Friends waiting to meet you

You have friends out in the world you have not yet met.  Some of these people who you will love instantly and for a long time you will meet on the Camino de Santiago also known as "The Way".

In 2009 I started my first camino with my dear sister-in-law Denise.  We met up in Paris as planned, (Paris at that time was my favorite city ever).  We only spent half a day there because we were pretty excited about finding our train to the south of France where we would begin our camino in St. Jean Pied de Port.

Our first new friend was the owner of the Hotel Clementine in Arneguy.  We had booked ahead for this hotel that turned out to be wonderful.  It was just 8 kilometers from the St. Jean Pied de Port train station on the winter route.  Just a nice walk to get us on the way.  From our hotel room window at the Clementine we could see Spain.  Spain was just across the river the flowed beneath our window.  We had dinner at the hotel  prepared for us by our hostess and in the morning we met our hostess again as she made a full breakfast early in the morning before we left.

We left in a sudden rain that required us to come back to put on our rain ponchos.  We looked like two people trying out for a part in the Hunchback of Notre Dame and we all laughed ourselves silly.  Our hostess was laughing so hard we never did get a clear photo of us in our rain gear.

We encountered people along the way to Roncesvalles and we met a man at that Albergue who Denise named Peppie due to his incredible level of energy.  Then on day 3 we met two wonderful people, Anne from Denmark and Matthew from the U.S.  Anne was without a bed because she got to Zubiri too late.  A shop keeper closed his store and drove Anne and 2 other Pilgrims to the next town because he knew that there were beds available there.  Kindness strikes!  Little did I know at that time how important Anne would be to me.

Matthew stayed in Zubiri as we did and he became our walking partner for a week or so.  What fun he was.  We bumped into Anne again after Zubiri and I was fortunate enough to become her friend on the trail.  She and I walked the Camino Portuguese in 2010 and we remain close regardless of the distance.  Thank you Skype and Facebook!

Then we met Katarina from Finnland.  She and Matthew showed us older people how to enjoy the fiestas we came across along The Way.  Maggie from New Zealson and Erin and Peter from Australia come along some time after Estella were the free wine and water fountain is.  Yes free wine!  And so many more Pilgrims touched my heart as we walked.  At the end of our Camino Frances we all met for dinner in Santiago.  There were 17 people at that meal and we represented 13 countries around the world.

Anyway the point of this blog, today, is friends waiting for you that you don't know yet.  What a great experience you can receive through trust.  Trusting those you meet on The Way whether Pilgrims or locals is a skill that you want to nurture.  Many Pilgrims open their hearts to you about why they are walking.  Many Pilgrims will help you throughout your walk in so many ways.  You will help so many in ways you don't even know.
 
Stay open to people on a Camino.  Trust your gut and trust the people you meet.  Look for positives in situations with Pilgrims and you will find what you look for.

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