Hi everyone, me again, with a bit of a late post. Thank you for your patience! Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind and a very late night for myself, so I never got around to writing a post – my apologies. 

We spent the morning walking to Ventosa, a small village off the main Camino route that is a lovely pit stop for coffee and food, or even to stay the night like we did. We had lovely warm weather and enjoyed wandering the streets, although there was not very much to see! 

In the afternoon we attempted to visit the church and sadly it was locked, so we spent some time in the garden area and had some great conversations. With that also came some difficult conversations and tough decisions. Due to some circumstances back home, my Dad and I have both agreed to end our trip early and return home on May 5th. 

Of course, this was never the plan and not how we envisioned the trip going, seeing as by then we’d still have 3.5 weeks left. However, life happens, and we are strongly feeling called to return home at this time, in great anticipation of coming back in 1-2 years to finish where we left off. 

Knowing we would be coming back in the future did help in this decision, since now it means we just add a bit more onto the following trip. With that said, it was still a very hard choice to make: to stay or to go. If we go, when? Do we decide now, or give it a bit more time? It was evident that we needed to make a decision sooner rather than later, and so we began looking into flights right away. 

I spent the evening cross checking everything I could, trying to figure out flights, where to walk from here, busses, trains, taxi’s and hotels. Planning a sudden trip home in a foreign country is much harder than one might think! Thankfully all the pieces have been coming together and mostly everything is organized. 

There are so many emotions that have come with this decision – sadness, grief, relief, anticipation, guilt, fear, happiness. It’s a rollercoaster, that’s for sure. We have varying reasons for our different feelings, but my Dad and I both agreed that at this point, with the information we have, we are confident in the decision we have made. Pray the weight of this decision is lifted with time and that we only reflect on the goodness of the trip we have had rather than the sadness over the remaining trip we could not complete. (Since we intend to come back, there shouldn’t be too much sadness anyways!) As my sister said, we had a good 3.5 weeks in Europe – a full trip for most people! We feel truly blessed for all the time we have had, even if it is shorter than the original plans. 

Since seeing the amazing church in Navarrete, our favourite thus far, we both felt like our trip could end right then and there and we would be satisfied. We didn’t know we were both thinking the same thing until later on! We truly loved the church so much, and felt so much inspiration, hope and glory for God. It gave us an indescribable feeling. And what good timing that shortly after we both had an experience of – “my trip could end now and I’d be happy with it all” – that the decision had to be made. God knows our hearts and he works in miraculous ways, for our good and for His. 

I hope you all know the difficulty of our decision, yet the sincerity of it. We have every intention of returning, one way or another, to complete the Camino. When we do, we will continue to post and carry you all with us yet again! 

Thanks for reading along so far! I will continue to post for each day we are still away. We have discussed posting for a bit after we return home to share some more on what we experienced, the Camino in general, insights and growth from the journey, and any other fun stories. Hopefully my Dad will also be able to share more from his perspective! So please keep following along if you so desire! We are honoured to have you all with us on this journey. 

Buen Camino, 

Hannah + Tony