OK, well right now we have only one fresh story ready to go.  But it’s smokin hot and just in from Cris our South American  Bureau Chief   You know when we first figured out that this blog had vignettes happening I called for an immediate pay raise for the staff here.  Let me credit Pilgrim Farm John our North American Heartland Bureau Chief for helping with that finding.

A vignette is a glimpse.  Cris sent in this one that fits with the current thread where we are speaking of the relationships between folks on the Camino.  How they coped and came up with new ways to think about situations to make them work gracefully.  So, here is Cris’ story as I pull it out of the comments to highlight it for our benefit:

“I agree with what the other Caminoheads said; and what Catherine said about the Camino being a holy place, I also had that sense, many times, for many reasons. Even those moments that could have been read as “respectful”, they were indeed holy, sacred, as if (most of) everybody had understood that there were boundaries to be kept, not because we had to, but because they made the “deal”.

“I remember one night in a packed albergue, the group that night was a old priest from Scotland, a couple on their late 60ies, a man with his 14 years old daughter, another man in his 50/60ies and a few others (of us) who may be in the “hostel-mixed shared room-friendly” age group, and may have not cared too much about undressing/dressing in front of others. But implicitly, none did that. When we were all getting ready to sleep, a very handsome 27 years old German guy said loudly: “I love how caring we are for each other”, totally out of the blue. Then he said, “We are not respectful, we are caring. I would love a world like the Camino.” The priest (who we thought was sleeping already) gave a blessing to us all, and I am sure there were many tears of joy watering sleeping bags.

“All of us got what he said, everybody in that room cared for the other, with a very simple act like changing the clothes to go to sleep in the bathroom… Not because there was something terrible about that, but because the space shared was holy.

I still speak with most of the people that were in that room… and as I am writing, I can bring back the joy of that young guy saying those words.”

Cris, Buenos Aires

Wow, terrific material, thanks Cris!  What a great cross section of folks from all over with different language and different backgrounds.  And with different levels of being beat up by their day’s trek.  They had energy left to be aware of the needs of others.  It was a defining moment I think it is termed.  So much so that she is still in contact with all or most of the group so randomly thrown together in a jumble but having a very positive communal experience.

Alperfect, random jumble love, Felipe.