Singing Nuns and True Caring – Camino Days 19-22 (León)
At the end of a long day of 27 km and 39,000 steps, we stumble into Casa Susi in Trabadelo. As the owner glides down the stairs, I preemptively answer the question they always ask, which is, "Do you have a reservation?" As I rush into this un-greeting, he doesn’t even answer, he just smiles and looks me in the eye, and holds out his hand. I take his hand. It feels more like a warm, loving embrace than a handshake. My name is Fermin, he softly says, what is yours?
While most hostels sadly are so overwhelmed that they efficiently ask “Do you have a reservation” instead of a welcome, this is not the first time I’ve received a real welcome and greeting and immediately felt cared for. Sister Jenny at the convent albergue in Carrión de los Condes greets us not with a confirmation of our reservation, but with a cup of lemon tea and biscuits. We sit on low comfortable chairs with our backpacks left at the door, and settle into feeling refreshed and like we are in a safe spot that truly honors our journey and wants to support us.
At 7:00, Jenny and the other singing nuns guide us to the church for a special singing vespers and Pilgrims' Blessing, where she plays guitar and the nuns sing otherworldly hymns during a brief but powerful service. We return to our hostel for a round of introductions and songs, each person encouraged but not demanded to share something from their culture. I take the guitar, channel my inner Galen, and together with Sarah sing “You Will be Found” from Evan Hansen. Later I lead an old song that simply says “Hallelujah, God is One”, and each time ask someone else to translate “God is One” into their own language, and we sing that together. A magical way to weave languages in peoples together that I used to use with Habitat for Humanity in Africa.
In addition to hospitalero volunteers and singing nuns, we Pilgrims take turns taking care of each other as needed. When Sarah couldn’t go on and had to sit on the ground on day two, Viviana magically pulled out bread with marmalade to refresh her while I was searching for a protein bar, and all six nearby pilgrims waited a long time to make sure she would be OK to continue. That night we all waited for Roger, who finally arrived after 12 hours, four other people having helped him down the final difficult passage and lending him their precious walking sticks. Today Sarah sat on the ground with a woman who couldn’t continue because of her blisters, and we gave her our extra tube of anti-inflammatory cream, then handed her off to a retired doctor from New Zealand, who continued to care for her.
My support for others has often taken the form of music. At one hostel I lead a sing-along for over an hour in multiple languages, with Italians dancing, Zois joyfully singing along to Malaika in Swahili, and somehow everyone knowing how to belt out Wonderwall. Two of our Camino friends have later said they met people who talked about that night and how magical it was for them as well as for me. We all have gifts to share, and the Camino provides not only what you need to receive, but what you need or are able to give.
Sarah ministers with her whole gentle Earth Mama spirit, body and voice. She freely flows between French-Spanish-Portugese-English with musical accent and soft intonation that draws people in - a Korean couple gushes “Your voice is so soft, and we can understand you!” We chat with 80-year-old Conchita at a community notice board in her small town, and she calls Sarah her “maga,” which poetically translates to “I love you for your beauty, simplicity and grace.”
Back at the singing nuns Vespers, an Aussie mother holds her daughter throughout the entire service, a simple loving gesture that has stayed with me the rest of this trip. In our sharing circle later, that 30 year old daughter shares that she lost someone dear to her last year, and is on this Camino to process that loss. A few people later around the circle, a young Korean man uses his Google translate to share that he too lost a friend who dearly wanted to walk the Camino, so "I am walking the Camino with my friend in my heart." The Camino provides mirrors as well as doors.
In Leon, we bump into two of the Spaniards who cared for me when I was struggling with my ankle. They have left the Camino, but are there just for the weekend as local tourists. They are so thrilled to see us, and his hug is almost as warm as Fermin’s. I let them know that I credited them as angels in my blog, and that their ministry has helped me carry on. In normal life, we don’t always know whose lives we touch, but here we are also interconnected that it is easier to understand how important we all are to each other.
Halfway There!
Other notes of interest from this 4-day stretch. We passed the halfway point, marked by a very old gateway and hermitage. I took the photo not even knowing it meant we’d now walked 400 km, with a mere 400 more to go. This is the first milestone I’ve been really watching for, but it passed by as smoothly as every other kilometer, every other step after step. Certainly not ready to be counting down to the finish yet!
Before the Carrion singing nuns, I took time to visit a museum, a monastery with crypts, and a rather lost and injured owl…
Leon, the next big city, offered the usual mix of industrial scenery, gourmet food, and classic church architecture and stained glass. Some pilgrims try to time their days so they can just walk on through these cities, but we enjoy the variety, and an end-to-end Leon traversing day would be an endless monotony of urbanity without enjoying the urban-treat respite.
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Currently in...
Philadelphia
Heading to...
Costa Rica (Monteverde) till Christmas, then Thailand (Chiang Mai), Vietnam (Hoi Ann, Feb-Mar). Please share any sites, people or ideas by email.
Powerful experiences Bro!! Sounds like you are connecting with awesome humans!! AHO!! 🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻
I don’t know if the people here are any more awesome than anywhere else, or just more open to their awesomeness.