Our dear ayllu member, Mary Beth Leisen, dedicated her 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela to ARI this past fall. Her Camino brought in over $11,000 in donations—enough to build a classroom in our new Global Headquarters building. We are so grateful to Mary Beth for taking this community initiative.

Here is a letter from Mary Beth, shared after her life changing Camino experience!

“In September and October, I walked the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage trail from the French Pyrenees across northern Spain and onto the Atlantic Ocean. With this as inspiration, our ARI community raised money to fund the community center building in Maras, and as an acknowledgement, I carried ribbons imbued with prayers for the entire journey, infusing them with more prayers and Camino energy. The Camino was the experience of a lifetime: beautiful surroundings, fantastic people, and five weeks of walking meditation.

I attached the ribbons to my backpack. As I started my daily walk, I’d call in the sacred mountains, waters, and other elements to ask for their blessings on me, the other pilgrims and the prayers I was carrying. It was a beautiful way to start each day, and I felt so connected to the larger world and all of you. I also took the ribbons with me to churches, sacred sites, and special pilgrim ceremonies. One priest noticed the ribbons and asked me about them. When I explained, he did a separate blessing for all the prayers they held. The ribbons literally pulsed – the friend sitting next to me could feel it. That’s the power of prayer and intention.

When I got to the Cathedral de Santiago, the main pilgrimage destination which houses the relics of St. James the apostle, I brought the ribbons with me. It was in this moment that everything sunk in: I was one of the millions of people who have dedicated themselves, often at great physical struggle and danger, to getting to this sacred place. Overwhelmed by this realization, I burst into tears of gratitude, adding lots of salt water to the beautiful ribbons in my lap for mass and the pilgrim blessing.

After Santiago, I walked on Finisterre, which in Latin means ‘the end of the world’, as it was the end of the Roman Empire. It was here I found a secluded place, nestled in the peaks above the Atlantic Ocean to perform ceremony. As the pine trees whispered softly in the wind above, I buried the ribbons and covered them with flowers and the remaining lavender and tobacco I’d been offering with my daily prayers. I covered them with soil and pine needles, making this sacred site invisible except to the Pachamama, the Mother Earth, so she could hold and strengthen them.

Carrying these prayers, contained in brightly colored ribbons, was an incredible honor that made this pilgrimage so powerful. I felt all the support of this community and to be able to give back in some small way filled me with love. It was also fun to be known as “The Ribbon Lady” to my fellow pilgrims and to tell them about all of ARI’s wonderful work when they asked about the ribbons. Thank you for sharing in this experience!”