After lunch we drove through some of the other nearby areas and saw another small town as well as an very small abandoned village which Rebekah said is now entirely used as a farm. We returned to Moratinos where we were greeted by two younger men, pilgrims, who had arrived on The Camino. Daniel, from Germany, was on his way to Santiago and had met earlier in the week with James, one of Rebekah and Paddy's friends who is also working on fixing up a residence in Moratinos. Sebastien, from Belgium, was on his way back from Santiago and happened to meet Daniel shortly after they both arrived in Moratinos. Rebekah said they were more than welcome to stay and that she'd have them help with some of the things that needed doing around the house.
We all came in and Libby and I took a short nap. Being Ash Wednesday, there was a mass being held at the church in town at 5:30pm. Rebekah, Paddy, and I attended and I met a few of the other villagers. It was interesting to see a mass in another language, as I didn't really attend for any religious purposes, but more so to see another culture's traditions. It ended by 6:00 – we called it Church Express – and we headed back to wake Libby.
After the mass we went over to meet with Rebekah and Paddy's friends, and one of the men, Celestino, invited us to visit his bodega and have some wine. So here is my description of the bodega. For anyone who is familiar with Tolkien's Hobbits, then it is most easily conceived as being a Hobbit hole. They are cave-like dwellings built into a hill with small doors and no windows. Some of them were originally used as places to press and store wine, and Celestino, who owns two bodegas, still makes wine in his. They are perfect for this process because being built under the earth, much like a cellar, they have a constant cool temperature. We tried some of Celestino's wine, which again was a Temparnillo. It was very new – which was apparent by it's taste. When it warmed up a bit in our cups though it had a very nice fragrance akin to fresh picked strawberries. I think given some more time to age it could be a very good wine. After seeing Celestino's other bodega he gifted us two bottles of wine that he was not sure of the variety or age, and then we headed back home.
We fixed a dinner of mashed potatoes, meat and onions, and roasted peppers. It was supposed to be like Sheppard's Pie, but because the electricity here is delicately balanced between several heat generating appliances we weren't able to bake it and so just mixed it up ourselves. Very good, especially with the wine Paddy opened for all of us – a professionally made Temparnillo.
To be continued tomorrow...
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