del Norte Day 05
Markina-Xemein → Pozueta

The Frenchman reached for my bowl first and thrice ladled into it sopa de ajo, a simple garlic- and egg-based Spanish soup. The introduction to a hearty, four-course meal prepared by a husband and wife who host wearied pilgrims at their stone home in the hills of Guernica.

We'd not even made eye contact, the Frenchman and I. Nor shared a common language. He fed me in stride while brushing strokes of French into a conversation with two men across from me in my corner of the dinner table.

Glasses were empty. I filled his with red wine out of a faux-porcelain carafe and set it back aside his plate. Australian and German accented English hummed with familiarity but at a distance beyond grasp. And so I sat in silence, warmed by both steaming soup and connection without words or blood.

31.34km, 7:40:35
43,726 steps

You're getting this email
because you signed up for
PILGRIM ROAD
by Michael Saltzman.

A pop-up newsletter running daily from:
May 4 — early June (ish) 2023.

If you enjoy this, please consider forwarding to a friend.