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Death of Felisa’s daughter, María

peregrina2000

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When I first walked the Francés in 2000, on the way into Logroño, Felisa was there with her basket of figs, stamp, and a smile. It was one of those things that stays with you. At the time I met her, I had no idea she was a “legend,” she just struck me as a slightly eccentric but totally loving camino provider.

A few years later, I learned Felisa had died and that her daughter María had taken over. But now, it looks like the end of another era.


Edited to add: Another thread links to a documentary video about María.
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
That’s sad. I might have stopped there, I’m not sure. I walked the Frances in 2017. Either way, clearly it’s someone you well remember Peregrina. My sympathies. It has touched me, so no doubt touched you much more. If only we could slow down time or go backwards now and then, just to check on those whom we loved.
 
Stopping here in September 2012, meeting and being welcomed by Maria was a memorable and special experience. Stepping inside her kitchen, she was making toast and coffee for pilgrims - she asked us if we wanted a stamp and invited us to sit at the bench in front of her table. She said yes, when I asked if I could take photos of her and her house. More people came in and we moved outside with our coffee to sit for a bit in front of the house under the grapes hanging over the windows and door. She came out to talk and as we were leaving she picked a bunch of grapes to give to us. I will always remember her. Rest in peace Maria.

Casa Felisa.jpg Casa Felisa 1.jpg Casa Felisa3.JPG Casa Felisa4.jpg Casa Felisa2.jpg Casa Felisa5.jpg Casa Felisa6.jpg Casa Felisa7.jpg Felisa.jpg
 
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Very sorry to hear this news. I met her on my (currently) first Camino on 3 May 2019. My journal shows: "I arrived at the stall run by María (María Teodora Mediavilla Rodríguez) seated under a fig tree. She took over from her mother Dona Felisa who was a legendary Logroňo gatekeeper of the Camino. María stamped my passport with “Higos-Aqua y Amor” (Figs, water and love)." I stopped for quite a while having both a rest and an orange - having finished the orange she saw that I needed to wash my hands and pointed out the tap beside the building. A lovely lady, whilst giving "Higos-Aqua y Amor" I am sure that the "Amor" was reciprocated by the pilgrims she met. RIP
8 Mari (María Teodora Mediavilla Rodríguez) .JPG
 
In the past, I have rarely stopped at these mom and pop stops to get a stamp....especially if there was a line. But this post has reminded me to be more mindful of, and thankful for, the many ordinary, and often extraordinary folk that contribute so significantly to the Camino body. Thank you, Felisa and Maria. May they rest in Peace.
 
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Yes, a very kind and caring person. I just checked our camino passports from our 2019 camino and saw her stamp. This can be a lesson to us that those caring people we meet during our camino may not be with us next time. It is so easy to stop, share a smile, get a stamp and contribute to the kind person that welcomes us on the camino. Bob
 
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The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
Stopping here in September 2012, meeting and being welcomed by Maria was a memorable and special experience. Stepping inside her kitchen, she was making toast and coffee for pilgrims - she asked us if we wanted a stamp and invited us to sit at the bench in front of her table. She said yes, when I asked if I could take photos of her and her house. More people came in and we moved outside with our coffee to sit for a bit in front of the house under the grapes hanging over the windows and door. She came out to talk and as we were leaving she picked a bunch of grapes to give to us. I will always remember her. Rest in peace Maria.

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That's the way I met her in 2012, also in September. The grapes were ripe and she gave me a handful, coffee, picture taking, a hug and much treasured cello.
Rest among the stars, I will always remember her kindness.
 
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When I first walked the Francés in 2000, on the way into Logroño, Felisa was there with her basket of figs, stamp, and a smile. It was one of those things that stays with you. At the time I met her, I had no idea she was a “legend,” she just struck me as a slightly eccentric but totally loving camino provider.

A few years later, I learned Felisa had died and that her daughter María had taken over. But now, it looks like the end of another era.

Ahhh, that is sad. I remember Felisa from 2006.....on the R of the path into Logrono.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Gosh this makes me feel old. I've always found the walk into Logroño very long and hot, and I always pause here. I too remember Felisa, on my first walk, and was glad that her daughter Maria took her spot. I have always made a point of stopping and talking and getting my credential stamped.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Yes, a very kind and caring person. I just checked our camino passports from our 2019 camino and saw her stamp. This can be a lesson to us that those caring people we meet during our camino may not be with us next time. It is so easy to stop, share a smile, get a stamp and contribute to the kind person that welcomes us on the camino. Bob
Yes I also walked in 2019 and stopped for a stamp and small chat. My travelling partners didn't stop and now felt badly about it, especially after watching the recent video of her. Definitely a reminder to stop and "smell the roses" RIP dear Maria.
 
Stopping here in September 2012, meeting and being welcomed by Maria was a memorable and special experience. Stepping inside her kitchen, she was making toast and coffee for pilgrims - she asked us if we wanted a stamp and invited us to sit at the bench in front of her table. She said yes, when I asked if I could take photos of her and her house. More people came in and we moved outside with our coffee to sit for a bit in front of the house under the grapes hanging over the windows and door. She came out to talk and as we were leaving she picked a bunch of grapes to give to us. I will always remember her. Rest in peace Maria.

View attachment 95632 View attachment 95631 View attachment 95634 View attachment 95635 View attachment 95633 View attachment 95636 View attachment 95637 View attachment 95638 View attachment 95639
Thank you for the pictures! ❤️
 
"... she gave me a handful, coffee, picture taking, a hug and much treasured cello." I'm sorry, but that made me smile. :)
 
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Her passing saddens me. I was prepared to walk the Camino last spring but Covid intervened. I looked forward to stopping at her home and highlighted the passage in Brierley and wrote reminders on the map. In my home town of New Orleans, we appreciate eccentricity. Life is to savored, and 'good' uniqueness is to be celebrated. I can't imagine how many thousands of pilgrims intersected with her life, but I can easily imagine how those people helped her emotionally. The many smiles and mentions of 'thank you' must have helped her sense of self-worth. I imagine she swelled with pride. Her death reminds me that while the Camino may be eternal, the Camino culture is fragile. Regretfully, I will never meet her in this life, but surely she is in paradise and looking upon the Camino and all those affiliated or walking on it with love. May God bless you, María.
 
Felisa Medel Mediavilla (3 November 1910 – 20 October 2002)
Maria Teodora Medivalla Rodriguez (18 April 1933 – 15 March 2021)

Widowed in 1958, Felisa worked in the fields like many women of her time to support her family. When she was almost 70 years old, Jesús Martínez Cañas, priest of the San Antonio neighbourhood in Logroño, asked her for help to count the number of pilgrims passing her humble house 'El Chozo' on the path to the city from Viana. Even though she was illiterate, she recorded a small pencil line for each passing pilgrim in the folio book, offering them a fig, water and wishing them love on the way. At the end of each day her daughter Maria counted the number of lines and entered the total in the book.
Many pilgrims asked for a ‘sello’ in their credencials and although Felisa and her daughter had asked the City Council in Logroño numerous times for a stamp, it was a pilgrim from Madrid who eventually designed and posted the famous ‘Higos, agua y Amor” stamp to them.
After Felisa died in 2002 at age 92, Maria continued the tradition of sitting at a ramshackle table under the large fig tree for 12 hours a day in all weather, offering a sello, figs love and water as well as coffee and biscuits to passing pilgrims. “The day I die” she said in 2015, “this will all be over. My daughter Feli helps me but she has her job and she can’t leave it to attend pilgrims without any payment.” On 15 March 2021 Maria passed away in her sleep at age 87.
I first met Felisa in 2002. She was partially blind but greeted each passing pilgrim with a big smile and an offer of figs and water. She died later that year and Maria took over the counting of passing pilgrims. I started collecting photographs and stories of Felisa and compiled a brag-book of photographs and a small booklet of all the stories submitted by pilgrims on the forums, including this one.
In 2007 I walked that way again with my friend Marion. As Maria opened the brag-book she looked shocked and cried out, “Mi madre! Oh, mi madre!” She covered her face with her apron and wept. It wasn’t the reaction we’d anticipated and we didn’t know what to do. She told us that many pilgrims send them post cards but she didn’t have photographs of her mother.
After that, I visited her every time I was in Spain and got to meet her daughter Feli. We kept in touch via email and every time a friend or amaWalkers group was on the Camino Frances, I sent a small gift and a letter to Maria. I was planning on taking her to Santiago but she had to have a knee operation and couldn’t travel.
In 2017 I walked the Camino with my sister-in-law. We walked in Felisa’s memory and asked for a memorial Compostela, which we took to Maria and Feli.
In August last year when Johnny and friends did a “We Walk for You” Camino Frances I asked him to take a letter and gift to Maria. He sent me a short video of her reading the letter. It is the last time I ‘saw’ her. Maria passed away on 15 March.
Feli wrote, "She went without suffering. The day before we were all together, including Iria her great-granddaughter, a perfect day. But the Lord took her in her sleep and she did not suffer. You know that she loved you very much, that remains in your memory."
May she RIP.
 
Felisa Medel Mediavilla (3 November 1910 – 20 October 2002)
Maria Teodora Medivalla Rodriguez (18 April 1933 – 15 March 2021)
Thank you so much for sharing this remembrance of your friendship with Felisa and Maria @sillydoll and for sharing as well the history of their service to, and caring of, pilgrims. Yes, may they rest in peace.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Felisa Medel Mediavilla (3 November 1910 – 20 October 2002)
Maria Teodora Medivalla Rodriguez (18 April 1933 – 15 March 2021)
Thank you @sillydoll for sharing your story. It brought tears to my eyes... so special. I'm sorry for your loss and for the family's loss.
I hope and trust that Felisa and Maria gained as much from their camino ministering as they gave to everyone else.
RIP
 
Thank you @sillydoll for sharing your story. It brought tears to my eyes... so special. I'm sorry for your loss and for the family's loss.
I hope and trust that Felisa and Maria gained as much from their camino ministering as they gave to everyone else.
RIP
I remember meeting Maria and have just checked the Credential for her stamp.........24/9/09. However, I did not know the history of their camino ministering. Thank you for sharing her story.
RIP
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I am sad to read of the passing of Maria....I remember her well - first in 2013 and then again in 2018. I stopped and chatted with her both times, bought a couple of items from her table and, in 2018, received the most beautiful and special Hug from her. She had such a beautiful smile and each time I saw her, she was just the same. Happy and smiling. I will hold these memories of her very close to my heart for a long time to come.
 
Being a first timer walking the CF September 2018 and knowing nothing of this beautiful story I’m reading here, we almost walked past the stall. Yet there was something about the elderly lady who looked so kindly at us from her seat behind the table. We stopped and I bought a fridge magnet, one I hadn’t seen elsewhere and really liked. Maria, as I now realise, asked for our credentials to stamp. That is how I know, having wondered as I read the posts above if this was the same person who had made such a loving impression on me, because I looked in my credential and there is the Higos - Agua y Amor stamp for 18 - 9 - 18. And I’m delighted. 😀
 
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I am sorry to hear this sad news. I checked my credential. Sure enough, the stamp was there. Rest in Peace, and God Bless.
 
I am sorry to hear this sad news. I checked my credential. Sure enough, the stamp was there. Rest in Peace, and God Bless.
I stopped here again in May 2022, Maria's granddaughter was sitting at the stall selling the normal items and the sello "Felisa - Higos- Agua Y Amor" although I don't think that she was keeping the records that her grandmother and great-grandmother before her used to keep. Additionally, I think that outside of supermarkets the cans of coke were the cheapest I found, 1 Euro.
 

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