We set out just after sunrise today in order to beat the predicted afternoon thunderstorms for the Meseta.  With wind chill temperatures near freezing…we kept a brisk pace to stay ahead of the clouds and arrived in Mansilla de Las Mulas just as the rain began to fall.  From the sculpture in the square…pilgrims are usually afflicted by hot temperatures here…not the case for us today.  I like the apt advertising sign Sarah captured in the background of the photo (for construccion y rehabilitacion).

We arrived in time to attend “La Santa Misa” (the Holy Mass) at the Church of Santa Maria…an 18th century church built on the same spot as an original 12th century church of the same name.  That’s over 800 years of a congregation worshiping in the same spot (remarkable).  Last week we attended a pilgrim’s Mass in San Juan de Ortega where the readings were in English and French.  Today felt more like a local parish church…all in Spanish…about 75 parishioners…local “pastor” (same word as “shepherd” in Spanish).  Although we understood very little in Spanish, we were really grateful, as we had the readings for the day in English and we could easily follow the order of the Mass.  After the service, we took a look around the church.  The priest greeted us…and although he could not speak English…he knew we were American pilgrims and he wanted to share a pamphlet with us.  The pamphlet shared a list of all the churches on the Camino on one side…and a list of all the pharmacies on the other.  For some reason…he really stressed the pharmacies to me.  Was I limping that bad?  (Here is a photo of him…probably heading off to another small village to conduct Sunday services.)

Just a quick note about coffee.  We have really been enjoying the “cafe con leche” (espresso with hot milk) at breakfast here every morning.  Although we did not expect to see a Dunkin‘ Donuts in Spain (one can wish), we have been surprised that we have yet to pass a Starbucks to date.   Since I am good at the Google, I learned there are indeed actually 91 Starbucks in Spain.  Sounded like a decent number until I realized that is probably equal to the shops within a 1/4 mile radius of our apartment in New York.  (There are 14,000 Starbucks locations in the US.)  Lesson: Europeans are very serious about coffee.

Final note for my brother Barry (VP of Logistics/Customer Service):  Although we have yet to find a Starbucks in Spain, we have readily found Kellogg’s products widely distributed in the most remote parts of the Camino.  One should never underestimate the importance (and dare I say, drama) of well-executed supply chain solutions.