By the time I left the church, it was still too early to try and check in to the aforementioned Gite d’Etape, so I decided to walk around town instead of waiting; flowing from hostel to hostel and from B&B to B&B*, seeing if anyone in town was wanting to “win the lottery” by offering a Peace Pilgrim a place of rest for the night** … 😉

This led me from hostel to hostel and from B&B to B&B — all without success, and I finally ended up in front of a warm-vibed Gite called La Vita e Bella (“Life is Beautiful”). I entered its main foyer and saw its owner — a man named Andrea — sitting therein. I said hello and proceeded to tell him the abbreviated tale of my Walk — explaining both why I had set forth from Germany 2 months prior and the manner in which I had been walking penniless for Peace ever since. I then asked for some water to drink (thinking I might at least get a small taste of the scintillating mineral water he had bottled behind the bar), and received one of the most astounding responses I received on the entire Walk — for Andrea then proceeded to smirk, to take me back behind the Gite to the tap-water faucet that fed the font in which his pilgrim-guests washed their dirty clothes, to tell me that I could drink from the same if I wanted, and then to walk away without another word … :O

Without surprise, the water offered was warm and smelled a bit funky, so there was no question I was not going to drink any, and yet as I was turning to leave I noticed Robin (the pilgrim with whom I had shared the dirt-floor refuge back in La Clauze some 10 days prior) sitting in the corner. He greeted me warmly and told me that Andrea used to run his hostel as a donativo — as a selfless service to pilgrims — and yet he had become jaded by years of those same wanderers’ ingratitude and dishonesty. As such, he had turned Robin down for the requested free night’s stay, and Robin had decided to sit there awhile to try and pressure Andrea into eventually offering him a bed & some food.***

Needless to say, this approach wasn’t at all in my wheelhouse, so I wished Robin luck, thanked Andrea while walking out, and headed back over to the aforementioned Gite d’Etape to wait for it to open.

Shortly after arriving there, two elderly ladies drove up and I asked them about my chances at finding even a place on the floor in the soon-to-open Gite. Both of them then firmly proclaimed that without 5 Euros no place would be offered. I shrugged my shoulders and began to walk away (thinking I was going to have to either sleep on a park bench or hide in the Livinhac church that evening) when they asked me what I was doing. After briefly explaining the situation of myself and my Walk, the face of one of the ladies lit up and she told me to follow her — that she knew exactly where I could spend the night.

Well, as you the reader might well have guessed, she led me right back to the front door of Andrea. He was obviously less-than-thrilled to see me and I smiled and shrugged my shoulders to make sure he knew that our reunion was not my idea. My newest benefactor proceeded to speak rapidly in French while Andrea nodded his head slowly. She then turned to me and in halting English told me to explain my situation to him and that he would surely give me shelter for the night. She then left, with a humongous smile beaming from her face, and I was left with Andrea once again.

I started to explain my Walk once again in French once again — more thoroughly this time, when he interrupted me with a terse “You can speak English.” I thanked him for the same, and went on to quite clearly describe my Walk, including the relatively noble reasons I was undertaking it as I was. His response thereto was not wholly unexpected, and yet proved to be quite shocking nonetheless:

Andrea (in fluent English, mind you): “I frankly don’t give a damn why you are walking the Camino, seeing as how it won’t make a bit of difference anyway.”

Me: :O

Andrea (now smiling at the way his smugness had shocked me): “It also doesn’t matter to me whether you are actually telling me the truth (said in a tone that belied his extreme doubts about the same). If you want to stay here, I will give you a bed. If you want some food, I will feed you, but I will not be doing so to support your story or your mission.”

Me: (fully astounded by his delightful honesty) “Let me make sure I understand you correctly. You will give me free room & board just to do so — essentially because the old woman asked you to — but you do not truly believe in me or in any way support my stated cause.”

Andrea: “That is correct.”

Me: “Well, I guess that resolves the matter (at which point Andrea turned as if he was going to show me where I would be sleeping) … I guess I will be walking on.”

Andrea: :O

Me: “You see, while I appreciate your gesture of friendliness, I can only stay with (or receive food from) people who actually support The Walk — not with folks who want to give from any sense of pity or duty or sympathy or obligation.”

Andrea: “But I just offered you food and a bed.”

Me: “Yes, and I am thankful for the gesture, and yet you do not support me and you do not support my mission, so I will have to be walking on.”

And with that I bid him adieu and made my way back to The Way … 😀

“Lao Tsu supposedly stated that, if one believes in oneself one needn’t try to convince others, and if one is content with oneself one needn’t desire others’ approval, and if one accepts oneself the whole world accepts him or her as well. And yet in practice, this teaching becomes completely counterproductive. For by focusing upon oneself, one separates oneself. And by separating oneself, one always continues to suffer. In reality, enlightenment aligns itself with a far different teaching — namely, the following: If a person chooses to remember the innate Goodness of others, he or she must then choose to act accordingly — embracing those who are bringing peace, and offering kindness to those who are spreading disharmony.” ~ anonymous

*I also stopped by the local tourist information office, asked at the local post office, and even inquired at the lovely chateau of one of the town’s obviously well-off residents — all to equal unavail … 🙂

**This was indeed the mentality I emanated during most of my meanderings through the towns & cities I encountered — reminding myself, and thereby reminding others as well, that the greatest gift we can ever receive is the sheer Joy that comes from giving to those who can give us nothing in return … 😉

***Many hostel owners along The Way spoke acerbically about pilgrims who “abused the system” by trying to guilt-trip or manipulate their way into getting food &/or lodging for free, and this even though they did indeed have the money to pay for the same. That said, of the thousands of pilgrims I met along The Way, Robin was the only one who (quite openly) fit this description … 🙂

Filed under: Peace Pilgrimage #02: Walking HOME (2019) by Scaughdt