O Cebreiro, pts 1 & 2

"Bienvenidos a Galicia" was the phrase we kept saying to ourselves as we hiked up a giant mountain to get to the town of O Cebreiro. But more on that in a minute. For those of you who have been reading this blog and pay attention to writer´s voice, you may have noticed that most are in Julie´s. I wanted to note that I have not been ignoring the blog as for every update I have been sitting next to Julie helping her with my notes I´ve been writing about each day.

Yesterday had the hike to O Cebreiro, a quaint (really the only word to describe it mountain village. We would also be crossing into Spain´s most Western province, Galicia. We hiked up, up, and up on both highway and rocky switchbacks and finally made it to a small town. Because so many pilgrims stopped at this bar (at the top of the first hill to climb) we couldn´t get service. Rather, we just left. This is when Galcia´s famous weather showed up. For those of you who don´t know, Galicia is famous for having weather like Seattle. We became stuck in a giant cloud of drizzle and mist. This was not a hard, driving rain, but enough to make it damp all around and get everything wet. Upon arriving in O Cebreiro, we put our packs in the line in the albergue and waited for it to open by going to the tourist shops and eating in a bar. This town is famous for it´s local cheese (sheep cheese, I think) which is a soft, white cheese. We ordered a platter and it came with bread, strawberry marmalade, and the cheese drizzled with honey on top. It was heavenly. Julie also ordered a bowl of Gallego Soup to warm herself up.

The other cool things about this town included the church and the old homes. First, the homes: http://fotos0.mundofotos.net/2009/26_01_2009/mundo_imag1232994303/o-cebreiro-lugo-espana.jpg

These are olden time homes that no one lives in any more, but one of them has been turned into a makeshift museum where one of the locals just hangs out there to answer questions. We got to tour inside and see how suprisingly spacious it was and how cleverly it was built. Secondly, we got to see the church in town. The church is famous because apparently in the 12 century a man traveled in horrible snowy weather to reach the church. When he arrived, the priest did not belive him and wanted to turn him away. Then, the host turned into the body and blood of Christ on its own, staining the tabernacle, aka a legimitate miracle. The cup and tabernacle are on display there now. That night, however, was very exciting. We got to take place in a ceremony that was pretty cool, but that will have to wait. There is a line to use the computers now so later I will post the second half of this entry.

2nd Half: At 6pm that night, a special cross came through town and was to be placed in the church. It was the "Cross of the Youth," comissioned by Pope John Paul II in 1985 to travel the world. It has been to Europe, America, Asia, and so on. As we arrived in the church, the priest asked us all (full church) to step outside and join the processional of the cross and a portrait of Mary into the church. We followed it to the doorway, then all lit candles outside the Church to symbolize the light of God. Then, we followed the cross into the church. We then stayed for a special mass welcoming the cross. During the mass, I got to walk up and kneel before the cross and touch it. It was really cool. After the mass, we went to get a menu at a bar with roast chicken, which Spain does not have a lot of. This country runs on pork, and very little chicken. It was also delicious. Afterwards, we went back to the albergue, got our clothes, and woke up the next morning to a mountain top above the fog. Absolutely gorgeous. I´ll leave the rest up to Julie to type. What a great town O Cebreiro is.