Saturday, September 05, 2015

Logroño Day Two - a legend on the Camino

I've never been shopping whilst on the Camino, besides buying a few souvenirs and  trinkets.  Today we caught the No 9 bus to the Decathlon store which is an enormous outdoors store on the outskirts of the town.   I bought a pair of waterproof trousers, a new waist bag (Finn's Jeep bag is just too bulky for me) and some trail food.
We caught the bus back to town and after lunch Marion and I visited the Apple store in search of a part for her ipad. By the time we got back to the hotel, the last in our group, Father Jeffrey Edmunds had arrived.
We met Connie and Moyra and the four of us walked out of Logroño on the Camino path to where Maria Medel sits at a table outside her house selling souvenirs and offering a stamp with the words "Figs, water and love" "Higos, agua y amor" as her mother, Felisa, had done before her.
I met Felisa in 2002 when she was almost 92 years old, a wizened,  almost blind woman who sat in the shade of a fig tree for almost 12 hours every day eeking out a living from donations from passing pilgrims.  She passed away in October that year and her daughter Maria took over from  her. I visit Maria whenever I am in Spain and sometimes send her little notes and gifts with South African pilgrims.
She was surprised to see me this time and there was much hugging and kissing. We all bought a little something from her table and before we left I was able to connect to You Tube to show her a short video a pilgrim had taken of her mother Felisa in June 2002.  Maria will be 83 in a couple of months. Can she continue to sit in the shade of the fig tree for another 10 years? When she passes on, will anyone take over the Felisa table to offer Figs, water and Love to passing pilgrims? If not, the Felisa stamp will become just another story in the tapestry so stories that makes up the modern Camino and we will be all the poorer.

1 comment:

  1. Remember the book you made for her and gave her on our Camino? Grace

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