Close encounters of the Camino kind

Thirty kilometers today, to Arzua. The post right outside my auberge tonight says 39.123 kilometers (Yes, that precise) to Santiago.

If the rest of it is as delightful as today, I’m ok with it.

Today was filled with pastoral settings and magical forest paths ( and a few brushes with busy highways) but what made it the most fun was the people.

Yes, there are many new faces since Sarria, but everywhere I turned, old friends were popping up.

I stopped for breakfast at a busy cafe called Quo Vadis. A woman who was briefly a stranger joined me at my table. After the usual few minutes of chitchat, she said, “Are you Bob? Do you know Grainne? She told me I was supposed to look for you, that you’re an interesting guy.”

Grainne is an Irish woman I’d met at breakfast two days earlier. This was the woman she’d been waiting for that morning.

Minutes later, my longtime friend Taylor walked in. They already knew each other.

Bill and his daughter Hannah were right behind Taylor, as were several more familiar faces.

As I got up to leave, I realized that I had some connection to every single person except one in Quo Vadis.

Someone shouted, “Bob’s leaving! Everyone say, ‘Bye, Bob!’”

And they did.

Two hours later, I paused by a picnic table for a water break and four more Camino friends stopped to join me. We shared some chocolate and stories and walked together for a while.

I had dinner tonight with three more friends who are staying in the same auberge.

As we sat down to eat, I glanced several tables over and almost stopped breathing. A woman sitting alone was the spitting image of my cousin Maura, who passed away last year.