Walking the Camino de Santiago

“ A seasons now passed, since the bagpipe’s greeting.
And yet still my soul soars and sings, mindful of our meeting.
You broke me, then rewrote me; you stitched my torn seams.
You never really left me; the Way is in my dreams. Visions of villages and vineyards, roads paved with scallop shells; Scenes with sunflowers and sunsets, cocks crowing and cow bells.
The day will come we dance again; just listen for my knock.
‘Til then I’ll keep your lessons learned; mustn’t forget the Walk.”…. CW Johnson

June 14-15

I started a new adventure. One that is a bit different than the last two years of walking the Camino de Santiago trails. This year for a change of pace, I am volunteering in an Albergue (Camino Hostel) along the Camino Frances in Spain. Yes I know my blog site says walking the Portuguese, but I’ve not figured out how to update that yet and wanted to get my thoughts on paper. So… here we are.

To catch you up, late last year I received a notice that there was volunteer training in March 2024, which would certify individuals who had walked the full Camino de Santiago trail as “Hospitalero’s”.. a way to give back to the Camino by co-hosting an Albergue.. essentially running a hostel for pilgrims. so.. off I went to the training in Texas and got my certification.

This has led to a 15 day appointment in a small town called La Virgen Del Camino. A town that is a little past halfway on the Camino Frances. Mike, Viola and I walked through this town in 2022 during the festival of San Froilan and it is a welcome site to be back at the Camino again…albeit different knowing I’m not walking.

My trip start off rushed. On the 13th, I had to attend an all day leadership meeting for work in San Francisco. I agreed to stay until 4pm and then head to the airport to make my 6pm flight.

The meeting went as planned and I excused myself at 4pm on schedule. Once I drove to the airport, and got shuffled around multiple times to different check-in desks, I made it onto my very long flight from SF to Madrid with no time to spare. From Madrid, I was to take another short flight from Madrid to Barcelona, change planes in Barcelona to my reach final destination to the city of Leon. Leon is about 15 min by car from the Albergue I will be working. Plans changed when my flight to Barcelona announced we had equipment issues and had to return to the gate. Pivoting like a true Pilgrim, I booked a train from Madrid to Leon and made it to my final destination for the night. A little haggard… but nevertheless I arrived.

Aug 15-

I woke up bright and early in my hotel to see pilgrims on the trail walking out of Leon. It sure does make me want to be back on the trail again.. but that is another trip.. another time.

Today I took a taxi to the town of La Virgen del Camino to meet my co-host for the next 15 days, Kathleen. As well as begin the transition from the two outgoing hosts, Lil and Sagrario who will depart and leave us on our own on the 16th (tomorrow).

Kathleen is originally from Boston, lived in Santa Cruz for many years, but now resides in Spain where she has retired. It is both of our first times hosting an Albergue. Luckily, she speaks fluent Spanish (a language I still have not conquered) and English. And as the Camino would provide, she also lost her husband to cancer 8 years ago. So something in common.

Lil and Sagrario are wonderful women who are Spanish. They barely speak any English, but I know after one day with them, we would be great friends if we were ever paired again together.

And so… the on the job training- checking in pilgrims, showing them the facilities, setting up the breakfast for tomorrow morning, and preparing for pilgrim departures tomorrow morning has started. We are running an Albergue that holds 40 occupants. but today we have ten. Several 18 year old men from Colorado, a couple from Korea, a gentleman from Austria, a woman from Germany, and a 20 year old man from Chile’. So far I’m having a great time. I’m sure there will be plenty to write about as the next few weeks unfolds. My broken Spanish gets me by, and luckily I have Kathleen here to translate if needed.

My thoughts: Again I’m humbled by the opportunity to be here in Spain. This time I’m giving back to the Camino and it feels good to be helping others. I get to listen to the pilgrims experiences and also help them with advice and guidance about the journey ahead, since I’ve now walked the trail (Camino Frances) of which they are trekking. I can’t help but be a bit sad while writing this, as I always knew my Dad would be the first to read and respond to my journeys. We lost him in November, so I’ll carry his thoughts in my heart knowing he is up there looking down and smiling .