In preparation for our trip - 1 month to go!

Last year we started our fourth Camino in Roncesvalles in mid-March. On the first day during our decent to Zubiri, Palma tripped and hurt her wrist. She thought it was only a sprain, so we soldiered on. However, when we got to Logroño (90 miles later) it was obvious it was more than a sprain. We went to the hospital, got it x-rayed and sure enough it was broken. They had to re-break the wrist to set it properly. Because of the cast and Palma’s inability to use her arm we decided we could not proceed and returned home. So now one year later we are returning to finish where we left off. So, it’s really Camino 4 version 2.

 

Before we start our Camino we will meet some friends in Madrid and do a week of touristy stuff: Segovia-Leon-Burgos-LaRioja-Pamplona. In Pamplona we leave our friends and head back to Burgos to work 15 days at the Albergue de Pergrinos, Emaus as Hospitaleros. This is the 4^th time we’ve volunteered here. It’s a great little parochial albergue, very modern and spiritual. Then we will walk our Camino version 4.2.  In planning we were hoping to start in Logroño but we won’t have enough time so, we will start in Burgos.

 

We walked our first Camino back in 2010. It was a dream come true for me. My father was a diplomat, and I had the good fortune to live in Spain between 1956 and 1963. I first learned of the Camino from our maid, Carmen. I think I was about 8 or 9 years old at the time. My older brother had sneaked a smoke in the bathroom and my father had noticed the smell. My dad asked who had been smoking and of course my brother was not going to fess up. I did not want my brother to get in trouble, so I lied to my dad. Later my parents went out for the night and Carmen began to lecture us that lying was a sin. She was so convincing I got scared that God would punish me, and I’d be going to hell. I started crying hysterically. To really make interesting my mother's dog who hated me joined in the crying. To calm me down Carmen told me that one day I could walk the Camino de Santiago and God would forgive me. I never forgot. In 2000 I read an article about the Camino, and we started planning our pilgrimage. So in  2010 when both my wife and I were retired we went. It was an experience we will never forget.

 

As many of you know once you walk the Camino it gets into your soul and you need to walk again and again. In the fall of 2015, we took the APOC Hospitalero course so we could give back to the Camino and in 2016 we served as hospitaleros in Grañon and after which we walked our second Camino. It was on this Camino that we stopped at the Albergue de Pergrinos, Emaus and met Marie Noëlle. She is the founder and resident Hospitalero. After much discussion and her learning we had worked in Grañon she asked us to consider coming to Burgos the next year and work for her. So in 2017 we worked as hospitaleros in Zamora and then Burgos and we loved it. The following years 2018 and 2019 we went back. Also, in 2018 after our two weeks in Burgos we walked our third Camino, this time the Portuguese Camino.