The Spirit of the Camino?

   

Well, I just had my second negative pilgrim experience in two days - are people just grouchy because of the rain?  Or is the Camino getting too crowded?   Yesterday it was the older gentleman pilgrim who hated all French pilgrims. We listened to his vitriolic mumbling until I finally escaped. Then the Albergue only had room for 4 pilgrims and there were 8 of us, so I got a hotel which unfortunately had highly perfumed sheets. My MCS kicked up some dust and I had to be inventive with covering the bed. Luckily there was a pile of older blankets I used to mask out the fragrance which was so strong my eyes and throat burned. Do people really sleep in this cloud of chemical?   Today, I was looking for the way out of the village for tomorrow's exit. I had dropped by the Albergue to see how many pilgrims were there and to ask the priest the way out, but he was not there. I asked a Dutch pilgrim and she indicated we must walk back the way we came.   That didn't seem right and so I checked at the T.I. where the nice lady drew me an excellent map. I followed the map and voila! There was the route. I took a photo of the waymark.   I went back to the Albergue to tell them I found the way and was met by a French man who informed me he had walked the Camino five times, that I was wrong, that Americans were ruining the Camino (even though he had walked five times), that there were more Americans than any other nationality on the Camino, and that we always thought we were right!   Well,shut my mouth!  :eek:   I showed him the photo of the waymark and tried to explain but he loudly talked over me and said we Americans were ruining the spirit of the Camino.   Yikes. This will be a person I share the next few nights with?   I think it may be time for me to retire. :(   Maybe I'm just old and tired but I find myself more and more just wanting to be alone.    It was otherwise a great day. Antequera is a beautiful town. :) I'll post more photos on my next blog post.   Hoping to make Villanueva Algoidas tomorrow. Annie