Chapter 9: Buen Camino

Our next stop would be Santiago de Compostella. We said goodbye to the sunny beaches of Almeria and headed out to the Northwest of Spain. But not without a few more stops along the route, starting with the beautiful city of Sevilla. A lot of people recommended us visiting this city, and we could definitely recommend you doing so as well. We didn't have half the time we needed to enjoy it to the fullest, but we certainly were amazed by all the beautiful buildings and the warm atmosphere of the city.

Travelling from the outer south-east to the outer north-west of Spain is more than we could drive in one day, so we decided to stop by another Ecovillage, Los Portales. They sent us the details of how to come there from Sevilla. So with the description in hand we set out. Looking for the right exit from the motorway, we passed the first, and then the second. Driving on, we thought: the right exit should be very close now. But without any sign of recognition we drove into the night. As the hour passed, we started to get worried, and finally decided to check on our Tom-tom if we didn't pass it already, only to find out that we passed the exit one hour ago. We called them to say that we would probably arrive in the middle of the night. They assured us that that was not a problem as long as we could find the key to all of the six gates (Los Portales).

We drove back and after more than an hour we found the place where the road would lead us to a dirt road, that would go on for another half an hour into the middle of nowhere. There we found the key, and one by one we unlocked all the six gates (and closed them after us). We even spotted some genuine Spanish wildlife, a wild Iberian boar, a small fox and a rabbit.
The ecovillage consists of about 30 people, living in several buildings on a compound spanning many acres. There is a huge vegetable garden, a solar farm, a Eucalyptus forest, a source and goats wandering the 'Holy Mountain'.
The next morning we were introduced to the international community, people from France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Spain. They follow the teachings of Dr. Jung, how a persons dreams can be analysed in archetypes, which show us something of who we are, and where we come from. The community originally started as a group of people that wanted to live closer together, to learn more from their and each others dreams, and to become better people. They bought a house, and later the farm in Spain and got more and more involved in environmental awareness along the way. So now they make their own cheese, olive oil, bread and provide for their own electricity.
Our stay here gave us more insight and inspiration on community- and eco-life, and showed us the importance of a shared vision.

Then at last we traveled to O'Coto, where we were welcomed by a Dutch family that runs a hostel along the pilgrimage route. We came in late, so we didn't had the chance to greet the whole family. But the next morning they took their chance. We woke up from a knock on our door, followed by five children walking in to our bedroom to give us our breakfast of delicious pancakes. It took us a few more mornings before we were able to rise up as early as they normally did, so that we could have breakfast with them in the kitchen. Until that time, our mornings started around eight with these lovely children bringing our breakfast on bed. Time to introduce them, there is Job and Arienke with their children Jet, Bob, Henk-Jan, Siebe and Maartje. Job and Arienke are homeschooling these children, which means that there is a school moment each morning, helping with chores in the afternoon and enough time to play in between. Each day was wonderful and energetic, it was very inspiring to see how they combined the homeschooling with their day to day life and it was a privilege to be part of this family for a week.

After a few days we prepared and set out to start our own pilgimage to Santiago de Compostella. From O'Coto it was (only) 58 kilometers to Santiago and we planned to walk 3 days. Since we set out in winter, there were not many pilgrims, so during the day we didn't meet many people. Nevertheless, each night when we arrived in a hostel there were other pilgrims. It was a very interesting experience. When you are walking, there is nothing else then your thoughts. So to keep going we shared many stories, memories and thoughts with each other.

The final evening of our pilgrimage we met with Jaime, from Spain and Sabrina from San Marino. They walked all the way from the French border. They met each other allong the Camino, and decided to continue walking together. Now the final stage of their journey arrived and Jaime was furious: 'We walked all the way, all the hostels were very nice and hospitable to us, but ever since we entered Galicia all the hostel kitchens are empty. How are we supposed to make our food.' He explaned to us that in all the other hostels the kitchens are well supplied with pots, pans and tools, the only thing you have to provide it the food. This is also what we experienced in the hostel in Vezelay. But here, because it is almost the end of the camino, the gouvernment, that runs these hostels, is worried that the pilgrims might take their nice kitchen equipement. So they provided it with only a stove and a microwave.
Jaime said: 'I have to channel my anger someway, so I want to organize a special celebration diner, to celebrate our final day on the Camino. Do you want to join? We just put all the food that we have together and make it into a nice banquet.' We're always in for a party, so we said yes.
We brought our food to the kitchen and saw that Jaime bought some pans from the local grocery store, to supply the hostel. 'The future pilgrims will be thankfull for this,' he said. So we started cooking a nice diner.

The past few days Gideon came up with the idea of having a logo for our blog and our stories: something that reflects the purpuse of our journey, and the basis of our faith. So Irma started drafting some ideas for a logo and showed them to Gideon and the other pilgrims. Suddenly the girl, Sabrina, said: 'Let me have a look at this. I study design, and do a lot of logo designs, just for fun.' We showed her our ideas, and asked if she would have any remarks. But then she said: 'Give me a month. When I'm back in San Marino, I will have a look at your ideas, and I will put a logo together for you.'
So, a few weeks later, while we were in Ireland, she told us that she read our blog so far, and that she came up with a wonderfull logo:
This once more showed us that if you need or want something, sometimes all you need to do is just ask.

That evening we were together with eight other pilgrims, we had bread, wine and a lot of different delicious dishes. Simultaniously, we both thought: Bread, wine, last evening together; Lets celebrate Last Supper! Many of the pilgrims were either non-believers or cultural christians, but as we still are on a religious journey, they agreed with us and thought it was a good idea. So Gideon broke the bread and shared the wine and prayed the words of Jesus, and we had a wonderfull Last Supper together. We found that many appreciated it or were inspired by this 'toast', and after a good party, and a short night, we were ready for our final day of walking.

After three days of walking, our muscles felt sore, but our hearts were delighted by new experiences and new friendships. We celebrated this pilgrimage by joining the mass in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. Then Job kindly came to pick us up with his car and after an hour we were back home.