How did the camino provide for you?

[Cybermum]

As our journey gets closer if love to know how the camino has provided for everyone and all those synchronicities that happen when you are connected to nature and the universe !

 

[AlexanderAZ]

I lost a specialized, ultralight spork I brought with me to the Camino while walking one day. I was using it daily and was super bummed. I had carried it on many treks while on previous hiking & motorcycle camping journeys. I unpacked my backpack and went through everything looking for it. Later that evening at the albergue I was staying a pilgrim in the bunk next to me was siphoning through her items and says “My boyfriend told me I needed to carry this but I don’t really want it, do you?”. In her hand was the exact brand spork I had lost but a different color. I couldn’t (and really still can’t) believe it. The “replacement” spork has so much more meaning to me than the one I lost.

 

[Robo]

As our journey gets closer if love to know how the camino has provided for everyone and all those synchronicities that happen when you are connected to nature and the universe !

I think everyone has their own unique experiences. It's best not to go 'expecting' them.
On many occasions my intentions were diverted. Such as planned to stay somewhere and ended up somewhere else. Or got injured and had to slow down. Or whatever..........

It always seemed to be for a reason though. So that I could meet a certain person or see a place......

Then there were very special moments. I called them 'Camino Moments' and wrote about them here. They are more Spiritual in nature. . http://robscamino.com/2015/category/camino-moments/

I would be wary about using the term the 'Camino provides'. It could be interpreted as being ill prepared and just 'expecting' things will somehow get fixed for you by some mysterious force.

I met a Pilgrim who was very much of this mindset and witnessed a few times poor Hostal / Hotel owners running around in circles trying to find him a bed when he arrived late at night in the pouring rain....... "Oh I knew the Camino or God would provide he would say"..........

One frustrated hostal manager said to me one evening, "It wasn't God who had to provide it was me"! "And I had to somehow find an extra bed" ...............

 

[Deleted member 77020]

I think everyone has their own unique experiences. It's best not to go 'expecting' them.
On many occasions my intentions were diverted. Such as planned to stay somewhere and ended up somewhere else. Or got injured and had to slow down. Or whatever..........

It always seemed to be for a reason though. So that I could meet a certain person or see a place......

Then there were very special moments. I called them 'Camino Moments' and wrote about them here. They are more Spiritual in nature. . http://robscamino.com/2015/category/camino-moments/

I would be wary about using the term the 'Camino provides'. It could be interpreted as being ill prepared and just 'expecting' things will somehow get fixed for you by some mysterious force.

I met a Pilgrim who was very much of this mindset and witnessed a few times poor Hostal / Hotel owners running around in circles trying to find him a bed when he arrived late at night in the pouring rain....... "Oh I knew the Camino or God would provide he would say"..........

One frustrated hostal manager said to me one evening, "It wasn't God who had to provide it was me"! "And I had to somehow find an extra bed" ...............

For me, the Camino provided with some awesome people who helped out when I was unable to withdraw money from the bank machines. In Estella, it became apparent I was unable to withdraw money so a fellow pilgrim gave me 5 Euros to phone Mastercard and so was able to get them to send me a new card in Logrono. While at the bus stop a lady who was unable to do the Camino due to an injury gave me a sum of money. At Logrono, a young Christian girl travelling with her brother gave me a large sum of money till I received my new MasterCard. When finally Purolater arrived with my new Mastercard the lady hospitalero at the church-run Albergue threw me out because she said there was no room for me for another night which was a lie. It was after two and had to run and activate my new card. Having accomplished this around three in the afternoon I went out to continue my Camino with a new sought companion. So even though having received generous people to help out the nasty church hospitalero lady was also a gift.

 

[evanlow]

'Camino provides' is quite a cliche.

Just imagine how we must have look to these people. Miserable looking. That tends to get more help from people than usual. With that, the chances of coincidence (with a positive outcome) are quite high. Have a place to eat when all the restaurants are closed thanks to a good samaritan, etc....
Walk a few more Caminos and everything evens out.

Case in point, my last Camino (Portuguese) in April. Dropped my wallet on my first day walking out of Lisbon in the rain. Luckily most of my cash was still with me in the backpack. Use my local sim with data to log on to the bank to freeze my credit card until I got back home. Decided that I need a few more hundred euros to last the 23 days to Santiago. I had met up and ex-colleague who lives in Lisbon for lunch the day before and called him about it. He came to the albergue and spot me the extra cash.

Managed the rest of the camino (cash only) and still have half the money he spotted me back to him with the other half I wired when I got home.

Do you consider that as 'Camino provides'? Or a bit of everything, calculated risk, and making the best out of things.....

 

[Dorpie]

I think what all the stories told so far demonstarte is as much about our lives and society away from the camino as on it. There (at least to my mind) seems to be a great deal of societal pressure to at least be seen to have everything under control. If you reach a point where you can't take care of something it's seen as a weakness or a failing, pride takes over and rather than ask for help that our friends and family would happily give we suffer in silence because that's the adult thing to do. On the Camino we know we are all on unfamiliar territory and I think that makes it far more acceptable to offer and ask for help from people, even strangers. I can't help thinking a little more of that mindset in the broader world would make society a little better.

My own experience of the Camino providing was a family (a pretty poor one I suspect) taking my friend and I in and giving us a huge lunch complete with beer and guiding us back to a point where we could take a bus back to the Camino having got terribly lost leaving Leon. What could have been the most frustrating day I'd spent on Camino is now my absolute favourite thanks to their generosity of spirit. I was delighted after much driving around in September to find them and drop off a small gift in appreciation for what they'd done.

 

[Isca-camigo]

It has provided in an emotional way, I am quite adept at making the most of my physical surroundings and situations even before the Camino, so it has provided in the way that was needed. On my 1st Camino I laughed at another pilgrim one evening over a meal when he used the term "the Camino provides" it was the first time I had heard it and I was a bit incredulous at what he was trying to imply, fortunately he turned out to be right, or if i still want to be very precise then it provides the right causes and conditions for you to be more open to what life can offer, in all it subtleties.

 

[Athena Atterdag]

On the first day of my Paris-Chartres Camino in late May, I had to walk 37 kilometres from my starting point (the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur) to the monastery where I was to spend the night. It was a long and hot day, and for the last several kilometres, I was dreaming about a glass of cold water, or better yet, milk.

Of course, there were no stores in the small village where the monastery was located, but once in the monastery's guesthouse, I opened the fridge to put in my bottle of water to cool it down a bit, and saw it - a carton of milk!

 

[Cybermum]

'Camino provides' is quite a cliche.

Just imagine how we must have look to these people. Miserable looking. That tends to get more help from people than usual. With that, the chances of coincidence (with a positive outcome) are quite high. Have a place to eat when all the restaurants are closed thanks to a good samaritan, etc....
Walk a few more Caminos and everything evens out.

Case in point, my last Camino (Portuguese) in April. Dropped my wallet on my first day walking out of Lisbon in the rain. Luckily most of my cash was still with me in the backpack. Use my local sim with data to log on to the bank to freeze my credit card until I got back home. Decided that I need a few more hundred euros to last the 23 days to Santiago. I had met up and ex-colleague who lives in Lisbon for lunch the day before and called him about it. He came to the albergue and spot me the extra cash.

Managed the rest of the camino (cash only) and still have half the money he spotted me back to him with the other half I wired when I got home.

Do you consider that as 'Camino provides'? Or a bit of everything, calculated risk, and making the best out of things.....

 

[Cybermum]

A bit of everything . Goodwill, camaraderie, good luck and synchronicity and magic thrown in !

 

[Pablo Mac]

I met a girl in 2012 on the Camino Frances .We clicked immediately with a similar sense of humour and a definite spark . My romantic heart was smitten whilst my pragmatic head screamed No !!! For although we were sharing a journey together, we called opposite ends of the earth home ,she's Australian and I'm Irish, our political and social outlooks were similarly poles apart. Never the less, we walked, talked and laughed together for the best part of 300 miles and eventually we fell in love.

She returned home to Australia after a short stay in Ireland neither of us knowing what the future held for us, cue 5 years of long distance complications, disagreements and heartbreak as well as 2 moves for her , first London then Ireland. After much soul searching and a ridiculous amount of procrastination I have agreed to try living in Australia and to leave my beloved Island of Ireland ,at least for the time being .Our wedding is in the Blue Mountains April next 2019 and I cant quite believe it !! So if you are setting out on your first camino be careful ....you never know what blessings (disguised as complications!) God and Santiago might have in store for you .

 

[Kiernan]

I think that the Camino provides, as life itself does, just if we realize it.
Anyway, here we go with my experience:

As I don't use energetic bars, or stuff like that, I use to walk in the good company of some bread, cheese, chorizo, and a "leather wine skin" . Of course I need a knife or a pocket knife (wich I forgot at home....). The very first day I ask a woman (ownering a bar) for lend me a knife for a second, because I needed to cut my protein pack (LOL): she said ok, and keep it. I know: that knife could be very very cheap....but saved my life for many days!.

A couple of weeks after that, I stopped for a while to enjoy a mix of landscape...and protein (LOL again), and few minutes after, a fellow pilgrim reached me, we began to talk, he sat with me, I offered him some proteins, and, when he saw my cheap knife, told me that the Camino always provide; he had found a pocket knife, and gave it to me as a gift (he already had is own knife).

At this point, I must say that that kind of pocket knife, was a special knife for collecting wild mushrooms, wich is one of my wife favourites hobbys. And, of course she is using it since then.

 

[Kiernan]

and to leave my beloved Island of Ireland

Congrats. It must be true love!!
;-)

 

[Deleted member 59555]

As our journey gets closer if love to know how the camino has provided for everyone and all those synchronicities that happen when you are connected to nature and the universe !

Hi Mum I was 68 when I walked my first Camino going back next april for my third I will be 70 then mmm. It changed my life you could say it saved my life it will do the same for you IF you want it. Thats all you need to know. Good luck God bless.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

When I needed a bocadillo, there was always one nearby.

 

[november_moon]

I have a lot of "Camino Provides" examples - they are all simple acts that happened at the right moment. Here's one that always comes to mind when I think of this topic:

My husband and I were both just having an off day - just cruddy all around. He had a backpack failure. I tripped and fell a few times. It was hot. I don't remember what else, but it was like there was an ill wind blowing that day. A fellow pilgrim that we had met a few days before passed us up on the trail - we chatted a bit, and then he was going to walk on since he walks faster than we do, but before he left, he asked where we were planning to stay that night. He was planning to stay in the same town, so he said he'd come find us about 6 and we'd go have dinner and some wine. He rounded up another couple friends and we ended up having a wonderfully relaxing evening - just sitting out with good food, wine, and good company. It was wonderful. That crap day turned into one of my favorite evenings on the Camino - all because this man, whom we barely knew, saw that we needed a little special care that day.

 

[bchikergirl]

I think what all the stories told so far demonstarte is as much about our lives and society away from the camino as on it. There (at least to my mind) seems to be a great deal of societal pressure to at least be seen to have everything under control. If you reach a point where you can't take care of something it's seen as a weakness or a failing, pride takes over and rather than ask for help that our friends and family would happily give we suffer in silence because that's the adult thing to do. On the Camino we know we are all on unfamiliar territory and I think that makes it far more acceptable to offer and ask for help from people, even strangers. I can't help thinking a little more of that mindset in the broader world would make society a little better.

My own experience of the Camino providing was a family (a pretty poor one I suspect) taking my friend and I in and giving us a huge lunch complete with beer and guiding us back to a point where we could take a bus back to the Camino having got terribly lost leaving Leon. What could have been the most frustrating day I'd spent on Camino is now my absolute favourite thanks to their generosity of spirit. I was delighted after much driving around in September to find them and drop off a small gift in appreciation for what they'd done.

This was also my experience! I was very lost one day, had walked 3 hours in the wrong direction after leaving early in the morning because I couldn't sleep. A police car went past me, turned around and came back, took me for breakfast and coffee and delivered me back to the point where I should have turned off the main road. Other than being very embarrassed, it was an amazing moment and I'm so thankful that they took the time to not only stop and tell me I was not on the right path, but to buy me food and coffee because they said it just looked like I needed some That day could have ruined my entire camino, and instead it is one of my treasured memories.

 

[longwayhome]

As our journey gets closer if love to know how the camino has provided for everyone and all those synchronicities that happen when you are connected to nature and the universe !

Synchronicities...walking along towards Carrion de los Condes I saw something out of the corner of my eye and recognised it as a boot lace in the dust. I remembered that a new pilgrim friend who was somewhere up ahead had mentioned needing to replace his broken lace so I went back and picked it up. It looked brand new.Imagine my amazement later over a cold cerveza when I presented it to him only to be told he had one spare identical new striped lace but had dropped it somehow out of his pack while walking. I assume it was his that I found.

The Camino also provided lovely chance meetings. I "ran into" a woman in Santiago who I had started my first camino night with in an albergue in St Jean Pied de Port. She had gone to do the Norte and I had done the Frances but we had not exchanged details. It provided a lovely sense of completion to meet her again.There was another Irish lady who I kept bumping into approximately weekly but did not walk with particularly nor stay with. I called her Dublin Debbie and she would show up at the most unlikely times, dressing a fellow pilgrims blisters in a gutter at Reliegos for instance. I was delighted to give her one last hug in the Pilgrims Office in Santiago on my last day. I assume many people have these chance meetings.

 

[Cybermum]

Synchronicities...walking along towards Carrion de los Condes I saw something out of the corner of my eye and recognised it as a boot lace in the dust. I remembered that a new pilgrim friend who was somewhere up ahead had mentioned needing to replace his broken lace so I went back and picked it up. It looked brand new.Imagine my amazement later over a cold cerveza when I presented it to him only to be told he had one spare identical new striped lace but had dropped it somehow out of his pack while walking. I assume it was his that I found.

The Camino also provided lovely chance meetings. I "ran into" a woman in Santiago who I had started my first camino night with in an albergue in St Jean Pied de Port. She had gone to do the Norte and I had done the Frances but we had not exchanged details. It provided a lovely sense of completion to meet her again.There was another Irish lady who I kept bumping into approximately weekly but did not walk with particularly nor stay with. I called her Dublin Debbie and she would show up at the most unlikely times, dressing a fellow pilgrims blisters in a gutter at Reliegos for instance. I was delighted to give her one last hug in the Pilgrims Office in Santiago on my last day. I assume many people have these chance meetings.

Lovely stories xx

 

[Cybermum]

I met a girl in 2012 on the Camino Frances .We clicked immediately with a similar sense of humour and a definite spark . My romantic heart was smitten whilst my pragmatic head screamed No !!! For although we were sharing a journey together, we called opposite ends of the earth home ,she's Australian and I'm Irish, our political and social outlooks were similarly poles apart. Never the less, we walked, talked and laughed together for the best part of 300 miles and eventually we fell in love.

She returned home to Australia after a short stay in Ireland neither of us knowing what the future held for us, cue 5 years of long distance complications, disagreements and heartbreak as well as 2 moves for her , first London then Ireland. After much soul searching and a ridiculous amount of procrastination I have agreed to try living in Australia and to leave my beloved Island of Ireland ,at least for the time being .Our wedding is in the Blue Mountains April next 2019 and I cant quite believe it !! So if you are setting out on your first camino be careful ....you never know what blessings (disguised as complications!) God and Santiago might have in store for you .

Beautiful!!

 

[Jacobus]

As our journey gets closer if love to know how the camino has provided for everyone and all those synchronicities that happen when you are connected to nature and the universe !

IMHO..."The Camino Provides"...is and has been a very controversial assertion. If you consider the Camino to be a physical thing made up of pathways, signage, cafes and albergues and restaurants then those things are definitely provided. Mostly by different levels of government within Spain France and Portugal and by business enterpreneurs who see the benefits of providing services to Pilgrims.
The phrase turns false when considering the individual pilgrim and the individual problems encountered. When faced with a no bed situation it is the pilgrim that sets the standard of provision. Does one turn into a puddle of despair or walk on until more possibilities show up. Do they sleep under a church portico or in an open field or forest? Do they buy a loaf of bread and have that suffice over the far off meal> The pilgrim searches for the solution and one inevitably shows up if the pilgrim is persistent and flexible. If not then...
As for the personal items lost and later sent on to us or carried forward to us etc etc that is due to the honesty, camaraderie, and values of individual pilgrims and ascribing it to the Camino in general I think takes away from the general sense that pilgrims provide for each other. I think that is the essence. We provide for ourselves with the given resources then rely of fellow pilgrims to fill in the gaps. It is rthe people who make up the Camino provides slogan. Ourselves, Friends of the Camino and other Camino oriented groups, Hospitaleros, Innkeepers, shop keepers, resaurant owners, fellow pilgrims (don't forget the loved ones from home who encourage us and transfer money when we run out) that "provide".
An illustration...In 2017 I walked the Portuguese and frequently walked with two Americans. One was 76 and the other 82 (if memory serves). They were wonderful people and their company was highly saught after. WE ran into each other in the Cathedral during Pilgrims mass. The elder of the two had lost his passport the previous night and was unable to claim his certification. I called Ivar and a few other forum members to see if any had connections with the Pilgrims Office. Later that day we reconnected and the certificate had been issued. I was told it was more a sympathetic and reasonable ear at the office than anything we others did.Saying the Camino Provides is like saying the telephone call provides. it is simply the conduit for people to behave humanely with each other and that often allows very good things to happen.

Buen Camino, Bom Caminho, Bon Chemin

 

[trecile]

IMHO..."The Camino Provides"...is and has been a very controversial assertion. If you consider the Camino to be a physical thing made up of pathways, signage, cafes and albergues and restaurants then those things are definitely provided. Mostly by different levels of government within Spain France and Portugal and by business enterpreneurs who see the benefits of providing services to Pilgrims.
The phrase turns false when considering the individual pilgrim and the individual problems encountered. When faced with a no bed situation it is the pilgrim that sets the standard of provision. Does one turn into a puddle of despair or walk on until more possibilities show up. Do they sleep under a church portico or in an open field or forest? Do they buy a loaf of bread and have that suffice over the far off meal> The pilgrim searches for the solution and one inevitably shows up if the pilgrim is persistent and flexible. If not then...
As for the personal items lost and later sent on to us or carried forward to us etc etc that is due to the honesty, camaraderie, and values of individual pilgrims and ascribing it to the Camino in general I think takes away from the general sense that pilgrims provide for each other. I think that is the essence. We provide for ourselves with the given resources then rely of fellow pilgrims to fill in the gaps. It is rthe people who make up the Camino provides slogan. Ourselves, Friends of the Camino and other Camino oriented groups, Hospitaleros, Innkeepers, shop keepers, resaurant owners, fellow pilgrims (don't forget the loved ones from home who encourage us and transfer money when we run out) that "provide".
An illustration...In 2017 I walked the Portuguese and frequently walked with two Americans. One was 76 and the other 82 (if memory serves). They were wonderful people and their company was highly saught after. WE ran into each other in the Cathedral during Pilgrims mass. The elder of the two had lost his passport the previous night and was unable to claim his certification. I called Ivar and a few other forum members to see if any had connections with the Pilgrims Office. Later that day we reconnected and the certificate had been issued. I was told it was more a sympathetic and reasonable ear at the office than anything we others did.Saying the Camino Provides is like saying the telephone call provides. it is simply the conduit for people to behave humanely with each other and that often allows very good things to happen.

Buen Camino, Bom Caminho, Bon Chemin

A thousand likes!

 

[Juspassinthru]

Cybermum,

In 2017, 7 of us walked the CF. I started in SJPP, I rendezvoused with 2 others in Pamplona, a forth joined us in León and the final 3 joined our merry band in Sarria.

On our last day, we’d spent the night in a pension in O Pedruzo and one of our group started very early and in the dark. In his haste, he left his trekking poles. As we left, also in the dark, we saw them but did not know for sure that they were his.

After he realized it, he decided that he would carry on and he found a branch on the ground which became his staff. Rick’s pace is slower than mine and I tracked him down just before Lavacola, very pleased with his staff.

We all walked in to Santiago together and shared our joy in the Plaza. As we started taking pictures, Rick planted his staff, which promptly broke. I guess it’s job was done.

Did the Camino provide? I think so but we each have to decide on our own.

 

[Lirsy]

Somewhere above, it is mentioned that "the Camino provides" is a topic.

I partially agree with that statement. I think it depends on the meaning it has for you "provides".

I would say that the Camino provides by:

• reducing your needs in an incredible degree
• locating you in a friendly environment, surrounded by people who, mostly, want to help you
• giving you a greater opportunity to meet and help other people

Do I think that is important? Yes I do!

And don't you think that I can do all these things at home? Yes I do and I hope I will!! Here it applies another topic: "The Camino doesn`t finish in Santiago, it starts there!!"

 

[Cary]

As I was walking out of Irun yesterday I saw a vegetable stand with some oranges and I thought oh I want an orange very badly but I don’t want to stop & take the time to buy one. So I continued walking. After I have been out of town for maybe an hour I looked down and I saw an orange sitting alongside the road. I picked it up and gave thanks to God. The Camino truly does provide.

 

[Deleted member 397]

For me, the Camino provided with some awesome people who helped out when I was unable to withdraw money from the bank machines. In Estella, it became apparent I was unable to withdraw money so a fellow pilgrim gave me 5 Euros to phone Mastercard and so was able to get them to send me a new card in Logrono. While at the bus stop a lady who was unable to do the Camino due to an injury gave me a sum of money. At Logrono, a young Christian girl travelling with her brother gave me a large sum of money till I received my new MasterCard. When finally Purolater arrived with my new Mastercard the lady hospitalero at the church-run Albergue threw me out because she said there was no room for me for another night which was a lie. It was after two and had to run and activate my new card. Having accomplished this around three in the afternoon I went out to continue my Camino with a new sought companion. So even though having received generous people to help out the nasty church hospitalero lady was also a gift.

Reminded me of a bloke in Aulnay in the refuge who said he couldn't get money out of the atm and asked for €20 and he would give it to me next day or if we missed each other would send it to me, even gave me his address and phone number....he was convincing even had camino photos but it was all a scam.
"The camino provides" some seen to use as an excuse to sponge off others and not be adequately prepared