Camino Miracles & Pixie Dust

Some days are special days. Days when you meet people who make your world a bit brighter. When you feel like there is pixie dust flitting in the air.

I love meeting people from this blog. And, today, it was a blog bonanza! It’s no wonder. Americans have arrived on the Camino. Today, was packed to the gills with Americans! And amongst the throng were some awesome folks I have met through writing this blog! What a gift.

It’s always interesting meeting people who know more about you – lets face it, every thought in my head – than you know about them. But, its fun to turn the tables and hear their stories. Not just of their Camino, but who they are in their regular life. I got to meet families and their friends today. And whip them up some comfort food.

And they get to see our life. The one they’ve only read about. I was asked ‘Is that the hammock you got caught in?’ Ha! I wanted to say ‘Sure, it looks innocuous enough, but there’s a devil living in there. I’m pretty sure.’ But, I didn’t.

Everyone commented on people stopping to take photos of the house. ‘You’ve written about it. But people actually stop and take pictures’. It’s true. Jeff and I laugh. We are in thousands of peoples Camino photos, not because we are super models. It’s because of the house and the setting. Even we don’t understand it.

Then, we had one young woman who stopped by. Jasmine is the daughter of friends of friends in Seattle. She is a teacher now, in Malaysia. Yesterday, she messaged me on our Happiness Cafe FB page from Palas de Rei and told me she would be coming today. She had breakfast and before she left she handed me €5.

‘You have a special place here. Use that to help someone who needs it. Pay for someone’s meal or something.’

I love this idea. A friend of ours in Santiago, who happens to be a priest, suggested this to me last year.

‘If someone tips you big, you can pass it on to another Pilgrim who is in need.’ A lovely idea.

We help a lot of people with free water, even though it’s not free to us right now. Sometimes, I give people a break if they come up short when paying. I learned that from my Mom in their grocery store. It was in a poor area. She did it all the time, especially with kids.

I was crazy busy today up until the Pilgrims dwindled to a trickle at 2pm. I had closed up, when suddenly, there were four people at the gate. They looked worse for wear. It was unbearably hot. I walked out to see how I could help.

‘We are hungry and nothing is open. But we are out of cash. Do you have any water?’ They held up water bottles.

‘Where are you headed.’ I asked.

‘Melide.’

An hour and a half away in this heat. I let them in the gate and filled their water bottles with bottled water. Then, handed out protein bars and Aquarius water.

‘Oh my God. You are so nice.’ These young people exclaimed.

‘No.’ I told them. ‘It’s not me. A pilgrim named, Jasmine, paid for your Aquarius water and protein bars. Earlier today. She gave me the money and told me to help someone who needs it. You guys need help. Jasmine helped you. Now, you should pass it on and help someone else. I think she would like that.’

They left through the gate, abuzz about how incredible this experience was. It made me smile. A Camino Miracle, bought to you by Jasmine, covered in a little bit of pixie dust.