The Events of Saturday, April 16, 2011

                Jim’s day didn’t get off to the greatest start this morning. After leaving the hotel for his morning prayer walk, he moseyed through the streets of León to where he and Caitlin had parked the car. It wasn’t there. He thought perhaps he was on the wrong street, so he wandered around for a bit pushing the panic button on the keys. No luck. He struggled to pray, trusting God for the outcome. Upon returning to the hotel, he let the hotel manager know what had happened. Thankfully, this happened in Spain, and Jim’s Spanish is pretty fluent. The hotel manager immediately got on the phone, and, after a few calls, located the car. It seems it was parked in a “residents only” area and therefore was towed at 2 a.m. The hotel manager then explained to Jim how to go about retrieving the car and what it was going to cost us. Jim came upstairs and woke the rest of the family, but it wasn’t until breakfast that the whole story spilled out.

                After breakfast, Jim and Caitlin took a taxi to the garage where the car had been towed, while the rest of us took advantage of having internet access. They left a little after 9 and told us not to expect them back until sometime between 10 and 11. However, a half an hour later, Lindsey heard a familiar motor echoing off the walls in the street and opened the window to see “Destiny” backing up the narrow street to the hotel. As we drove out of León, they shared their story. The taxi driver had been pleasant and openly conversational. The man at the garage, while hard to understand, finally communicated what he needed. Jim had his CA driver’s license and passport on him for identification. However, Caitlin had accidently left the car registration and Jim’s international driver’s license back at the hotel. She has been in charge of this paperwork as we have been advised not to leave the paperwork in the car when parked. Turns out, the fact that we had the key to the car was proof enough, and soon they were on their way back to us, thankful for God’s provision and quick resolution to this problem.    

                After this bit of excitement, the drive to Mungia, Spain was fairly unremarkable. Initially, the landscape was flat. It reminded us of Nebraska. We were driving through acres of farmland, and something had definitely been planted and was just beginning to sprout, as we saw acres and acres of bright green squares. Since we had internet access, we had checked the weather and found that it was going to be in the low 60s, not the warm weather we had enjoyed in Portugal and southern Spain. However, we were all surprised at how cold and windy it was when we stopped for lunch. Luckily, these rest stops typically come with bathrooms, a gas station and a cafeteria. This cafeteria was fairly large, so we bought dessert and brought the rest of our lunch in and ate at the tables. It was nice to be in out of the wind. Climbing back in the car, we had to reprogram the car’s TomTom GPS, as it had forgotten our final destination after finding us the rest stop. It noted that our route included unpaved roads, which we wanted to avoid, given some of the narrow unpaved roads we have encountered thus far on our trip. After a few more hours of driving, we arrived at our destination’s coordinates. However, to avoid the unpaved driveway, the GPS seemed to want us to drive cross-country. Initially, we pulled into the wrong unpaved driveway, but were soon directed to the correct place.  

                Casa Rural Errota Barri was described as a hostel on its website. We have two rooms, 102 and 105. One room is a quad with two twin beds and a double sofa bed. The other has a queen-sized bed and another sofa bed. The kids were assigned the room with the four beds, and Jim and I FINALLY get own separate space and some privacy. The house is large and full of common areas to be shared by all the guests.  Kitchen privileges are fairly pricey, but we are allowed to use the microwave for free. The house is very clean, beautifully decorated, and in the quiet of the country. This is going to be an enjoyable stay. A running brook just outside our window is a wonderful sound, after all the street noise we had to endure at our hotel in León. Thankfully, there is also a washing machine and a clothes line out back to dry our clothes. Given our limited packing space, we were in desperate need. I had hand-washed our unmentionables in the bathtub in Lisbon, but that was a long, messy, and tiring process.

                Soon we were moved in and hooked up to the internet. Yeah‼ I started the laundry while the kids updated their blogs and caught up on emails. Jim and Caitlin made a brief sojourn into town to pick up some groceries, and, before we knew it, it was time for dinner. We heated up some leftover noodles, cheese and peas, and enjoyed a delicious salad. Clean-up was quick, as there is a dishwasher, and soon we were back in our lovely, well-lit large rooms, sharing the internet and reading before getting ready for bed.