Palm Sunday – Tui to O' Porrino – The Camino begins

Today was the official start of the adventure that we came all this way to complete. To begin this amazing experience we were blessed to have Father Gonzalez serenade us by the statue of Dom Salvado. The Palm Sunday procession was a very moving ceremony and it was an honour to spend the morning with such an amazing town full of dedicated people. The walk alongside the archbishop and bishop was an added bonus and something that can be held close to our hearts. The traditions of the Palm Sunday mass were quite different to what we are used to in Australia but we were still able to understand the prayers and the meaning of the mass. At the conclusion of the mass we began the physical part of our pilgrimage. With a skip in our step we headed on to O’ Porrino in high spirits. Throughout the day we enjoyed beautiful scenes and silent time with nature. As we neared the end of our first leg, we pushed through our hardships and struggles to reach our desired destination. As we did during the Spanish Palm Sunday ceremony, we encountered challenges with language barriers when ordering dinner. This opened our eyes to the reality that our pilgrimage is not only the physical challenges that we endure, but also the social and cultural interactions. Overall our first day of hiking truly centred around, God, nature, others and ourselves.