Beauty from ashes

Upon arriving to the big city of Burgos, we separated from the main group to go toward the albergue we had chosen. I was drawn by God to the description of a parish overseeing the albergue. It was away from the city center and we were told a challenges to find, especially at the end of a long day of walking and having forgotten to eat lunch (this  we did not realize until 6 pm that night).

We are away from the regular signs/markers and barely make out a yellow arrow (yellow spray painted arrows mark the way of the Camino). It turns out to have the name of our albergue on it and we turn. We still overshoot and a kind gentleman points us back in the right direction.  We see over a door a small shell (the symbol for the Camino and for the albergues) and our hearts rise as the end of our day's journey is in sight.  We are greeted by the volunteer who we thought was telling us to come in.   We get closer and I find her telling us the albergue was closed that day. Apparently, today was a certain saint's holiday and the bishop was in town staying at the albergue. They had been turning Peregrinos (pilgrims) away all day. Both of our faces and spirits just deflated. The thought of walking another mile or two to the next albergue just flattened us. Then this kind volunteer (Maria) asked me who Kristina was. I told her she was my daughter. She looked at Kristina, then me, and then looked cautiously around - then told us to come in. We were honored and thrilled to get to stay. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was brand new with great facilities (beds, showers, bathrooms and internet). We did our daily chores and went into Burgos to see the cathedral. We came back in time for mass, receive the bishop's blessing and have a meal prepared by Maria. What a night! It is something to see what was looking to be a big dissapointment, instead turn into a very unique and special time in our Camino .