27 Days To Go

I seem to be into introspection. I suppose that is a proper way to begin a pilgrimage, but who knows. In 2006 my husband and I sold the house we had lived in for 26 years and everything we owned. We left the United States with one suitcase each, it contained all our earthly belongings. We landed in Barcelona and began a trek by bus across the coast of Northern Spain through San Sebastion, Santander, Bilboa, etc. I loved the northern coast. We came across the small village of San Francisco outside of Muros on the coast in Galicia. We loved it! I walked along the rugged coast from San Francisco to Muros and back every day. One day, while I was in Muros, my husband called and said the hills around San Francisco were on fire and it was coming close to the small hotel where we were staying. 

I’m not sure why but I decided to go there rather than have him come into Muros. Seems a very odd decision now. Let’s head into a fire area! Anyway I got a cab and we got about three quarters of the way there when the flames from the brush burning on the side of the road got so close and big that the cab driver freaked and said she would go no further. So I got out and walked. Today it seems strange to me that I didn’t just stay in the cab and go back to Muros with her.

I walked the rest of the way into San Francisco. I figured I had the ocean on my left, if the fire got close, I could jump in the water. 

I found John on the beach in San Francisco. He had offered to help fight the fire with the locals using garden hoses, but they didn't have enough garden hoses so they sent him to the beach. We spent the next four or five hours on the beach watching the helicopters drop firefighters on the beach, go out and scoop water out of the ocean, and dump it on the fire.

After all that excitement, we went to Santiago and stayed for a few days. The city was so exciting. We saw all these people coming into the city with back packs and poles. I wondered what this was all about, so I started asking people questions and found out about the Camino. I instantly knew I wanted to do it some day. When I came home after our three months in Spain and two months in Costa Rica, I told everyone about the Camino and how I wanted to do it some day. 

In the Fall 2011 I had already made plans to study in Salamanca for three months, from January until April of 2012, in an immersion program. Before I left for Salamanca a friend called me and said there was a movie out about that thing I always talked about, the Camino. She said she was going to see it that afternoon and would I like to go with her. Of course, I did. While watching The Way I knew I just needed to do the Camino and stop saying “some day.” I went home and started making plans to begin the Camino in St Jean Pied de Port in July of 2012.