There are exceptional things that happen every day on the Camino -- they inspire and move us. Once a car stopped with a jolly, "Buen Camino!" and gave us each a candy.
There seem to be Camino angels all around...
We kept seeing Serge on the Camino -- he looks a bit like a hobo. But we learned he walks the Camino...back and forth...picking up trash. The alberges along the way often give him free lodging and food -- but when John tried to give him a donation, he gracefully refused...
We spotted a man hobbling along ahead of us, disabled by his Camino injuries, bowed down by the weight of his backpack. We watched an animated exchange between the injured man and another pilgrim. We later learned in talking with Sean from Ireland that he had assessed the situation, walked ahead to drop his pack, then walked back and offered to carry the injured man's load. He said the man smiled and replied, "I need to suffer...", and kept hobbling along. When we gave Sean a pin he said, "But I'm not Catholic...". It doesn't matter...he was a Camino angel.
The first time we met Joel from San Francisco, he was tending the blisters of a French woman he didn't know at an outdoor cafe. It was a Christ-like moment...
This woman stationed herself in a remote location where a road crossed the Camino. In Spanish and broken English she explained to pilgrims how to navigate through an active road construction site that was blocking the trail ahead. on that day she saved hundreds of pilgrims from walking a 5 km detour.
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