During the previous afternoon, upon arriving by coach, from Marbella, QT and I had set off once housed in our hostel, looking for a laundry service, that would be cheaper than the extortionate 12 Euros charged at the residence we had chosen. Rooms were reasonable enough and the price was fair, but apparently no washing of clothes was one of their house rules. We discovered this, once we had already begun the task of handwashing. Well, never mind we thought.....
We visited the local supermarket and set about putting together a simple faire of cheese and ham sandwiches, with grapes and olives to compliment. Oh and the most gorgeously sweet and chocolatey profiteroles I have ever tasted. Maybe it was the sea air, possibly the expectation of a mega walk, but I ate with a passion, not seen for some time. Qt and I were contemplating an early night, in preperation for the early start, when in walked Shai.
The dining area was light and airey, but Shai brought more light to the waning evening.Qt later commented on having already spoken briefly with him, and her ´good feeling´about meeting him. He asked about our plans and told us of how he himself had just finished reading the book by Paulo Coelho about "The pilgrimage", that had been translated into Hebrew. He had found it most exciting and was keen to hear all about the love and brotherhood, shared in the ´way of santiago´, and we too, soon learned about his own travels from many places and the strange coincidences these past few months. Finally he asked if he could follow with us, until possibly Sevilla, on our journey. Well of course it is a free world and anyone can follow the way, but I told him of our plans to leave the following morning, so asked that he be ready by 7am, in the lobby of the hostal. He agreed, and Qt and I went off to sleep. We both agreed that we sensed a quiet and pleasant soul in Shai. Obviously he had been serious about his request, making arrangements for his other luggage to be collected by friends, and stored. He was up early, making coffee for us all, in the tiny kitchen, and here leaving the hostal, before the daylight had come, the three amigos were born.
Walking poles at the ready, Devil sticks for Shai, we set off on the first stage of our approximately 150 km walk to Sevilla. I later found out it is closer to 200 km, but we waved Tarifa, her festivities, her meeting of oceans and tremendous winds goodbye. Shai, a young man of mixed origins, austensibly viewed as a Jew because of his fathers´ line, was not the usual subject to be walking the ´Camino´to a Christian saint. He was however, keen and jubilant of spirit at joining our road to adventures new. As I also proffess no great faith as far as any religious conviction is concerned, Qt a recent convert to ´normalism´, then me, Qt, and Shai the Jew, made a rather odd trio to be on the road to Santiago.
There was however, to be a very enjoyable and open conversation take place, that helped raise both our spirits and our levels of humour. Shai had a nice temperament and high level of humour, able to laugh even at himself and the apparent clash of Ideology we shared. We were however so very happy to be listening to one another as we walked alomg the incredibly scenic coastline of western Andalucia and her mountains. Qt, so named by me, because she is a quiet thinker, and also very much a cutey, didn´t seem to falter, as we strode off into the new and exciting horizons.
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