The Choreographer

I'm one sleep away from starting my Camino out of St. Jean Pied du Port, France. I stayed the night in Pamplona to recover from almost 20 hours of continuous travel. The hostel is in the heart of the Old City on the second floor of an elegant apartment building.

It filled up fast over night and when I awoke this morning every bunk bed was filled. Last evening I spent walking the great fortress walls and returned to meet many pilgrims who had checked in while I was roaming.

Hostel on the second floor.

Everyone had a story as to why they are walking the Camino. Tom, a monk from Ireland, is walking in the tradition of his order and for his own very deep spiritual commitments. Chris and her brother are hiking to celebrate her recovery from cancer. "My own personal running of the bulls," she said.

Chris had her own brush with death two years ago.

Jorge is biking the Camino from Munich and had something to say about every day riding - so beautiful. Beth, an American nanny for a local family, suddenly found herself on the street when the lady of the house threw her to the curb in a psychotic fit. So she checked in to the hostel for three nights, long enough to ship her baggage home to Idaho and refit for a Camino walk. She's only 20, on summer break from university, so why not? Her mom was FaceTime chatting with her and said "The Holy Spirit is a careful choreographer - there is a reason for this!" Beth finished her good cry over pizza with Chris and I, and today I will help her find an outfitter. My bus leaves for SJPP at 2:30 today, so I have plenty of time to help her.

Lots to see in the Old City

I met many pilgrims on the bus ride. Rich from Minnesota will be at the albergue Belieri in SJPP, same as me, so we'll catch up again. On the bus from Madrid I could barely keep my eyes open, but a group of nuns in hiking gear were road birding, so everytime they called out some bird in Spanish I came wide awake! I thank them for my first bird of the trip - huge European Black Vultures wheeling around over the hot, scrubby meseta landscape we were riding though.

Plain pilgrims breakfast.

Brother Tom said a beautiful morning prayer in the common room this morning as we bowed our heads over tea and toast. The group then scurried to clean dishes and assemble their packs, everyone calling out "Buen Camino!" as they bustled out the door. Now Beth and I will go find the outfitters and get her ready for her first unplanned but completely choreographed walk to Santiago de Compostela!

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