LauraK
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Leon-Santiago (2004) Roncesvalles-Leon (2006) Camino Frances (2012) Kumano Kodo-Japan (2014) Camino Sanabres/Salamanca-Santiago (March 2015) Camino Del Salvador and Camino Primativo (Oct 2015)
There is a little stop in Eiras between A Gudina and Laza where you can get coffee and snacks and rest. it is donativo. The person volunteering was a Czech man who was very nice. He told me how he lost his farm and ended up in Prague with only 60 euros and a priest told him about the Camino. He says he has been walking for three years ( he looked like it). He said the owners of the place were letting him stay there for a few days and he had only been there for about a week. He wasn't sure how long they would let him stay. He told me stories about all the pilgrims that had helped him and the little miracles that happened when he needed something. He told he made money by working hard at doing chores for people in the villages as he walked the camino. He also talked about the bad toothache and how he only had enough antibiotics for a few days. Mind you, he artfully wove this into the discussion (told me to excuse his smoking that he only took up recently because he had pain from his toothache). Of course when I left I gave him an extra big donativo in his box. He thanked me and told me he could now go to Laza and get the rest of his antibiotics. He warned me about the wolves in the woods that he had recently seen and warmed me to be careful. As I walked out of town a Range Rover pulled in and the two people came out and greeted the man with a hug like they knew him. He quickly told me he had just recently met them. I really didn't think anything about it...I was in blissful Camino mode where everyone I meet I find interesting and kind. I just returned from the VdlP and happened to be reviewing a guide online to check names of the towns and wouldn't you know...the guide talks about the Czech man in Eiras that she met in March 2014. He told her he had been volunteering there for just the past few months and warned her about the wolves he had seen during the day. Well, I am not usually such a gullible person and at the time his story seemed a bit convoluted and unusual but I wasn't in a judging mode. Anyway, I obviously was scammed. It didn't take away from my wonderful Camino...I had a good laugh that I actually believed this story which now does seem far fetched! I just wanted to warn anyone else that happens to stop in Eiras. Enjoy the company and stories and leave a reasonable donativo