As you know, I leave for Madrid on March 11 and arriving March 12 at 7:30am. Marybel has a friend and a cousin in Spain. Her friend, Veronica is picking us up from the airport and allowing us to stay with her and family for two days before we set off for the Camino. She will also be arranging for us to meet two persons that she knows who has done the Camino recently.

This is Divine Providence. Marybel has some great connections that I did not know about. I am going to get picked up at the airport then be allowed to rest from Jet Lag for two days. Then I get to meet some people to get more advice on how to do the Camino well.

This is what I have learned thus far for myself. Leave it up to God and somehow he will show you & provide the way.

Later, we will meet up with Marybel’s cousin. She says that he is a fun guy to hang out with. I don’t think I could have design this better. CaminoCalgary has a life of its own and though I appear to play a part in it, I truly believe that it is playing ME. Amazing, no?

I booked my flight to Madrid today for March 11. I was to have begun my camino on March 07 but circumstances did not permit this. My best friend, Marybel, will be with me as she knows people in Spain. It will be the red eye into Madrid where I will arrive in the morning the next day. Marybel will make arrangements for us to be picked up at the airport. Then we will either take the train or bus through Pamplona onto Roncesvalles, the first leg on the camino.

Though I have a bare skeletal plan for this trip, it does not feel like I should do more with the planning. I do not know what I will encounter and how I will do. I just know that there are no expectations except a direction. That is all I have.

As much as I first thought that this is solely my Camino De Santiago, it appears now that it includes my best friend, Marybel. I like the idea that she is there for support but she can also be a minor distraction from my desire for inner alone reflection. We will both be doing the Camino for our own very different reasons. Perhaps, the lesson here is “inclusion”. The Yin And Yang of everything. I must include it all to understand it all. I am not sure how this will play out. I trust it well enough that it is as it should be and will unfold naturally.

I am all ready to start my Camino De Santiago. I followed the advice of many bloggers and got everything that I need to fit into the backpack. So this is how the bag looks before the journey. I am pretty sure that it won’t look like this when I am done. I will take another picture again at the end of the journey so that I may have a “before” and “after”.

Buen Camino…