Ponferrada Hospitaleras and Beyond

An amazing thing happened today. 

We registered a young man from Romania last night.  He came to our hostel to sleep for the first time in over a week inside a building.  He has been sleeping in the forests because he has only 12 Euro left to get to Santiago, which is 124 miles away.  He has no sleeping bag or tent.  He just lays down in the forest.

He felt horrible that he couldn’t contribute any money to stay here.  People can stay here for free if they want to.  We assured him that he was welcome here.  We made sure he had a hot meal. 

This morning, Brenda had opening duty.  When this young man came downstairs, he apologized again and thanked us for letting him stay.  I happened to have some Euro in my pocket, which I gave him.  Then, I gave him one of the hearts we mentioned in an earlier post.  He teared up and said, “Because of this place and this heart, I have hope. Thank you so much.”  This young man has had a hard life, I think.  But he has hope.  He put the heart in his chest pocket so it would be close to his heart.  He gave me a big hug and walked out to the trail.

A saying along the Camino is, “the Camino provides.”  It was an incredible feeling to be able to provide something for this young man and to offer comfort and encouragement.

It’s Camino magic.  I think anyone who has been on the Camino has felt it.

PS-  as of today, we have had peregrinos register here from 30 countries!