Castrojeriz

So I´m on the Meseta, and it has been a vastly different experience this time, though last night I stayed in Hornillos, which is the same place I stayed last time. For one, I only walked half the distance to get there. I also walked in sun, not rain; I got to have a real bed instead of a mattress on the floor of the overflow area; and I got there in time to get something to eat. I´ve also found that although my Columbian friends have returned home and my French friend had to throw in the towel as well because of her foot and knee, it´s nice having familiar faces at each stop (something I didn´t have last time since I was walking about twice the distance of a "normal" pilgrim).
One familiar face I´ve enjoyed is a youngish (I think she said 37) German woman who speaks very good English. She and I got to talk at length yesterday while we waited for the albergue to open, so we traded stories about family trees and where our ancestors originated. I commented on the fact that an ambulance outside was a Volkswagen and told her my family´s history with the company. Apparently she worked at a factory there for three summers when she was a student, which highly increased her cool factor in my book.
While I was walking today I passed my Italian friends, who gave me one of their granola bars. The daughter´s leg is still hurt, so she had her pack driven here to Castrojeriz and was only carrying water. She asked me to pray for her again tonight, so sometime before bed I´m going to have to figure out in which hostel she´s staying.
I also got to meet in person the Alabama girl about whom I´ve heard so much gossip. Apparently she goes to Red Mountain Presbyterian and has a sister who went to Samford. She commented on the fact that I´m pretty much the only other Christian she´s met, and that she talked with her German friend for about 6 hours one day about God and explained some of Lewis´The Great Divorce to him, which made him cry. I´m hoping to talk to her some more to discern whether the gossip is true, but so far I´m inclined to think it isn´t if she´s witnessing to this guy. If it is, that will be disappointing, but she told me today she thought all day about the vision God´s given me and how great an idea it is, so we´ll see what happens.
Pray for healing for my Italian friend! God bless!