Helloooo! Ahhh I am so excited writing this my joy just might jump off the page. Tomorrow morning we begin the Camino!  I can’t believe it’s finally happening.

This morning we travelled from Lourdes to St. Jean Pied de Port by bus + train. We met a man at the train station from New Mexico who served in the Vietnam war. He shared so many interesting and insightful stories, and we ended up hanging out until we got to town. He is 73 and doing the full 800km Camino before getting double knee replacements – so amazing! 

Once in St. Jean, we immediately got our credentials, the ‘Camino Passport’ that is stamped at every hostel we stay in to prove we did that section. We also got the traditional shell that hangs off your bag as a sign to others that you are a pilgrim. At our hostel, we were greeted by Eric, a very exuberant and LOVELY man! 

I wasn’t expecting a motivational speech before the Camino, but boy did we get one. He shared how the Camino is not a race or competition, or even about getting to the end. It’s all about the journey the Camino takes you on. A journey within yourself. He described how on the Camino, the ‘route’, or God as we believe, will know the depths of you – and you will be exposed to yourself. Your weaknesses, failures, doubts, sins, troubles, anxieties, sadness, frustrations, failures, etc.. will all be exposed and you will have to face them. And through facing these things, you experience a deep and meaningful journey that is sure to change you forever if you’ll allow it. 

We booked this hostel last minute, and God knew where we needed to be, because his whole speech and welcome was exactly what I needed to hear (and I’m sure my Dad agrees). What a blessing to have such an amazing host. 

Now that it’s 2200, I’m in bed and winding down since we are set to start walking at 0800. Our hostel room has 10 bunk beds, all full with pilgrims from all over the world. While at dinner we met a lovely couple from Toronto, who after hearing about our 14 hour layover in Toronto on the way home, graciously offered to pick us up and bring us over for food, bonfire, sleep, whatever we need! Praise God for good people. Such a small world, but such a perfect example of the goodness of the Camino, and we haven’t even started! 

Ok.. this post is getting very long because I’m very excited and want to share EVERYTHING, but I’ll wrap it up. We will be remembering you all every step of the way and I look forward to updating you on the first day of the journey! God Bless! 

Buen Camino!

Hannah + Tony