Some explanation about the refugio.

The Camino de Santiago is a Catholic pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia that has its roots in an ancient celtic pilgrimage to Finisterrre . Finis Terre means the end of the earth in Latin, and people in pre Christian times would go there to worship the sun which would be setting over the Atlantic Ocean.

In Christian times the pilgrimage was revived when a shepherd supposedly discovered the body of James who catholics believe was the apostle to Spain. This is all a myth, but that does not prevent thousands of Pilgrims from coming every year to walk the route to Santiago de Compostela. Recently this pilgrimage has become very popular and over a hundred and sixty thousand people walked the Camino Frances last year.

Most of the pilgrims are not catholics at all, and having walked the Camino myself I discovered that many people are doing it as a kind of spiritual journey to try and make some connection with “they don’t know what” There are those that bypass the Catholic shrines and go on to Finisterre in an attempt to revive the Pagan traditions of the pre Christian era.One of the highlights of this pagan route is to burn ones clothes in a bonfire at the ends of the earth.

One of the saddest lacks in all of this spiritual activity is the absence of a clear Christian witness pointing to Jesus Christ as the true Way, or Camino, for that is what Camino means.Not entirely though. In a little village in Galicia we discovered a group of Christians form Texas reaching out to the thousands of Pilgrims. They had a small house at which they were offering hospitality to pilgrims and showing them the Jesus movie.This team was there for a month and then some one else would take over. It struck me as a wonderful strategy to share the love of Jesus.

That was two years ago.Last year I cycled up the Camino de Santiago starting in Seville. As I cycled I prayed for a house with a barn that was on the route and that could serve the purpose. I chose this route because the Camino Frances is becoming saturated with pilgrims and many pilgrims are choosing to do the route from Seville instead of the one from France, because it is more peaceful. Every twenty or thirty Kilometres there is a refugio which is run either by the Municipality or is private. There are two or three catholic refugios but these religious ones do nothing to give any spiritual direction to the thousand of seekers that pass through on their way to Santago de Compostela.

After a journey of about seven hundred kilometers, during which I had incredible opportunities of sharing the gospel, I arrived in Tabara and for the first time in the whole journey I found a house which was advertised as for rent. To cut a long story short, we are now renting that house, and for many months I have been praying and looking for a way to effectively reach out to the many pilgrims who are passing by.Our house is too small for this purpose and besides, the owner lives next door and is not keen on the idea.

In most of the villages on this stretch of the Camino there is a refugio.The government is gearing itself up for a major increase in the number of pilgrims coming through on this route.I spent some time looking for a piece of land but found nothing at all.Just two or three weeks ago we found out about this house which is situated in a village called Villar de Farfon. I went to have a look at the house and discovered that not only is the village on the route, but the actual camino itself passes by in front of the house.

I spoke to the owner and he said they are wanting nineteen thousand euros for the property but is willing to negotiate.The houses is big , but needs a lot of repair.

As I checked over the property there were pilgrims walking past all the time and cycling past. The neighbours told me that the day before a group had come through on horseback.There is no other refugio in this village but there are refugios in the two previous villages and in the following one. I realized that this was an opportunity that has been given by the Lord as an answer to many prayers.

Please have a look at the fotographs and there are some links at the bottom of this page that will take you to google maps and to one or two internet sites that talk about the Camino de Santiago.

This Google map shows the village with a road leading out to the north west, or if you like the upper left.The house complex is shaped like a big A, with the top of the A facing the Camino de Santiago. The top of the A , or triangle, has two big blue doors which you can see on the foto.The bottom of the Triangle is a stone house with two stories.The left side of the A has outhouses against a high stone wall. There are stables, a bodega and a hay loft.

This link describes the route we are on.

This link gives some info on the history of the Camino de Santiago.