After my first week on my first camino, I started getting blisters. I arrived at a small town late one night. At dinner, I showed a couple of other pilgrims my blisters. They told me they look infected and I needed to get antiseptic. They said there was just one pharmacy in town and it was open late. I walked to the pharmacy slowly and in pain. When I arrived, the door was locked. It said closed. But there was a light on and an old gentleman was inside cleaning up. He saw me and came to the door. He opened it just enough to ask if I was a pilgrim. When I said yes and showed him my blisters, he came outside and asked me to wait a minute. He pushed a button on the intercom next to the door.
The same pharmacy in Najera, four years later.
About 5 or 10 minutes later, an unhappy pharmacist arrived. She asked me what prescription I needed. I pointed to my blister. Then she got mad and yelled at the old gentleman. She said this was not an emergency. He blamed my bad Spanish for the confusion. But she let me in and gave me the antiseptic anyway. The old gentleman then walked me out of the store. As we got to the door, he shook my hand and gave me a wink and said Buen Camino.
That gentleman knew what he was doing. He knew he was going to get in trouble, but he saw a stranger in need and decided to help. If my blister was not repaired, I may not have finished my Camino. If I had not finished my Camino, I certainly would not have written my book about it. That man’s small act of kindness had a huge impact on my life. We should all realize that small acts of kindness we make for strangers can have a huge impact too.
PS – I walked through the town again on another Camino four years later and took this photo. My book was coming out later that year but I had a few advance copies. I went back to the pharmacy to see if the older gentleman was still there. I wanted to thank him and give him a copy of the book to show how his small act of kindness had such a big impact on me. I had this story bookmarked in the book. Unfortunately, the old man wasn’t there and the pharmacist did not know who I was talking about. But I’m glad I tried.