by Gigi Wahba

I spent September and October traveling around the Iberian Peninsula. I began in Porto, Portugal, and spent 14 days walking the Camino Portuguese, a historic pilgrimage route that follows both coastal and inland paths to eventually reach Santiago de Compostela, a UNESCO site. Santiago, St. James, is the patron saint of Spain.

I traveled solo and stayed mostly in dormitory hostels. There were ample opportunities to socialize but typically at a superficial level: Where are you from? What language can we speak together? Do you have blisters? Do you have a cure for blisters? And so on.

The second part of my trip I visited Salamanca, Madrid and Sevilla. In these cities I stayed with SERVAS hosts and took day tours of surrounding towns: Segovia, Toledo, Rondo and Sentenil de las Bodegas.

Each host greeted me warmly, fed me generously, and spent hours visiting with me and in many cases took me around their town. It was wonderful to get to speak English again! While I can get by in Spanish, I missed the deeper conversations that come with fluency.

In Salamanca, Spain, my Servas host, Maria, lived just outside of the old town. Her balcony had a fabulous view, and her neighborhood. It was special in that they had an ongoing beautification project that hired local muralist.

View of Maria's neighborhood from the San Jeronimo Bridge