Around the first week of my Camino I met a woman who was walking with another group of pilgrims that were going longer distances. We had a brief conversation. She seemed to have a bit of a hard edge to her. The day we met she was waiting on another pilgrim but I could sense some discomfort. A few weeks went by and then I met her again at a bar in the middle of nowhere. I could see a difference in her immediately. Turns out she ha gotten severely ill and had to go to the hospital. They told her it was some sort of stomach bug. She told me how she had considered returning home but decided that she needed a lesson on slowing down. So been though she had lost he group she was going to walk alone and go slower. The subject soon changed to the potential of riding a horse up ocebrero since I was researching it. She said she would really like to do it as well.
About a week later she arrived in the village where I was waiting for the horse just as I had been told we were leaving in five minutes. They happened to have an extra horse so she rode with me. We continued our previous conversation in more depth. It was wonderful. We parted ways again. Two days later I met her again and she ended up walking with me and some other ladies. During this time she got some good news from home which made her happy. I can say without a doubt that she was transformed during her walk. He woman I met had been replaced with a joyous soul. She achieved so much personal growth and her face showed it. Then yesterday we met again and she told me she felt like her Camino was done. She didn’t care about the compostella and decided to just visit Santiago and return home. She was ready to start her life again in a a new way. I feel honored to have observed such a transformation.
I was so blessed to have met her as well! The Camino is so amazing.
