A unique view

Day 28: We left Fortuna today - but part of us mentally got stuck at the Los Banos de la Fuente campsite. There are several reasons for this. One of them is that with Ricci and Irmi, Wilhelm and Maria and Bernd and Brigitte, we have left behind people who have grown dear to our hearts. They will also part ways at the beginning of next week. Some are drawn to Andalusia, others are driven by the wind and sun.

Another reason is Armando, the musician who played a birthday serenade for Wilhelm yesterday. The 72-year-old Swiss man carries his songs in his heart. He started playing the transverse flute when he was ten, but today he mainly plays the clarinet and saxophone and does it so well that for many years he had a place in Hazy Osterwald's sextet, which is a big number in Switzerland. “I just play because I enjoy it,” he says, and people sense that. When the first notes sound on the campsite, it doesn't take long before dozens of people are dancing, singing and swaying to his songs. His wife Maria Theresa is always at his side. “I’m his manager,” she says with a smile and gives her husband a loving look before she starts clapping again with the other listeners for the next song. We would have liked to clap for longer.

But for today we joined Martin and Angelika as they set off for the monastery of Santa Eulalia, located about 80 kilometers west of Fortuna in the mountainous hinterland of Murcia. There will be a wonderful service there tomorrow, which will be attended and organized primarily by South Americans who are at home in this region. We are excited about the St. Cecilia choir, which will perform there. We are lucky because services of this type only take place on the last Sunday of each month.

We are standing here in the large parking lot of the monastery complex. After our arrival around 1 p.m., we set off with Pipo and Emmi to a nearby mountain peak on which there is a large statue of Christ. It was a steep climb, but every meter we were rewarded with wonderful views of the surrounding landscape. I can't remember ever experiencing such overwhelming vision before. Perhaps this was due to special atmospheric conditions - one thing is certain: we will never forget these images.