Hola Amigas & Amigos:
We got up this morning to see the Sun out and it appeared it was going to be a beautiful day. We both woke together and packed up a bit and then we went down for our Cafe Con Leche & Toast to dunk in it. We weren’t in the dining room for 15 minutes and we came out … we could hardly see across the street. A very heavy fog had moved in to Garabandal and, when you are in the mountains and in the clouds, it gives a whole new meaning to the word “fog”.
As Father Rolando had announced to us the evening before, Mass today was at 10:00 A.M. So we headed to the Church to, hopefully, get in our Morning Prayers together before Mass (we had slept in a little late this morning and had packed and brought some of the luggage down to the car).
We arrived at the Village Church and saw Father Rolando on the front patio, and on his cell phone. I told Susan … “he’s probably hearing a confession since he is so busy” … and then he actually did go into the Church to hear Confessions before Mass.
Again, at the beginning of Mass, Father greeting us in English at the Opening Prayer and at the Sign of Peace. He had Michael not only read the First Reading in English, but he motioned to him after he had proclaimed the Gospel … for Michael to read the Gospel in English as well! (Michael told us later he had no idea that was going to happen.)
After Mass, we went back to the Sacristy once again … this time Roberto accompanied us so that he could translate if need be. We exchanged our feelings in both English and Spanish (through Roberto) to each other before our departure … it was a bittersweet moment to bid farewell to Father Rolando … he has been very special to us since our first visit to Garabandal. We promised him that we will return in “approximately one year” and that, next time, we will remain in Garabandal for a longer stay. Father then departed for his next Mass in another village.
We stood in front of the Village Church and spoke about so many things with Roberto before leaving. He is originally from Mexico and had moved to Amsterdam. He was in Garabandal on a spiritual retreat. A very young and nice man who has a great loved of Our Blessed Mother, Jesus and our Catholic Faith.
After bidding farewell to Roberto, we headed across the street to the Garabandal Pilgrim Center, where we once again met Michael as promised.
Susan and I had brought a “tablet” with us on this trip that had The Mystical City of God book on it. The two of us decided to “gift” Michael with the tablet so that he could read The Mystical City of God at his leisure. I knew he was going to give me a hard time accepting such a gift, but when he said … “well, I will accept it as a loaned gift and will give it back to you when you return to Garabandal”. We laughingly agreed to appease him (ha-ha, Michael!). He is savvy enough to figure out the tablet, but I took a little time to teach him how to bookmark his page, etc.
We then purchased a few things from the Foundation to bring home with us. Michael gave us two relics on medals that Our Lady had kissed with the visionaries when she was here. We bid farewell to our “new friend” and we know that he will see him again.
We returned to Sari & Papa’s to finish loading the car, pay our tab and bid farewell until next time. Susan was in no hurry to leave …hoping that the fog would lift and the sun would come out.
So, reluctantly, she hopped in the car and we made our way down and up and down the mountain toward our next stop … Our Lady of Bien Apareicida and the Miraculous Cross at Limpias, Spain, which was about 10 minutes away.
We were the only two people, unfortunately, at Our Lady of Bien Apareicida. It was a beautiful Shrine where an exquisite statue of Our Lady (although very small), sits high and perched above the Altar. This is a favoritedestination for many and place of pilgrimage for many people … just not today, I suppose.
That was “okay with us” so that we could enjoy and Pray. The two of us lit a candle for your Special Intentions and sat in the Church Praying our Rosary. I realized that it was close to 3:00 P.M. … time for Divine Mercy. I really wanted to Pray our Divine Mercy Prayers at Limpias and in front of the Miraculous Cross of Christ. So, we left Bien and agreed to finish our last decade of the Rosary at Limpias as well … for today was the Decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries and we felt it appropriate.
We made it to Limpias at 3:00 P.M. on the dot and we are now “two for two”! IT WAS LOCKED AGAIN! We have been to Limpias 4 times … we have been lucky enough to have been into the Shrine only twice! Very Sad.
So the two of us sat in our car directly in front of the Shrine and finished our Rosary and Prayed Divine Mercy … keeping Christ company from outside.
We then began our treck to our next B&B in the Basque Country of Spain. Our stomachs were once again growling since it was 3:00+ in theafternoon and we had only had coffee and some bread-fast in the morning. The drive, which was mainly on the highway, went through numerous big cities in Spain and I wanted to beat rush hour and traffic.
We were two minutes away from our apartment B&B and we opted to drive 6 miles further to get to a “Supermarche” (grocery store), knowing that we had to eventually eat. We didn’t even have time for a photo op in the store because we ran through the store and grabbed anything we could find that looked appetizing (including a frozen pizza).
We arrived at our next B&B around 6:00 P.M. and “Rosa”, the owner, was waiting to greet us and happily showed us to our very small room (LOL: See Photos). This was/is “heaven” and we weren’t sure if we would ever get in the car again!
Dutifully, we managed to get out a Trip Report, had our pizza and some cheese, Chorizo, bread and a large glass of wine. We were already in our “jammies” so, shortly thereafter, we were in our bedroom. There was only oneproblem when we went to retire: There were two pillows. Unfortunately, each of them were about 5 feet long and the bed was a bit of an oversized queen bed. As we tried to figure out how to position the two of us and negotiate our pillows, it felt like there were two other bodies in our bed … I don’t know what happened because, two seconds later, I was fast asleep and I think Susan followed me shortly thereafter.
Buenos Noches