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He had never embarked on such an adventure, but he did not doubt that he would reach the goal. The objective might seem reckless for a woman in her sixties, with no experience in long distances on two wheels: to cycle the almost three kilometers that stop in the Swedish city of Malmö from Santiago de Compostela. But Raquel Topal, a 63-year-old Venezuelan retiree, responded with practicality to those who doubted her possibilities and to those who warned her of the dangers of undertaking the trip alone: "If I get tired, I'll take a train", she responded regarding the risk of weak legs. “Europe is not Venezuela”, she answered about the possible insecurity of the Camino for a
Alone woman.
In the end, it was necessary to take a train, but only on two short journeys: in Lubeck (Germany), at the beginning of his adventure, and in Bordeaux (France), already with the Spanish border a stone's throw away. And it was not for lack of strength, but because bad weather had made the route impassable, according to this adventurer. Inclement weather that was not replicated on the other side of the Pyrenees, despite her reservations about what the northern peninsular sky could hold for her. Thus, she has pedaled more than 2.800 kilometers since on August 22 she suffered a bicycle accident in Malmö, where her daughter lives, until on November 11 she reached the Plaza del Obradoiro. This retired civil engineer, who was able to afford this adventure thanks to an economic cushion that most of her compatriots lack, ran into peculiar and interesting people on her pilgrimage. As a cycling nun, she met through an app for hardcore bikers. And she took the opportunity to stay one of the nights in her monastery.
Almost three millimeters in ounce weeks, a necessary beating if the objective had simply been to obtain the Compostela, the card with which the ecclesiastical authorities certify that the Camino was done as God intended. But Raquel was moved by motivations beyond the spiritual and religious: she wanted to help Venezuelan children and promote the use of bicycles among the youth of a country in a complicated economic and social situation. Two wheels are synonymous with health and cheap transportation, but not so much in Venezuela, where owning a bicycle is not within everyone's reach.
That was what Raquel was thinking about when she decided to give up a comfortable jubilation to contribute her grain of sand in favor of the young people of Venezuela. Along the way, she collected about 3.500 euros in contributions through Bicitas, a foundation still in the process of being set up due to bureaucratic difficulties. Now, back in Venezuela, they will use those funds to buy spare parts and fix the bicycles of children and young people who need it. Despite her love for her country, she believes that now her place is in Europe. With the help of her recent Spanish nationality, obtained thanks to having shown her Sephardic past, she is considering settling in Galicia or in the north of Portugal. Her condition is that there is a good air connection that the permission to fly has been frequently high. Her heart is Venezuelan, but she considered that from Europe she has more possibilities to help her compatriots. And reach her shoulder for what would be her dream: "That all the children in Venezuela have a bicycle."
