Paulo Coelho

Today, Rosa de los Vientos met me in Castaneda and walked with me to Ribideno and on to Arzua… I can’t tell you how happy I was to see her and her husband Emilio, whom I had met at Paulo Coelho’s St Josephs Day party in Paris last March. They had driven from their home in A Coruna on the north coast to Palas de Rei just to see me, and as Rosa did not have my correct telephone number saved in her mobile, she asked several people on the path if they had seen me… ;) and of course no one knew the person she was seeking… she even happened to ask a couple of Austrians and they were somewhat confused as to why such a beautiful woman was looking for a smelly Austrian Perigrino… ;) Finally she realized that she had forgotten to enter the country code for Austria in front of my number, and when she had done so, it finally connected us. She told me where she was and I told her that I was in Castaneda drinking a cup of fine Cafe con Leche… she said “stay there we are coming to you” and withing 15 minutes they had arrived at the tiny roadside bar. Rosa looked beautiful as always, and proudly wore her new Paulo Coelho T-shirt from Ma(n)go…;)

We first drank a refreshment and then Rosa told me that she intended to walk with me to the next Alberge… I was delighted and we made our way with Maximillian & Kirsten who had just arrived at the little bar in Casteneda. Emilio, Rosa`s wonderful husband, drove on to Arzua in the car and the 4 of us set off on the Camino into the beautiful Galician landscape on this balmy afternoon.

Shrortly afterwards, Kirsten stumbled and hurt her ankle a little, so Rosa immediately jumped in to assist. She took Kirsten’s heavy backpack and in exchange, Kirsten took Rosa’s light version…;)

Unbelievable how much power Rosa with her delicate figure was able to produce as we walked up and up towards our destination. However after a while Kirsten insisted that enough was enough and the two girls exchanged backpacks once more.

We carried on towards Arzua and finally arrived at my planned night stop in Ribedino, an Alberge of seemingly large capacity but in the most perfect of settings as the sun was slowly descending behind the tall Eucalyptus trees, long since imported from Australia via the USA.

Rosa said I should stay there because the setting was so beautiful and she would go on to Arzua and meet up with Emilio and return with a homemade delicacy of Pastry and Tuna Fish which she had baked the day before… and after about an hour they return and the three of us shared the delicious tart with Bastian, Myriam and Peter who had also decided to stop there for the night.

We laughed and shared stories, and despite the language barrier, we all understood each other very well, enjoying the beautiful sundown…

Emilio & Rosa headed for home after a while and I thanked them for the wonderful surprise… it was truly a joy to see them both again and they are such good souls… so caring and giving… Love to you both and thank you for making my day dear Emilio & Rosa,

Love Paul xxx