Day 085t: Another warmer Welcome … (July 08, 2019)
Ages was one of the Camino’s known safe-havens from my past – specifically the small & rustic-yet-warmhearted donativo hostel called Casa Caracol (“House of the Snail”) in which I had stayed back in 2008. And yet search as I might, Casa Caracol was nowhere to be found, and I soon learned from some local folks that eleven years is a long life for any hostel, and that Casa Caracol was long since no more. Not knowing what else to do (after having looked without success for a covered bench or barn under which to take shelter), I entered a refugio* that had obviously been built in relatively recent years to see if they might offer a peace Pilgrim a place to sleep for the night. As was always the case in similar moments, I made sure to note that I didn’t need to take up an actual bed in their abode; that a dry spot on any floor would be appreciated just as much. Sometimes such encounters were met with rejection, sometimes with indifference, and sometimes with begrudging acceptance, and yet rarely did I ever experience what proprietor Carlos Miguel offered that evening – namely, a warmhearted welcome that was as emotional as it was effusive. He asked a few questions about my Walk & its Way, and then immediately offered me not only a warm bed for the night, but warm food for my empty belly and warm praise for my mission as well …
“Life is oh so short, and the older you get, the more you come to understand the same. Indeed, as time passes the fleetingness of it all becomes more clear. Strangers & friends alike lose their capacity to walk, to run, to think, and sometimes even to experience life at all. It is a blessing of time that as we all age, we each – in our own time – come to realize just how important it is to use the time we have; not by merely having more fun or seeing the world or fulfilling bucket lists banal, but rather to do the one thing we are all here to do: to do as much good for others as we can in the brief time we have been given.” ~ inspired by Nicholas Kontis
*Albergue el Pajar de Ages
(Carlos Miguel Bilbao)
Ochabro 12 (meelio paralela)
09199 Ages
Burgos Spain
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