Really? Say What?
Sometimes you can’t believe stories. Here I have an incredible one.
Pilgrim Theo, a young Dutch guy walks from Alvaiazere to Alvorge. On his way, he meets Marcos, a man from Porto who stayed @Casa da Lima a few days before. Marcos went to Fatima, which is the opposite direction and started a conversation with Theo. He mentioned us and gave our phone number to him.
Theo contacts me by WhatsApp and he likes to stay at our house so he walks six km more.
We are just going to a party but of course he is welcome to stay. I quickly prepare something to eat for dinner and we are too late for the party… I leave the door open for him and we would come home around dinners time to meet him and eat together.
Pilgrim or Runner?
When we come home for dinner we meet our pilgrim.
His clothes don’t look like that of a pilgrim but more of that of a runner. And yes, he tells me he is a trail runner who walks on Barefoot’s or do you call it barefeet? The funny shoes (more a strong cloth) with all toes visible?! I tell him that in and around Ansiao there are at least five cool trails per year. Trail de Ladeia, Avelar Sunset, Nexebra and Conimbriga Sico 115 miles. He may come back to run.
He tells us he lived in the same neigbhourhood where I grew up, Meijhorst/Aldenhof in Nijmegen. I was not really impressed by this coincidence. Best neigbhourhood of Nijmegen, a metropole!
After dinner I found out he works part-time for a company that measures the time of athletes in running and other competitions. I said something like: “My sister is also doing work for time measurement”. Then he asked the name of my sister. I said: “Pau Lin Kho”. What??
She happens to be his supervisor….
Dutch in Portugal
To explain it for those who don’t know our background: We live in Portugal for three-four years now and last year we opened Casa da Lima for guests. Pilgrims who start in Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela pass our house. Normally the pilgrims start in Porto or even in Spain Tui, only the real die-hards start in Lisbon.
We are from The Netherlands, where we lived, studied and worked and where our family still lives and works.
Quite a coincident, right?!
More interesting stories will follow…
