I met Dominique at the municipal albergue in Logroño. We had both had a long day hiking and our feet were throbbing. There were 14 bunks in our room and Dominique was above me. We arrived within minutes of each other. We introduced ourselves and Dominique told me to call her Dom. We rested for a few hours but then our stomachs were growling.
Dom and I went out to find some dinner. When we stepped out of our albergue, we could tell we were in a city! The streets were bustling because of a wine festival called San Mateo, celebrating the beginning of the grape harvest. We found a restaurant that was serving a pilgrim’s menu and settled in.
Dom is a counselor who specializes in PTSD care. She has two grown children and her husband recently left the family, divorced Dom and has a college age live-in girl friend. Dom is from Canada and is the “dressed to kill,” always with stilettos type. This is her first time “roughing it” hiking.
Dom heard about El Camino from a colleague who did the pilgrimage earlier this year. Once her colleague returned to work, she would daily tell Dom she needed to go to Spain and hike El Camino. It would change her life and she would be so glad she did it.
At dinner, Dom was ready to throw in the towel. She felt that she had finished what she had come to do on El Camino the first week. She had processed through her husband leaving her, years of him living a secret life and any ill feelings she had towards him. She felt released from him.
She was thinking of booking a flight to Greece to enjoy the beach. This being her first time in Europe, she was not enjoying seeing it by foot. Plus her feet were pretty beaten up, blistered and bandaged. She was appalled because at home she gets a pedicure twice a month and her feet had never looked or smelled so bad.
I gave Dom a listening ear and let her bounce different ideas off me about alternate ways to see Europe. I told Dom a bit about my experience on the Appalachian Trail and encouraged her to hike her own hike and not feel pressured to keep pace with anyone. If her feet were hurting after 15 kilometers, then stop and take a break. She should enjoy hiking not only feel the burden of the physical hardship. We enjoyed our dinner and headed back to our albergue for the 10 pm curfew.
The next morning, Dom booked a hotel in Logroño that was going to let her check in at 9 am. She was going to take the day and decide what she wanted to do; stay and hike El Camino, catch buses along the route and catch up with groups she had hiked with before, fly to Greece, go to Asia and spend time with her sister, etc. I was leaving at 7 am and Dom wanted to walk me out of the city.
The festivities the night before from the San Mateo festival had gone on until at least 5 am. We heard fireworks at 11:30 pm and groups of people outside our albergue until 5 am partying. There were crews cleaning the streets as we walked. We came to a cathedral and the side door was open. I commented on the cathedral being open because I was surprised and Dom asked if I wanted to go in.
Once we were inside, Dom wanted to light some candles. I took a seat and waited. After a few minutes, Dom came over and told me she was supposed to walk with me today. I said ok and we set off.
On our way, there was a statue of pilgrims hiking and we took a picture. There was a cafe that was just opening across from the statue, we went in to have breakfast. We sat with a couple from Ireland that had just flown in and were beginning their hike that day. They were going as far as they could in 10 days.
As we talked we could see all the pilgrims stopping to take pictures with the statues. We kept saying, “that’s so and so, from ______” and waving. Then I saw Tim and Nina from Washington State and had to run out and say hi. I had been praying for them the day before, coming into the city and asking God if I would see them again. I went out and took their picture for them and we shared hugs all around. They came in the cafe and had breakfast with us.
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Then we four set off for a day of hiking together. We all shared more of our stories with each other and the kilometers flew by. Before we knew it, it was time for a lunch break. Nina and Dom have similar careers and were able to talk about different kinds of therapies.
At lunch, different pilgrims were coming that Dom and Tim and Nina had hiked a day or two with and many connections were made. There was a woman I had spent the night with earlier in the week, Pamela, that had hiked with both Dom and Tim and Nina and she had told them about each other and wanted them to meet since the women were in similar fields. Then Bruce came and he had Pamela’s phone number and called her and we all spoke to her. It was a lunch break that was like a homecoming/reunion.
As we were hiking, Dom told us that while we were in the cathedral that morning and she was lighting candles, the Lord told her to walk with me. That’s when she told me she was supposed to walk with me. She was happy about that because she liked my calm presence and I had told her we could take as many breaks to rest our feet as we liked. As the day went on, the Lord blessed Dom with connection after connection and she felt renewed. She now has a sense of purpose and feels she belongs on El Camino. Her feet are sore but she is hiking on and enjoying it!
