O Cebreiro: Rebirth

It is 10:30pm in O Cebreiro, I’m in bed, all lights are out, and I receive a phone call that will irreversibly alter my path. It is Jose Luis, the hospitalero from Tosantos. I left a message earlier to let him know that Jay found his wallet. I tell him the story and then I share what I had been praying about for the last 5 days, including yesterday’s rosary. I felt a calling with an growing desire to serve the pilgrims. I offer myself as a volunteer hospitalero. He accepts as if he was expecting it and the dates fit perfectly with my availability while in Europe. I only had a limited time and that was the time he could offer me. Tosantos was not only a place that transformed my perspective of the Camino but it was also the albergue I spent the most time in. Due to my involvement with solving the mystery of Jay’s lost wallet and helping with the translation I felt at home when I was there. Many people (or was it angels) in the last two weeks unknowingly planted, and then nourished the seed that would ultimately lead to this phone call (including Maria, the italian mother and one of the 4 Musketeers). By responding to this call I am giving up my adventure to sail the Mediterrenean in the summer. But Tosantos is where I’m called to be and I have peace.

The stages covered in this blog post are in the region of Galicia and include: O Cebreiro – Samos

Galicia

Meiga image in a trash bin

Galicia is the last Spanish region in the Camino, whose capital is Santiago de Compostela. The language spoken is Galician which is somewhere between Portuguese and Spanish. A distinctive feature of galician culture is it’s strong roots in paganism, mystical beliefs, and superstitions. For example some carry a doll of their Meigas or witches in their home or cars. They also have a traditional hot drink called a “Queimada” which is prepared in a cauldron while invoking spirits to repel evil. Their typical musical instrument is the “Gaita Gallega” which is like the scottish bagpipe. Galicians argue that they offer the best seafood in all of Spain, and I agree that their octopus is particularly delicious.

In Galicia the pilgrimage dynamic changes. It is when many not so serious pilgrims arrive. Sometimes they are friends looking for a cheap vacation to drink every night and party, a sort of walking cruise ship. They tend to do the absolute minimum, the 100km required for the Compostela. I don’t say that to mean that to be a true pilgrim you must walk more. I know many authentic pilgrims who start in Galicia, it’s just that there is a larger proportion of those who are there for vacation. In Galicia the municipal albergues become standardized: they all look and work the same way, the hospitaleros are there because it’s the job they get paid to do, and it can be very impersonal.

O Cebreiro: Making My Way Up

I started my walk from the “Ave Fenix” albergue. It is the lowest point between the mountains of the Iron Cross and of O Cebreiro. The climb is slow but steady at first. It’s an interesting dynamic because every 1 or 2 km there is another small town, and each one had its share of treats and pilgrim friends to greet. The feel was like a rapid flashback of scenes from my Camino life. Halfway through the walk the climb turns steep and isolated. Many stop there so they can take on the toughest part fresh in the morning. It takes you into the new land of Galicia, with its new language, and farmland. When I reach the peak, the wind was strong, the beauty incomparable. Hills and mountains in all directions. The chirping of the birds and the awakening of summer. Three days ago we had snow, now I’m sweating wearing a T-shirt. I marvel at the clear sky. I felt renewed but couldn’t understand why.

O Cebreiro: Where the Modern Day Camino Was Born Again

Tomb of Elias

I reach the church at the peak, which is run by Franciscan monks. Inside is the grave of Elias Valiña Sampedro, a man to whom each modern-day pilgrim should extend a gesture of gratitude. This man gave new life to the Camino and built the infrastructure that permitted the explosion of pilgrims that would start in the 1980’s. For most of the 20th century the number of pilgrims per year could at times be counted with the hands. Walking the pilgrimage to Santiago was an adventure of exploration. Navigation skills and knowledge of spanish would be indispensable as many of the signs that showed the way were lost in time. Getting lost several times per day would’ve been the norm. When Elias Valiña was assigned as priest of the O Cebreiro parish in the late 1960’s, it was a town almost in ruins. He was compelled by the Camino and wanted to revitalize it. He went with the ancient codex of the Camino to find the original path so he could mark it. He had no money so one day he asked some road workers who had finished a project if they needed the yellow paint they were using. They gave it to Elias. That is why the Camino is now know traced and known for its yellow arrows. He did this over several years and wrote some books on the Camino to educate the public. I paid my respects when I visited his tomb and prayed with a spirit of gratefulness for the gift his work has been to humanity.

The next important person in the new life of the Camino is Pope John Paul II. In 1982, during the Jacobean year, he paid a visit to the Camino. In this visit he walked part of the pilgrimage to Santiago, endorsed it, and confirmed the blessings it contained for the faithful pilgrims. The Galician government then started a campaign to popularize it. After this the number of pilgrims started to increase exponentially every year.

Sadly, many pilgrims do not know this. Many know about the Camino because of other media from later years, some of it specific to their country. For example many Americans know about it through the movie The Way, many Germans through a famous comedian, many Brazilians through the writings of Paulo Coelho. But it is the work of Elias Sampedro, Pope John Paul II, and the Galician government, that led people like these to walk the Camino in the first place.

After mass I stay to talk with one of the Franciscan Monks. He shares an alternate path, going through the forest and passing by the monastery of Samos in the midst of this forest. It is 7km longer, and I sense it’s where I am to go next. The Samos experience will contain yet one more episode of being born again. This will alter another part of my path after Santiago.

A New Direction: Samos

Going down from O Cebreiro was like breathing new life. I first shared the news of my new hospitalero vocation with Bridgette, the woman who had found Jay’s wallet. We recently found each other in another Camino magic moment. I made a long stop in Triacastela with two pilgrims from Sevilla who were a joy to be around. It is late in the afternoon and here the path splits. I take the road to Samos where I would find myself alone with nature.

Halfway through the forest I see something moving, I fear it is a wild dog and ready my walking sticks for defense. Going closer I notice it is a woman, it is Sofia resting on the grass. I stop by and barely understand her portuguese. She then changes to “Portoñol”, which is a made up language where a portuguese speaker fits in certain spanish words in their portuguese so they can be understood. For a reason I have yet to understand, native portuguese speakers find it easy to understand spanish. Yet, it doesn’t work well the other way and it is more difficult for a native spanish speaker to understand portuguese. She asks me what kind of music we use for dancing in Puerto Rico. I share my personal preference of salsa, and she just happens to be a salsa dancer. We make the most of the opportunity, I take out my mini-speaker, play some salsa and dance in the forest. After a few more hours we reach Samos and stay in its monastery.

Born Again

“That is why I don’t believe in the church, its members or the Christian faith”. Sofia said during dinner when referring to how the old eccentric monk acted in her presence. She then goes on and on about everything she doesn’t like about the church and everything that is wrong with it. Since I was trying to learn portuguese I try to think of the words to respond to her statements, but I’m too slow and she moves on to the next complaint. I’m more tired than usual as I’ve spent a long time without any food and I can feel my blood sugar is low. I’ve also just come from a vespers and mass service for the pilgrims where I was freezing for over an hour. I don’t want to deal with this. I need food, and to warm up with a hot shower. She gets angrier the more she speaks. Maybe it’s best to just listen and then move on to something else.

After she is done I feel compelled to share something, without any intention of going deeper. I say: “Focusing on the external aspects without even knowing the core of the faith is going the wrong way about it and leads nowhere. I had such views before and didn’t find much for me in Christianity or the church either. The difference and the reason I call myself a Christian now is because I had a revelation where I encountered a Jesus that was alive, who opened my eyes and who filled me with a love unlike I’ve ever felt before. After that event it was no longer about choosing a certain religion or set of ethical principles just because I thought it worked best for me or so I could be a better person. It was now a question of whether I accept or reject the revelation I’ve had. ”

She is unimpressed at this and her response is a straight out challenge. “If he is alive and you’ve met him then describe to me how he looks, how tall is he? what color is his hair?” I sigh, and lower my eyes. I’m really too tired and not interested in dealing with this. She then starts talking about how all genuine religions contain truths and that there is a cosmic energy that we can all welcome in our lives that some people call God. She continues stating that the problem with religious beliefs is that they hide and cloud what matters most to control people. I kept eating and listening without any intention of retaliating to her statements.

Finally, I felt a subtle voice telling me to do something different. It was to simply share my personal testimony, not in the abstract words I first spoke that can apply to any self-professed Christian, but what specifically happened in my life that led me to commit it to Jesus. I looked softly at her while I spoke. Her eyes were fixed at me and her anger seemed to be dissipating as I went on. Personally, in trying to mix in what little Portuguese I knew with Spanish I thought I did a horrible job of sharing my story. Then, halfway through it she started to cry, and the weeping grew ever stronger. She finally said between tears: “That experience is what I want, it’s what I’m looking for. I want to have that too.” I told her I shared it with her because I cared about her and it is a gift that’s meant to be shared.

The next day we would stop to admire a small waterfall deep in the forest. I ask if she would like to pray together to invite Jesus into her life. We did and she was born again.

A pilgrim catches that moment with Sofia

The Work of God

After the prayer something new happened. God has now been allowed to work in her heart. We start walking and she sees something inside her she didn’t see before. She realized how angry she was with God. Her father died when she was 9 years old from an accident and afterwards she closed herself to anything related to God. For all practical purposes God was dead. She had this sadness and anger suppressed within her for so long and now it was all resurfacing. “My daddy, My daddy. He was taken away from me!” Sofia cries out as she starts weeping ever so loudly. The emotions run so strong that even with a heavy backpack and walking in a dirt path she suddenly falls on the ground in an awkward position. She lays in the ground with heavy tears from a mourning she never fulfilled. She asks forgiveness to God for rejecting Him for so long. She now felt a vacuum in her heart fill up with a Love she hadn’t known before. Witnessing this I can understand why so many people are afraid to welcome the influence of God in their lives. When we allow Him to work in us it can be painful as that which we have repressed starts to resurface. It is a necessary purification where God comes in and roots out the problem and the causes for sin in our lives. Before this experience she would think of traveling as a volunteer to help people. Now it is different, she feels a definite and certain call to be a missionary, to Love others, and to give of herself.

Shadow of a Man

The 5th stage of Manhood is that of the Mature Man: one who is able to integrate his life, to make peace with himself and his uniqueness. It is a stage where a man becomes himself and God’s plan for his life. In conquering O Cebreiro and experiencing a rebirth from the darkness of the previous days, I’ve taken one step in that development. This stage will be fully realized when I reach Santiago. It will open up the door to the 6th and final stage.

Outside the monastery getting ready for some morning dancing

Galician pastor on the way to O Cebreiro

Boys

Girls

O Cebreiro church

Homage to the pilgrim in O Cebreiro

In front of monastery

O Cebreiro