EL PEREGRINO - The real pilgrim of the Compostela

 

I once only three or four years ago was at the doorway to the next world... I Had been poisoned in Africa and the doctors had lost all hope of how to fix me. So I went to Morocco as a last try. To get stung by bees, eat hashoil and die... 

But it was a time I had to draw my inner strength and morph into something else . Something I wasn't. To survive. To live. And through this morphing I survived and was able to walk again against all the odds.

 I LIVED. 

And immediately I went to thank God by walking the Compostela de Santiago. They say on the Camino you meet the strangest of persons ... But on my camino I met only one I shall never forget. 

It is here that I met El Peregrino. The pilgrim. Another teacher.

" Because we constantly learn. We constantly also teach others. Every teacher is also learning at the same time as he is teaching. It never stops. The act of teaching is also the act of learning. "

ALV.

The pilgrim told me his story. My good fortune. For he allowed me to accompany him on the journey to Santiago. He was Spanish from Cadiz in the south. Around the age of 72 but he looked very  fit. 

He carried no bag. Not on him at the time  No sleeping bag even..he had just a small rucksack... And a bright orange or yellow fluorescent jacket waterproofed for rain. It covered his mid section and went below his waistline. It was warm. Warm enough to sleep in. 

Jose Garcia I think that was his name was a simple cook on a fishing boat in the north sea near Iceland.

 Jose had walked to Rome and met the pope. He had walked to Kamchatka and even crossed the iced up seas to Alaska. He even walked the whole north and south American continent. Right down to the southernmost tip. He had walked around Africa. He even walked to India and Tibet.

He walked everywhere. But I didn't want to know where he walked really. I wanted to know why he walked. He could have told me all of the wild stories on his more than twelve years on the road walking. 

He averaged around 25 km to 40 km a day.

 I could have asked about his near misses between life and death. His worst moment ..But no. I asked him ... WHAT motivated his journey ?

 What made him do it. 

It was the same question I had asked Sir Robin Knox Johnson who was the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe single handed.

Why ? Why did you do it Jose ?

So he told me his story.

"Once upon a long time ago...he began... He has been the ships cook. "-On a fishing vessel. In the cold North Sea. Where the waters of the Atlantic met the north seas of the artic.

Where the air is so cold in the mornings it freezes almost immediately .

 And one day this ship had an accident. And sank. And all the men on this ship were lost. Except him. And it was only he that survived by the grace of God.

 But he survived not by being in this icy water. He floated on a raft he made of bodies of his comrades who had perished in the sinking of their fishing boat.

He used their lifeless forms frozen solid as a life boat.

And it was here in this freezing weather that he made a promise to God. Not thinking he would ever come out of this disaster alive.

" If I live , dear God .. if you spare my life I will spend my life visiting ALL the sacred places of Earth to give thanks and to pray for my fallen friends, my comrades. This I promise. "

And it was by chance that he was rescued. Over nine hours in the cold North Sea. Which no man should have ever lived. Five minutes is the normal time it takes to freeze to death. But his dead comrades kept him alive by their warmth. Whatever was left in it.

And he was taken to Norway. To a special place with a hyperbaric chamber. It was here he stayed for six full months. Grasping for each breath. Between life and betwixt death. .. and he lived.

And once he could walk again he set out to make his promise good. And that is how he became known as EL PEREGRINO. .. The pilgrim the true pilgrim.

Now he's on his way home . Back to Cadiz having fulfilled his obligation to God and Man...between him and his shipmates in heaven. 

That's the power of FAITH. 

What is your prayer today ? What do you want from God ? What are you prepared to do ? Walking and praying is a powerful.act of refreshing of our inner Man our spiritual self. Try it sometime. 

Here's the article : 

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