Seven Reminders I Got on My Journey to Santiago.

Julia Becerra | August 8th 2019

When I arrived to the Spaniard city of Santiago de Compostela, it rained. It was a steady tedious rain that would not let up.

I hadn’t planned a journey to this well-known peregrine’s destination, but I was there. 

As I approached the city, I thought of all the reasons a lot of people go to Santiago de Compostela.  I imagined their journey. The people they met; the experiences they shared .

What was mine?

I didn’t walk or hike or ride a horse or a bike to get there. I simply arrived by car as part of a last-minute trip.

I considered my journey as a different one:  As I had been traveling for a while, and working while I traveled, helping others and letting others help me, I also had stories to share and experiences to brighten my life.  

Any lessons? Somebody asked me.. well, let’s see. I think more than lessons there were reminders.

1. It is good to be alive.  And pain as joy are reminders!

 On my journey, I dealt with a very close to-be family tragedy. I met people that touched my heart and I somehow touched other people’s hearts.

I can do more than I think or Believe. 

I was positively impressed by stories of resilience, like that of a temporary neighbor who after fleeing violence on her home country and finding a life in Spain, lost one eye in a home accident provoked by an unpunished industrial company who on its interest to  make profit regardless of how, had put in the supermarket shelves an explosive weapon with the label of insect repellent.

I did what I could to help her, and I did in the ways I did not think I could. I learned so much from her, as she helped me in ways she still does not know she did.

2. Appreciate your journey. Others may have a harder one.

My heart was touched by a very old lady who to meet ends stood at a corner of a tourist filled street, under the sun and rain, selling honey almonds and home made cookies.

I met a man who had done the actual “Camino de Compostela” as a payback for the miracle of life that was seeing his son birth when the doctors had said the baby stood no chance.

3. Some people do care.

I was pleasantly surprised by a host that quietly saved my favorite breakfast fruit every day, so I could enjoy it.

A temporary neighbor cooked a meal for me when I could not!

An Airbnb host got me Milk and bread on the middle of the night when all the stores in the village I was at were closed for the whole weekend.

4. You can only plan so much, the delays may be part of the journey or as my experience as a project manager would say: An important line in the project plan.

I was delayed in my plans by a stubborn illness that stayed with me for weeks, making my traveling a chess game, when I played with all the pieces to get healed.

    5.Children are the best teachers.

I met a little girl who thought guns were only used in war movies. And it happened  just  when  I had read in the newspapers the cruel story of the mass shootings. Stories that reminded me of the country I lived in.  A country where lives protection and guns availability depend on the political interest. Where it is OK to kill a mass of people because of their ethnicity at the same time this country’s government claims to be outspoken about other countries genocides.

So there I was. In Santiago without a spiritual journey, but with a big sadness in my heart.  A terrible feeling all over my self.  And a wonder of where I was heading to or from? and How and If I could make any difference on improving the world we live in.

While most of the people that goes to Santiago, do it for a somewhat religious or spiritual reason… I failed to do so. The stories of all the religious wars that had taken place came to mind,  and even more the living story about the quiet war going on in the country I am a citizen from.

7. Life matters and we should take a minute not only to reflect on it, but to share the feeling and to do something about savings our lives and that of others. Living on a State of Terror takes away the life’s joy.

Then when I was getting close to visit the famous St James Cathedral, I heard about the Time Square scare in NYC, where people fled in panic mistaking motorcycles backfiring as gunshots.  Is that the world I want my kids to live in?  In a constant state of terror triggered by real and constant mass shootings and… well you know the other issues…

In Santiago I did expect to meet people whose hearts were open to life. To protect life. To give support to one another in a Journey to each person’s own Santiago de Compostela. And I did!

In that sense I found a sanctuary. A place of hope. An oasis from the sad moment we live in.

In the middle of a summer vacation month, when a lot of people are traveling or just enjoying the weather, others are mourning the loved ones that died victims of violence just because… and so many think of THEM as a distance thing, as something that happens to others, while forgetting it could be any of us who may happen to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong country.

I couldn’t help but to think of their fate and that of their families … While in a sacred place like Santiago de Compostela.

And you, how do you feel about the possibility of losing your life of that of a loved one in a sad event as the 251 mass shootings (#stopmasshootings) the US have had during 2019 alone?

And how is the journey to your own Santiago de Compostela?

I would love to hear your thoughts

Thank you for reading my blog,

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