I can pretty much only muster up the energy to throw out some statistics…

Weather: so sunny and super hot

Distance walked: 33.3 long, hot kilometres

Road conditions: dry, dusty, long, hot

Pilgrim condition: just bearly hanging in!!!

Hahaha…

In case you didn’t get the drift though, today was an incredibly difficult day. It was long, hot and very tiring. We were continually putting on sunscreen and almost just as quickly sweating it off! We were quite literally frying in the intense Portugal sun and there was no relief from it. No shade. Just a long, dusty road through miles and miles of grapevines. Poor Kate was feeling sick to her stomach and was wilting. We ran out of water part way through the day and there was no where to buy or fill up our bottles until the very end when we reached our destination, Santarem.

When we reached Santarem, a quaint medieval town/city on a hilltop, we were surprised to run into a large Procession of people going through the streets. We didn’t know what was going on but figured it must have been some kind of Catholic occasion as the streets were beautifully decorated with pictures made with flowers and leaves. We soon discovered that it was a special procession that has been taking place each year on this date for hundreds of years to commemorate the miracle of the bleeding Eucharist. They have the special Eucharist in a monstrance and it is carried through the streets then adored back at the Church of the Holy Miracle. We were so delightfully surprised to arrive at just the right time and date to catch a bit of this history and tradition.

The girls and I were again further surprised when we were invited with a small group of others to go up behind the altar to adore the Eucharist up close. We never got the chance however to get close because we were not willing to remove our head coverings (hats). We tried to explain that we cover our heads in the presence of Our Lord but they did not understand and told us we were being disrespectful…we sadly left rather than put up a fight. Such is the state of the N.O. Church. Some tears were shed.