The Camino – Elizabeth Arroyave-Pitts

I walked from La Faba to Samos…. I started the walk with my Italian friend Elizabeth, it was foggy and still had a long hike up the mountain. It was cold and throughout the day ti sprinkled… I recall at one point we came across a little old lady she was standing outside her house with homemade crepes and a shaker with sugar and cinnamon…If Rick ( my husband) was here he would eat all of them!  She offered us one and chatted with us, it was so special.. she greeted all pilgrims and offered a little warmth with her homemade crepes and smile…  We were only to walk to Trialacala but I had heard about a Monastery Samos that I had to go to,  it would mean that I would have to walk 37 KM (23 miles more or less) and that would be a lone walk as we had hiked a steep mountain the day before and in the am.  But i got the energy and did it, Elizabeth stayed behind….  I got there and was tired.  I showered, washed clothes, eat… We slept in a room within the Monastery with bunk beds and showers…  At 7:30pm (1:30pm East Coast time) Gregorian Chants were to take place.. I was there.. Little did I know that at this exact time on this day, I true friend (Angel to all) would pass away….May 17…  As i had hiked a long way the day before I would only hike 15 km (9.4 miles.) Jay, an American I had meet a few days prior (Jay and Charlie helped me and gave me an adaptor to be able to charge my cellphone, Ipod and camera), had ended there as well but without his friends (there were 5 retired guys from the North Carolina area that were walking the Camino together), so we walked in a “relaxed Manner” to our destination- Sarria.  We got there around 10am and I was not sure if I would stay or walk on, I decided to stay, It was early for the Municipal Albergue to be open, so we found a private one owned by a Son and his father and mother.  When we walked in, the mom was there and said make yourself at home, we reserved the beds for the rest of the crew, Rachel, the mom, said I have to go to the hospital, I have a pilgrim that has been in the hospital for a few days she is very ill, i asked what she had, I found out that she was a 29 walking the Camino that had Fought Leukemia and that had gotten an infection, her body was trying to fight it and was given antibiotics, her body was having a slow response but they were hopeful that she would be able to gain strength to get back home to London to see her Doctors.  She was walking with her sister… later that evening I went to  a Locomotora with the Americans, it is a place that they have several computers set up to do email at a low cost, and I received mail that My dear Friend Patti had passed away…  I was devastated; I to this day am in shock….  Come to find out she too was fighting an infection and had had low immune system due to cancer she had fought, this was so unexpected as she had never shared this with us….  Jay and Charlie found me latter that evening in the Park in front of the church mourning… they gave me A Pilgrim Tao cross in honor of Patti, I at that moment dedicated the rest of the walk to Patti, the 110 km that is required to walk to get the acknowledgement that you walked the Camino… My Heart still aches for the tremendous loss. Patti was the first rue friend that I had lost … I will carry her Spirit with me and hope that all that knew her will remember her by carrying on her spirit and adopting a part of it in your lives…..  I knew Patti was with me… I had been blessed to take care of her garden while she and Joe (her husband were away) and from that day forward I would see flowers that bloom in her garden, I had not seen these on the Camino until May 18^th…..