#495: Inspiration…and Garbanzo Bean Soup

In the last ten days…
my conversations have been few.

In walking across northern Spain, I’ve experienced only a couple of English speakers…except for those who speak the most broken and hard-to-understand English.

As for my Espanol?

Count my two years of receiving an “A” grade in high school Spanish to be worthless in real-life Spain. However, I am enunciating the word “cerveza” like a native-champion at the end of each of these longgggg days.

But often…words are greatly overrated when it comes to having the power to inspire others.

Got a story for you:

OF COURSE I was feeling tired, cold and wet from the day’s nasty walk in the wind and rain. I was elated to have finally landed my “backpack plane” for the day when I checked into Casa de Aldea Araceli in Berducedo, Spain.

In checking in, it’s automatic to pull out my Passport and credit card; despite language barriers, that’s the easy part between me and the host. But today, however, extra communication was needed.

The host was also cooking dinner.

I’ve been a vegetarian for thirty years. My Spanish vocabulary definitely includes “No carne!”…but often, a host serving dinner is confused about what to cook for me. THIS is where “I don’t know what you’re saying” matters.

Araceli (the night’s host) and I struggled to build my dinner menu.

At the end of our long, drawn-out, going-nowhere conversation, I sill had no idea what I was going to be served when dinner rolled around five hours later.

And this is where the momentum of my Camino Primitivo changed.

When I sat down to dinner, I was treated like a VIP. The gorgeous table set-up, the bread, salad, potatoes…the cerveza. They were there. AND so was the most magical, HUGE pot of Garbanzo bean soup…EVER.

My eyes connected to Araceli ‘s heart when she smiled at me. She had cooked with awesome imagination and inspiration. When she set the huge two-handed bowl down, she knew she had kicked inspiring Garbanzo bean soup ass.

It was perfect to my stomach.
And spirit.

Delicious.
Rejuvenating.
Inspiring.

I almost ate the entire pot.

THAT night, my “BEST Me” found “Current ME.” As I lay in bed looking at the next day’s route, I believed that no matter what were to happen next:

“I got this!”

No way…no how…did I feel like that on any of this trip’s previous hiking days.

“A giant pot of Garbanzo bean soup changed everything?”

Yep.

An inspiring, extra-mile cook named “Araceli” knew a hungry and defeated hiker named “Shawn” could use a giant “Bowl of Her Best Inspiration.”

Garbanzo beans helpful.

Words not necessary.