I’ve spent most of the last 2 weeks following and walking on seashells…”What does that even mean?” you may ask. Well the first stop on our trip required us to walk a section of “El Camino de Santiago” (a spiritual path or retreat dating back to the Middle Ages) on which you follow seashells on the ground or walls from town to town through Spain.
Walking from Pamplona to Burgos was hands down one of the most beautiful yet challenging things I’ve ever done in my life. I had no idea of what the experience would entail, the people I would meet, or the lessons I would learn but these last 2 weeks have been an incredible time of reflection and growth. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be done fully processing it all but I intend this post to be more of an overview and a second post to follow to be my reflections (stay tuned)…
Our team (Fierce Five) decided that we would tackle “El Camino” together, since one of the main goals for doing this was to get to know each other on a deeper level and create unity within our team. Ok, so here’s a little of what our days and nights looked like:
August 9th, 6 am, still dark out, with our packs on our backs we start our first 13 mile hike! I remember that first day following the shells in the dark thinking we were the only ones doing this thing. I wondered, “do other people actually do this thing? Where are they? Are we crazy?” but as the hours passed and the sun started to come out slowly but surely we began to encounter more Pilgrims (this is what hikers on the Camino are called) along the way.
The first day of hiking was hard (took about 6 hours) so we didn’t really have the opportunity to connect with others on the trail. But as the days got physically harder, I think we got spiritually stronger. We prayed and asked God to help us have meaningful conversations with people. It might have taken a few days, but the Lord definitely answered our prayers. We got to meet so many amazing people from all over the world, hear their stories and reasons for doing the Camino, as well as share a little bit of ours.
The friendship that impacted me the most was with this 24 year old French woman named Agathe! We found ourselves on the trail on the 5th day I believe and just began a conversation about life, faith, and love. What developed over the following days was a beautiful friendship that I hope will last for years to come. Agathe doesn’t believe in God but it was such a blessing to our team to get to know her and walk alongside her for a few days. She is bright and full of life! At such a young age she has already accomplished so much and is wise beyond her years. And while she may not believe in God, I know I saw God and His love in her. She has a kind and loving heart and her warmth and laughter connected all those around her.
Most of our afternoons and nights looked like this: arrive to the town around noon and get in line to check in at an Albergue (hostels for Pilgrims). Once securing a bed in a room with anywhere from 6-150 people, we would get in line for a shower, wash our clothes by hand and hang them out to dry, before collapsing with exhaustion for our daily siesta (naps in Spain are SERIOUS business! Everything shuts down from 2-5pm). After a recovery nap we would venture into town with what little energy we had left to try to explore and get groceries to make dinner, and hopefully be in bed and asleep by 10 pm only to wake up at 5 am the next day and do it all over again.
The variety of experiences and hospitality we received at the various Albergues I could write an entire separate post about, but I’ll spare you for now! My favorite night was at a smaller quaint albergue, most of the friends we met on El Camino were staying there, we all pitched in a few Euros and made a huge feast for dinner. We had chicken fajitas, Mexican rice, beans, a ton of fresh fruit, fresh Sangria, and even cookies! It was absolutely marvelous; there were people from Spain, France, Italy, Great Brittain, Hungary, America, and Mexico all at the table and though we had just met but a few days ago we were now family!
“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.” John 13: 34-35 TPT
What a beautiful blessing this time and these people have been.
