoon – literally half a rotisserie chicken, and GOOD fries for 5.5 euro. Like it was a STEAL and it was SO GOOD! After that some of the other students and I got together to play some games and we played for literally two hours, it was SO GREAT!

We ended the night by finishing the Toby McGuire Spider-Man movie that we had started the other evening, and gosh dang that is a classic superhero film. For real Toby McGuire walked so Marvel could RUN!