Camino Angels

When someone is on the Camino, there are many times that you’ll feel uncertain and vulnerable. It’s inevitable. Not only are you pushing your body to manage the challenge of walking day after day but your mind and spirit are also challenged. There are so many things that are different from “back home” — different country, different language other than English, the food is different, customs are different and even the way things are organized are different. For instance, throughout Spain, the huge majority of restaurants and stores close for a couple hours in the late afternoon. So if you arrive in your town by 2:00 then take a leisurely shower and settle into the albergue for a bit before leaving at 3:30 to eat and resupply water and snacks, you may not find anything open till 6:30pm or later. Bars will be open with snacks or sandwiches, but you won’t be able to get a full meal and the majority of small stores will be closed till the next day. All of these differences can be sources of great frustration or an opportunity to become more open to another way of doing things.

If you let yourself be open to the vulnerability of it all, you will experience Camino Angels! We’ve already had several significant encounters.

A recent time was in Deba when we decided to take a train to Bilboa for a needed rest. But, in Deba, they speak a Basque language which is very different from Spanish. All the directions on the self-automated ticket machines were in this other language and they were so confusing! Two different people helped us get our tickets … But then we couldn’t get through the train gate though we had tickets! The entire group of people waiting for the train came over to help and we finally got through!! An elderly lady took us under her wing after that and made sure we got on the right train, made the correct switch and told us when to get off once we were in Bilboa. I told her, “Somos sus pollitos!” (We’re your baby chicks)

This was a whole community of Camino Angels!

Often, people will go out of their way to help lost pilgrims get back on the path. We’ve experienced that multiple times. Yesterday, we met Chepe riding his bike. He helped us get back on the trail after having lost it in a city as we wandered around a huge business complex with big stores (including a huge Costco!), trying to find the Camino markers. Today, he rode by us again and we were able to get his photo. He was another Camino Angel.

Today, Charlie was a Camino Angel, but he doesn’t want me to talk about that. Ask him later!

There is such a gift in vulnerability. Among other things, it helps us be more humble, more mindful that we are just like everyone else and that we need each other. By being vulnerable, we allow others entry into our personhood. It’s a mutual circle of give and take.

May you, too, embrace the vulnerable moments when they arrive. There are angels just waiting to help!

~Terri

The city is Castro-Urdiales, where we’re staying tonight.