Hospitality to (and from) Strangers

I had heard of unexpected hospitality from strangers towards peregrinos, and I had the chance to experience it the other day. Tired and hungry, a peregrino from Quebec and I entered a small town together looking for an even smaller albergue listed in a Camino guide. I asked a lady I saw in town where we could find the albergure. Her daughter said it had closed eight years ago. We asked if there was a place to have a coffee and something small to eat. Nothing, again. The lady said, “Maybe try the next town a mile down the road.” As we began walking away, the younger woman called to us: “Do you need some water?” “Sure, here’s our water bottles.” We sat down on a bench in the shade in the square near her house to wait for the water. She came out a few minutes later with filled water bottles AND two ice-cold beers. AND THEN, her husband came out and asked if we liked charizo. We said, “oh, thank you, but it’s not necessary.” He replied, “No problem, just wait.” A few minutes later he brought out two plates with bread, charizo, tomatoes with salt in olive oil. AND THEN, he had came out with his kids with pears from their tree with a knife to cut them. WHAT A FEAST for two tired peregrinos! We didn’t realize how hungry we had become until we ate this gift of a meal. And we didn’t realize how much we would need this meal, because we ended up walking another 16KM (after having already walked 15KM) to a town with an albergue. As we walked away from the town I prayed for the family, giving thanks for them.