No expectations

One thing I'm trying to do on the Camino is to not put forth expectations. I usually picture how things are going to be, down to the finest detail, but I'm learning that things are rarely as you think they're going to be. Take today for example. I expected to meet other pilgrims - at least one - on the train from Madrid to Pamplona. I slept for the three hour journey instead. My next small expectation was that there would the other pilgrims at the train station that I could share a taxi with but instead I had to pay for the taxi on my own to St. Jean.

Pilgrim office in St. Jean. 

I was, however, just as excited as I thought I'd be when I arrived. And hearing that first stamp go down on my pilgrim passport was music to my ears. I started meeting pilgrims from around the world - Switzerland, Romania, Norway, Canada and the US. My sob story of lost luggage and thus no sleeping bag got me a private room in an albergue that isn't technically open for the season yet (thanks to the translation of a French Canadian I had just met). And the "United Nations" around the dinner table was as wonderful as I had hoped. I may not see these pilgrims again, as they all leave tomorrow, but a nice dinner in France with them is a fantastic start to the Camino.