Sleeping in dormitories I often had someone sleeping right next to me which made it really easy to meet people. All I needed was to say, “Hi,” to get a conversation started and invariably I got a friendly response. I met significantly more people while walking Camino Francés in Spain than along the French route from Arles on the GR 653 to Pau. Meeting people along both routes I noticed I got a different type of response if I said I was from South Africa (Oh wow!) than if I said I was from Belgium (Uh huh.) I became aware of putting people in boxes based on their nationality, for example Italians would go into the fashion, sports cars, emotional box, Germans into the quality, everything works really well, hard working box. I had preconceptions and instant opinions about people based on their nationality. I decided that when meeting people along the Camino I would allow them space in which to tell me about themselves and suspend all my preconceptions about anyone and stop asking, “Where are you from” so as not to give myself an opportunity to have an opinion about someone before giving them a chance to tell me about themselves. When people asked me, “So where are you from?” My answer became, “The Source of all Life, just like you, no borders, no country, no separation between us,” Not quite the answer they were expecting but most people enjoyed my reply and it became my Camino message.

• Camino