Random People We Meet

Last night, I'm at reVerse, one of my favorite bars where I tend to be a bit of a regular. A very petite middle-aged lady walks in and prepares to sit near me. She's miniscule...maybe 5'0" on a good day. As she turns, I notice the beret she's wearing says "Pays Basque" on it, the French side of the Pyrenees. I mention to her that I'm going to be there in September to do El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It turns out that she did it in May of 2004!

I have been trying to find someone I know or a friend of a friend who has done El Camino and she has yet to find anyone else who's even considering doing it. So of course, this turned into a major conversation as I still have much I want to learn about the trip. In all the years of her life with all the world travel she's done, she said doing El Camino de Santiago de Compostela was by far the best trip of her life. That, of course, makes me want to do it even more.

Here's some of the things she said:

• It's cheap. Refugios are only a few dollars a night. Some are free.
  
• About once or twice a week, she stayed in a hotel to get her own space to truly relax and recover. We'll see how the finances look.
  
• Buy a pilgrim's walking stick in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port. I'm still thinking 2 high tech trekking poles might be the way to go though.
• She did not encounter any bed bugs.
• The first day is the hardest with 80% of it being uphill through the Pyrenees.
• Fisterra (literally, "end of the world") is worth it...even if taking the bus after making it to Santiago de Compostela.
• "You will get blisters, they will hurt, you'll keep walking." Swell. I think I'll start giving my feet a battery acid soaking every night starting now.
• She (at 5'0" and maybe 100 lbs soaking wet) did it carrying 25 lbs in her pack. I'm hoping to do it with less than 20 lbs. We'll see.

Anyway, I got her number in case I have any more questions (which I'm sure I will!). It was amazing to speak to someone face-to-face about El Camino, but even more amazing was the random way I discovered she had done it.