- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2013,2015,2017,2022
I was browsing my pictures and stumbled on this one. Suddenly my eyes teared up, and I really felt like I was sitting with pilgrims at Refugio Gaucelmo sharing our lives and eating....homemade apple pie! I think I may have shared as version of this story before. But as I sit here with happy memory tears, I need to share it again. At the time this pic was taken in 2015 we were serving as hospitaleros at Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino. My husband and our third colleague were slowly recovering from a bad case of food poisoning, so it had been a busy day for me, and exceedingly hot — almost 40 C.
Early in the afternoon a pilgrim warned us to be ready for the “hippies” coming down the way. I’m ashamed to say I fell right into the stereotype and started worrying about pot and sex in the Huerta! Sure enough, about an hour later a group of five or six hippies showed up and set up camp in the garden. That is where the stereotype ended. Shortly after setting up, two of the hippy pilgrims asked if they could cut the grass for us. This was no small task! Even on a good day the Huerta at Gaucelmo is large. And on this day, not only was it sweltering, but the grass was about a foot tall. The hospitaleros before us had been ill with the flu and we had had food poisoning so grass cutting had fallen to the bottom of the lost of chores!
An hour later, with the grass completely cut, the hippies asked if our oven worked (yes!) and where they could get supplies to make pie. I directed them to the various shop options in Rabanal, but hadn’t learned my lesson yet as I also immediately began worrying about the collossal kitchen clean up we would be facing the next morning.
In the mean time, a Lithuanian mom and her 12 year old daughter walked in. The young girl was fascinated by the hippies. The pilgrim we had come to think of as the Chief Hippie, quickly swept the girl into the circle making pie in our kitchen. Needless to say, the pie was huge, tasty and we all enjoyed it for dessert that evening. Oh, and the kitchen was cleaned to within an inch of its life!
it is one of my favorite camino memories. This pic is of our young Lithuanian pilgrim and the chief hippie enjoying the fruits of their labor.
To me this day captured all that is wonderful about the Camino! Friendship and giving accross boundaries of age, language and culture, letting go of stereotypes and judgments and meeting people right where they are, the triumph of hard work, and the utter and complete joy of shared bounty.
Ultreia!
LizB
Early in the afternoon a pilgrim warned us to be ready for the “hippies” coming down the way. I’m ashamed to say I fell right into the stereotype and started worrying about pot and sex in the Huerta! Sure enough, about an hour later a group of five or six hippies showed up and set up camp in the garden. That is where the stereotype ended. Shortly after setting up, two of the hippy pilgrims asked if they could cut the grass for us. This was no small task! Even on a good day the Huerta at Gaucelmo is large. And on this day, not only was it sweltering, but the grass was about a foot tall. The hospitaleros before us had been ill with the flu and we had had food poisoning so grass cutting had fallen to the bottom of the lost of chores!
An hour later, with the grass completely cut, the hippies asked if our oven worked (yes!) and where they could get supplies to make pie. I directed them to the various shop options in Rabanal, but hadn’t learned my lesson yet as I also immediately began worrying about the collossal kitchen clean up we would be facing the next morning.
In the mean time, a Lithuanian mom and her 12 year old daughter walked in. The young girl was fascinated by the hippies. The pilgrim we had come to think of as the Chief Hippie, quickly swept the girl into the circle making pie in our kitchen. Needless to say, the pie was huge, tasty and we all enjoyed it for dessert that evening. Oh, and the kitchen was cleaned to within an inch of its life!
it is one of my favorite camino memories. This pic is of our young Lithuanian pilgrim and the chief hippie enjoying the fruits of their labor.
To me this day captured all that is wonderful about the Camino! Friendship and giving accross boundaries of age, language and culture, letting go of stereotypes and judgments and meeting people right where they are, the triumph of hard work, and the utter and complete joy of shared bounty.
Ultreia!
LizB