And so it was that I returned to the primary hostel, where hospitalero Daniel witnessed my warm & heartfelt farewell to hospitaleras Marie & Ria – both of whom had campaigned hard for Daniel and his boss to make an exception to the rule and allow me to stay the night, and both of whom were visibly upset that I was being turned away at all, much less on a night that promised to be damp & cold. Indeed, Ria was so moved by my apparent plight* that she sat me down in one of the common rooms and brought me a plate of bread & fruit (!!!) … Daniel then offered to allow me to secretly shower there after all the other pilgrims had been admitted and settled in for the night. Interestingly enough, all of this had been witnessed by a highly distraught Jean Marc, who I had told the day before (and more than once throughout the previous day’s walk) would not be allowed to provide for my lodging any more on this pilgrimage – that it was time to either allow for others to know the Joy of selfless giving or for me to once again “rough it.”

“Pilgrims are not themselves, nor do they exist in others. They move as they are moved, speak as words come, see when they open their eyes, and love whenever another is at hand. I met a womanonce and asked her where love had led her. ‘Fool!’ she replied, ‘There’s no such destination to arrive at. Loved one and lover and love itself are always present in every encounter’ … So it is that every man, woman, and child on this earth is a wandering pilgrim in his or her own way — each searching for a belonging place; a sense of belonging that can only be found while we are caring for one another.” ~ inspired by Farid al-Din Attar & Seth Adam Smith

*Know that I had gently assured everyone involved that I was not at all upset at having been rejected by the hostel, that I didn’t want anyone to come to any trouble on my account, and that I was going to be just fine that evening no matter what happened.

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