“I think you would make a great hospitalero!” Alaina continued to pump me up as we made our way up a small grass path along the hillside. In our conversation, we had fallen a bit behind the group of pilgrims marching to catch the sunset over Vega’s beach.

“That would be incredible! My Spanish is a bit lacking but it would be amazing to be here in Asturias, by the ocean and mountains, meeting all the people that pass through.” I did my best to keep up while still concealing my gimpiness. The three course meal that Alaina and fellow host Theresa had just fed us didnt help my speed much either.

“Leave me your email in the morning, and I will tell Marina about you. She would love to have you, I’m sure.”

That afternoon, on my way down into Vega from the countryside, I had been joking to myself. “Dude, you’ll probably get there, to the only albergue for the next fifteen k, and that bitch’ll be full!” I said to no-one but myself, laughing aloud. After nother forty-something day under a cloudless sky, I had lost a few of my marbles.

Sure enough, I limped my way to the stoop of Albergue Tu Casa to find a little white sign hanging from the railing.

“COMPLETO.
FULL.”

“Full?” I asked the women on the porch (who turned out to be Alaina and Theresa) and they nodded. I stood in the middle of the street and fell into a fit of laughter, and the two women joined, enjoying the spectacle of the sun-baked, fluffy-headed, damn-near-disabled pilgrim loosing his last grips on sanity.

After a while of giggling and rambling incoherently to each other, they welcomed me onto the porch, and sat me down in front of a pitcher of cold lemon-water.

“Maybe we have…’emergency bed”…” one of them said.

“Yes…’emergency bed”.

“If you let me, I will sleep right here.” I direct my finger down to the warm taracotta tiles, and they both laugh as if I had just told a funny joke.

The emergency bed turned out to be just another top bunk, only without a ladder and a mattress that was ever-so-slightly less comfy than the others. They usually didnt offer it out, but they did to me.

“I am trying to get my own albergue. I have done the paperwork, I will know if I get it later this week.” Alaina told me as we sat with Theresa and my fellow pilgrims on a little patch of grass overlooking the beach.
“If I get it, I could surely use your help.”

I have been checking my email twice a day since I left Vega, and today I recieved something worth reading:
“hola August
I hear nice words about your presence here…
Tell me at what time you want be hospitaliero…
Your heart will know the right moment… This year or next?

Abrazos fuerte
Marina the guardian of ‘tu casa'”

The email reads like it had been spit out by Google Translate, but thats alright. Abrazos Fuerte translates to strong hugs, and ones from someone I am yet to meet.

On El Camino, every day holds so many opportunities. You will meet warm people, recieve beautiful charity, make unique friends, and maybe be given a new opportunity much bigger than yourself.