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It doesn’t take long to get to know people on the Camino de Santiago and to get to know their stories.  Everyone has a story, a background, something to say.  It may be a heavy burden, an obligation, a personal challenge, something to contemplate, sadness, joy, or even a romance.  And for some reason, most peregrinos (pilgrim in Spanish) don’t hesitate to share some very personal details of their lives.  I also noticed that it takes very little time to form a deeply personal friendship with someone you meet along the Camino.  I think part of the reason is because there are very few things that can interrupt a good conversation.  I’d like to share a sampling of stories that some peregrinos carried with them on the Camino:

• A woman who always seemed to be smiling had written her father’s name on her boot heel. She told me “I brought my father with me”, to keep her focus on him as he is in the last stages of cancer and is quietly dying.  An absolutely caring person, she is devoted to working with indigenous people of the Canadian far north.

• A recently retired geologist walked with and supported her best friend who was carrying the ashes of her daughter.  Together, they threw the ashes into the Atlantic Ocean when they reached Cape Finisterre.

• A pastor of a protestant church in Oakland, California was walking the Camino for his sabbatical to contemplate and pray about his future as a pastor. He is gay, and has endured far more negativity than anyone should regarding who he is, and his calling in Christian service.  He has a passion for justice and sharing grace as a gift and wants nothing more than to continue to be a pastor.

• An artist and teacher from the Pacific Northwest walked the Camino to see the natural beauty in Spain and the art in churches and cathedrals, and to honor and remember her younger sister who had passed away recently. She is the type of gentle soul that sees beauty in everything around her and in the people she walks with and talks with.  The kind that you want to be near.

• A writer has been traveling throughout the world to gain material for a new book. He is exploring the concept of grace in three religions and has recently traveled to Nepal to explore grace in Buddhism, to India to explore the concept in Hinduism, and is now walking the Camino de Santiago to consider grace in Christianity.  I’ve read one of his books and it’s brilliantly written.  Contact me directly if you would like details.

• A 16-year-old boy lost his best friend to cancer last year. He and a group of friends are walking the 800 kilometers in their friend’s memory.  They are collecting stamps in a Camino passport from albergues along the way in their friend’s name.  At Cape Finisterre, overlooking the ocean, they will leave a stone memorial containing the passport in honor of their lost friend.

• A man in his mid-sixties was searching for a spiritual peace in his life. When he was 17-years-old living in Czechoslovakia, he was an eye witness to the August 1968 Soviet Union invasion of his country.  He watched the tanks roll in, witnessed the killing, and saw his parents lose their factory and everything they owned.  A year later, he fled the country in fear and anger, and never saw his family again.  He walks the Camino visiting every church, monastery, convent, and museum, devouring the history of Spain and the artistic creativity of mankind.

• An Australian father and son walked the Camino to share a challenge and to form a deeper bond together. It’s never an easy task.  Walking with them was one of the highlights of my Camino, and I was so fortunate to have met up with them at the very beginning.  Together, the two of them walked on and triumphantly reached Cape Finisterre.

• Another father and son walked to do one last thing together before the son got married and moved away. It was interesting to see how much alike they were and how they walked at the same pace – probably faster than anyone else on the Camino.  I was also very fortunate to know these two!

• A lady in her forties from the Czech Republic severely injured her ankle only about a third of the way of the Camino. I watched one morning as she fell to the floor because her ankle wouldn’t support her as she got out of bed.  She rested that day and saw a doctor.  The next day, after taking some minor pain meds and wrapping her ankle, she limped on to the next village.  Without giving up, she limped along every day for more than a month and I saw her finally reach Santiago de Compostela.  We drank a beer to her courage.

• He was a divorcee from New York City; she was a widow from Denmark. This was her seventh time to walk the Camino and his second.  They were both 70-years-old, and they met last year in Santiago after they each had completed their walk.  In Santiago, over dinner, they began to fall in love.  They had to go back home to their respective families, but agreed to return this year and walk the 800 kilometers together.  Walking every day side by side, holding hands and sharing quick kisses, they became famous along the Camino.  He held every door open for her, she wore flowers in her hair, a teddy bear on her backpack, and red stripped socks.  They were a delight and an inspiration to all of us who got to know them.  And at the end of the journey, in Santiago, they had a last breakfast together in the restaurant where they met. They kissed, cried, and then caught separate airplanes taking them back to their families in New York and Denmark.  They hope to do it all over again next year.

People have stories to tell.  I hope I slow down enough to listen to them.

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“No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world.  And normally he doesn’t know it.”  Paulo Coelho

“There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” William Butler Yeats