Spain – October 2023

Spain – October 2023

by Kim · Published October 26, 2023 · Updated October 26, 2023

Spain – October 2023

I was fortunate to join a team from our church to serve pilgrims who are walking El Camino de Santiago, or The Way of St. James, a 500-mile spiritual pilgrimage to the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. We spent seven days working at an albergue (hostel) and sharing Jesus.

This symbol is located all along the Camino de Santiago to guide the pilgrims as they walk.

One of the stops on our bus tour on Saturday was this lighthouse. I believe it is the Punta Nariga lighthouse.

This ancient Roman bridge is located in the town of Muxia. We visited this on our bus tour before we went to the hostel.

Here is a view of St. James Cathedral, the place where all of the pilgrims are headed.

St. James Cathedral was one of the most ornate churches I've ever seen.

The streets of Santiago de Compostela are so charming.

This is a photo of a cross on the coast at Cape Finisterre, where many of the pilgrims finish their walk, and leave something from their walk.

Our first full day in Spain we enjoyed lunch in the courtyard outside of the cathedral.

Londe is the town raw hostel was located. It was about a three day walk away from Santiago de Compostela, where the pilgrims were going to the cathedral.

The missionary who runs the hostel, gives us an overview of our weeks activities on our first day

This is a cemetery that’s called a pilgrim cemetery. We’re over the many years. The people have been walking the Camino if they die, there was places for them to be buried along the way.

On the left is our friend Natan from Brazil. He is the CRU missionary who runs the hostel. On the right is our friend Peter from Central. He and his wife speak Spanish which was a big help to us.

This farmer who lives down the street from our hostel, was always busy caring for his livestock and his garden.

You can see the world map behind these ladies. We had the Pilgrims put a pin in their locations. By the end of the week we had more than 50 countries represented.

On this particular day, we had four people in our group with the name Philip. Here we are playing the game Soularium after supper. It’s a game that allows each person to share a little bit about why they’re doing the Camino and what their plans are for the future.

Jamilla and Norma prepare a delicious meal for us and the pilgrims.

A pilgrim displays her passport or credential. Each pilgrim collects stamps along the way to document their journey. We provided stamps.

Cleaning the hostel for the day's visitors. No, I am not mopping the street, I was changing my water!

Two of our guests had birthdays. We celebrated Ebert from France and a young man from Seattle, who is turning 37.

This is my friend Barry from Ireland. He is a retired taxi driver and goldsmith. He said he did not believe in God, but would think about everything that he and I talked about.

Dedie, myself and Pam all sitting outside waiting for pilgrims.

Our hostel was always busy with Pilgrims coming and going. Many would stay for an hour or more just resting and visiting.

All ages walked the Camino. We even talked to a father, who began bringing his daughter from France to Santiago de Compostela, when she was only two years old.

This lady who lives right down the street from our hostel, is preparing dried corn to be fed the cows.

This is a view of our hostel the road to the right is the Camino de Santiago.

The sign would sit outside of our building every day, announcing that we gave free hugs. I gave many hugs to many people.

A very clever way to dry your socks.

The whole crew on the first day.

One of our pilgrims does her laundry while she waits for supper.

Suzanne and Dedie are busy in the kitchen preparing supper for our guests

This is my friend Magno. He and his sister live locally and helped us out for the week. He’s an artist, and he was working on a drawing of our hostel for me.

A group of men on horses was also doing the Camino de Santiago. They stopped and visited with us and watered their horses.

Side posts, such as this one show the way to the pilgrims so that they don’t get lost. The symbol that looks like the sun is actually represents a shell.

The pilgrims shoes sat here while they went upstairs to their bed.

Our meals were homemade and delicious. We offered fresh vegetables from the garden, fresh salads, and entrée and fresh bread.

This young man was named George and he was from London. We had a guitar which he played Beatles tunes and sang.

Praying with the pilgrims.

This is the view from our neighbors house toward the hostel. The hostels on the left, and the chestnut tree is on the right side of the road.

We provided a place for the pilgrims to wash their clothes and hang them out to dry.

Right outside of our hostel was a chestnut tree. The chestnuts were inside of a very prickly cocoon, that when they would drop from the tree, they would bust open in the chestnut would fall out.

Most of our evening, meals with the pilgrims was outside. On this particular day, out of 10 guests, four of them were named Philip. Two were called Philip and we’re from France and one was from North Carolina and the other from Alabama.

On the left is a brother and sister, who was on our team, on the right our twin sisters from Taiwan. One of the sisters is a doctor and the other is a computer engineer.

A group of ladies from Germany had music books, and began to sing for the group.

Our front door was open and ready for the pilgrims. On this particular day, I had the responsibility of adding stamps to the pilgrims passports.

The area of the hostel that we called the garage is where we greeted pilgrims each day. They were very glad to get free, coffee and free hot tea when it was raining outside.

Every day the cows would pass our hostel in the morning, and in the evening. Right next to us was a milking barn, where they would be milked before putting out to pasture, and brought back in for the evening milking.

The kitchen had been updated, but there was still a beautiful, wood-burning stove that we used on the last day we were there.

The last evening that we served dinner to the pilgrims was Friday evening and it was raining so we ate inside. It was a very cozy meal with people from Taiwan, Seattle, Washington, France, and many more.

This young lady is from France. Her father and her boyfriend were walking the Camino and stayed the night with us. Her father has walked the Camino all the way from France more than 20 times, and he took her on her first trip when she was two years old. She has walked the Camino from France over 500 miles more than 13 times. I bought a bracelet from her that I’m wearing.

Our place was called La Fuente de Pellegrino, which means the pilgrims fountain.

We provided Bibles and literature and books about Jesus and variety of languages.

Every morning we had breakfast together. The lady in the center of this photo lives near the hostel and came to help us the week we were there. She only spoke Spanish, so we had to communicate using Google Translate.

Every day we got fresh bread from a van that would pull up near the hostel. We would pay three euros for a big crusty loaf of Spanish bread.

Inside, our hostel was an area where pilgrims could write down prayer requests or they could take some prayer requests with them, so that they could pray for others as they walked.

Most of the pilgrims were very open to prayer. We would pray for their journey, or for aches and pains, or for any other knee that they expressed to us.

This picture you can see a pilgrims, backpack and tracking poles as well as the neighborhood dog named Leah, poking her head through the door to see what was going on inside.

This café was located just down the road from our hostel and served a pretty good variety of foods. That was very good. Chickens and cats roam freely.

The evening before we left the hostel, we went up the road to a country café and ordered burgers and other food. It was nice to be served rather than having to cook and clean.

Our hostel would hold up to 10 pilgrims, and in a separate room nearby was a room for the people who worked there. The girls had a room to themselves.

The hostel is more than 400 years old. There were no doorhandles. You had to grab the ring and twist, and it would lift a lever on the other side.

Our last day together was a wet one, but a fun one. Here we are waiting on the bus.

This is the fountain where I would fill my water bottle every day throughout the week, and also where the pilgrims would stop to fill up their water bottles. It is why we’re called the pilgrims fountain.

I was happy to see Jonas from the Netherlands at the Cathedral. We had made friends several days prior at the albergue.

When we arrived back in Santiago Sunday morning, we went straight to the cathedral to see if we could see any of the pilgrims we had met days before.

Our last team meal was Sunday evening in Santiago at an Italian Restaurant. The Lord blessed us with a table for six even though the restaurant was full!

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