A Camino Miracle in Madrid
A Camino Miracle in Madrid
by Paul Durham | Brunswick, MD
In April this year, after two partial Caminos on the Francés and Portugués, I began my full Camino beginning in St. Jean Pied de Port. After several weeks, I was approaching León when I developed a problem with my left foot. I was forced to pause my pilgrimage and return to the United States for medical care.
While I was on the Renfe train from León, a power blackout that hit the entire country stopped our train about five miles north of Madrid. After a three-hour wait and not understanding what the problem was, a diesel train came up beside us and we “walked the plank” to get onto the rescue train. When we arrived in Madrid, the city was in complete chaos. I had an Air Portugal flight out of the Madrid airport scheduled for the next morning, but how to get there and whether it would even be departing was now a complete mystery.
Outside of the Chamartín train station in downtown Madrid, there were no taxi cabs waiting, no rideshare services available, no buses, no other options except to walk. But that would be impossible since the cellular networks were down and wifi and mapping on my phone would be impossible. As I walked around looking for a taxi cab, I noticed a large group of people surrounding a lone taxi, seeking information on how to get to the airport. The driver already had a passenger ready to leave and announced that it would be very hard to find a taxi because of the blackout.
The crowd quickly departed and I was standing there with a gentleman from Finland. We approached the taxi driver and asked if we could accompany him and his passenger to his next stop, and from there to the airport. His passenger graciously agreed and off we went! We spent several hours trying to find a way out of downtown Madrid after dropping off his first passenger. However, during the time that we three passengers were together, we discovered something joyful about each other: we were all three veterans of the Camino!
The Camino provided. My plane left on time the next morning, and I made it home safely. I will be resuming my Camino from León in April 2026 via Madrid, with fond memories of my two taxi cab “Camigos” from 2025.
