Camino Highlights

[Melissa Starr]

What a wonderful memory, and a great opportunity for your son!  If only I could afford to take my daughters . . . maybe that will be my next goal.  I thank you for sharing this jewel from your trip!
Melissa
 Barry Sloan <bksinspainaITOTAL.NET> wrote:I'd love to get an idea of how many of you plan to go for
the first time in the future, compared to the percentage of you who have
already gone--and what were the highlights for you?
Thanks,
Melissa
I walked the Camino, SJPP to Santiago, with adults in 2001. And again,
Leon to Santiago, in 2002 with my 10 year old son. Here is but one of the
special moments we shared on our journey.

We were heading to Portomarin and it was a rainy day. Walking with a child
is different than walking with adults. You end up stopping and
investigating everything that looks interesting, walking slower and leaving
later. So... we were just dawdling along, looking for frogs and interesting
rocks. Because it was raining and we left late, we didn't come across any
other pilgrims that day. As we were walking through one of the many stone
hamlets along the way, I heard a voice calling out to us. "Hey perigrinos!
Wait! I have something for you." I turned to spot an old woman making her
way towards us. She was all stooped over and her woolen clothing hung in
tatters. She was wrinkled and whiskered and smiling as she motioned for us
to follow her. She led us to a ramshackle stone hut and opened the door. A
chicken dashed in behind her and started pecking at the dirt floor. She
said she had some bread for us. My son was a little frightened by her
appearance. She asked me what was the matter with him. "Doesn't he
understand Spanish?" she asked me. I told her he understood it better than
I did but he was shy. She reached up to open a cupboard and her hands were
shaking a little... you know, the way old peoples hands do sometimes. She
took out a huge loaf of bread and took up a knife. "This is bread from
Galicia" she said as she deftly sliced us each a large hunk. The chicken
was pecking away at the crumbs as they fell, and scratching away at the dirt
floor. She was beaming as she handed us our bread and wished us a good
Camino. This woman had to be at least eighty years old and she was, simply,
beautiful. It was like a movie scene and we were in it. We spent the next
several hours walking along in the rain, under our ponchos, munching away on
the best bread either of us had ever tasted.

As we walked along my son, Quinn, told me that he was sure the rest of her
house was much nicer than the part we had seen. I'm not so sure of that.
But I am sure of one thing. That simple act of kindness from the old woman
is something I will never forget. She didn't have much of anything, but she
was sharing what she did have.

Barry


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