Santiago

Friends.

I first met Diana in Pamplona. We both stumbled upon the same cafe looking for food at the impossible hour of 530 or 6pm. Diana followed me in the line, and asked if I spoke English, and when I said, "yes," she asked what I was eating. When I told her, "I have no idea!", she ordered something equally unrecognizable, and a glass or two of wine later, we are friends.

That same night, Diana is also responsible for helping me procure a Spanish SIM because it is impossible to rely strictly on wifi on this track. About a month later, when some of us were trying to share photos using air drop, when Diana learned my phone was called "I phone 45", she says to me, "give me your phone." Until yesterday my phone has been renamed to "Brenda is hot". But it does not end there...last night, our last night together in Santiago, she once again has my phone, and now my phone is "Brenda is hot and is enough". I am not going to change it. Because I think both are true...I am maybe a wee bit "hot" for a 60 year old, and I am definitely "enough."

The Australian girls (Deanne, Veronica and Bernadette) and I connected somewhere before Leon, and our paths segued here and there, but we spent the last 8 or 9 days on the trail into Santiago, sometimes walking as a group and sometimes walking our own journeys. Many glasses of wine later, many tapas later we are friends. I am hoping Deanne and I will still connect again in Finisterre where she left for two days before me.

Sherri and Bob are from Summerland, and we met one day in a taxi. Our tour company had us sharing a taxi taking us all back to our last point on the trail after having the night in another nearby town. Sherri and I still lament that we can't get dinner before 8 pm! You'd think we would have it figured it out by now.

Annette and Martina from Norway...mom and daughter making the trek sometimes on foot, sometimes on bicycles! What a team! They remind me a great deal of travelling with my daughters, and how much I would enjoy travelling with them again soon.

Barbara and Martin from Germany. Our tracks were nearly the same from the beginning, so what began as occasional conversations over beer and wine became Martin hauling suitcases up many flights of stairs for his "princesses".

Julie and David from Australia. We met the first time over a dinner with them, myself and a few others from Germany. It is a small world because after they finish the Camino and a holiday, they are heading to Edmonton to see their son and grandchildren. I hope to catch up with them in Calgary during the Stampede!

Kate and Bob from Vancouver. A father and daughter team. Though I never stood a chance keeping up with the two of them, we shared stories of woe over shin splints and shoe challenges and a meal or two!

I met Theresa in Logrono along a very crowded tapas street. We ate mushrooms soaked in butter on a kabob on a slice of baguette, roasted peppers topped with a just soft egg on a baguette and so much more...all soaking up the copious glasses of red wine. Theresa and I walked one long day together into Burgos, and were glad of the company navigating the complicated and very industrial route into Burgos. Theresa lives in Toronto, another fellow Canadian on the Camino.

Yola and Kobis from New Zealand, but their accents are definitely South African, I met early on the Camino. They are keen, enthusiastic, and a soothing presence to our group. Diana and Peter enjoyed the evening with them before they left Santiago, and Kobis asked Diana to relay a message when she saw me next. "Tell Brenda that she will find what she is looking for when she stops looking." I cried because is it so obvious? Kobis and Yola have a wonderful kind presence about them, and I find it reassuring that kind people recognize the pain in others and quietly navigate.

I met Lorill and Kathy early on the Camino, and saw them again in Leon, and knew from our discussions that we would be walking to Finisterre at the exact same time. We also shared the same tour company, and so our itineraries were nearly identical. On the couple of days we walked together, we wrote a book or two...one a Camino murder mystery, and the other a brochure for renting a husband. For the men in my life reading this blog, you may find yourself in my brochure. We laughed and took nothing seriously, not even ourselves...I learned a-lot from these two lovely ladies and their candid discussion we shared along the last 100 km.

I walked with Adam (England) to Finisterre. Enjoyed dinners and he showed me the best beach in town. I didn't walk with Kevin (Long island USA but originally an Irishman born and and raised in the Bronx) because he walked the Primotivo Camino and I walked Frances, but no matter we enjoyed our walks and meals in Finisterre even if he is a democrat!

I walked with Barbara from Baltimore, Nicole from California, Ricardo from Guatemala, Jim from California, Holgart from Germany, Rainier from Germany, Sonia from Houston, Darlene from Florida, Kelly from Portland...and so many others. We may have shared a simple "Bon Camino" to a complex conversation of why we are here on the Camino followed by a simple "Bon Camino".

Bon Camino my friends! May your next journeys be blessed by the experiences of this journey.Read more