In October, 2014, I said I would never walk the entire Camino again and then, in short order, made a liar out of myself. However, I think it is safe to say now that the probability my walking the entire Camino Frances a 3rd time is approaching zero. The only exception that comes to mind would be if a few of my friends wanted to do the hike and asked me to come along to help them get the most out of the trip.  

My FitBit logged over 1,000,000 steps on my 2nd Camino which means that between October, 2014 and Mid-March, 2015, by walking the Camino de Santiago twice, I have walked over 2,000,000 steps or over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers +/-).  Several years ago I rode a bicycle from Seattle to Atlantic City; I believe that was 5,000 kilometers in 7 weeks.  I think it’s safe to say that I like manageable challenges.  While I have a certain amount of respect and admiration for the Mount Everest people, I am comfortable flying around at a much lower altitude; still thousands of feet (or millions of steps) above most people but not so high that my wings will melt leaving me to crash into the earth.  That is just one of the wonderful things about the Camino de Santiago.  Pretty much anyone that can walk CAN do it if you just believe that you have what it takes.

I may not have squeezed everything I could have out of my first Camino but I feel confident that after completing a 2nd, I didn’t leave much behind. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Anyone that has spent that much time outdoors, soaked in that many magnificent panoramas, breathed in that much fresh air and was bathed in that much sunlight would understand that there are some things that simply do not get boring.  In fact, I was not the only person in our small group that was doing the entire walk again and there are many, many people that do parts of the Camino every year.   Some people have been walking the Camino every few years for the past few decades.  If you’ve got the time and the health I don’t think anybody would argue that the experience was worth repeating.  It’s just hard.

But isn’t the Camino just a trail across Spain?

In its simplest form, yes but it is unique in so many ways.  Unlike some of the marathon grade trails that stretch across thousands of kilometers of wilderness, the Camino takes you away from everything without taking you to the moon to do it.  You regular pass through towns and an occasional City, there are Bars and Restaurants fairly regularly spaced along the way and lots of places to sleep but you can also spend hours and hours completely alone with vistas as dramatic as anything you could imagine continuously appearing right in front of you.  As a photographer, it took all my willpower to not shoot hundreds of photographs on my 2nd Camino; I did that on my first.  From the tiniest amazing wildflower to the furthest stretches of unspoiled landscapes, and a sky so blue it honestly looks fake; there is a power there that simply cannot be defined.  

With its thousand-year-old history and with the recent and dramatic resurgence in popularity, it has also turned into a thriving commercial enterprise. Now that hundreds of thousands of people every year are coming to parts of Spain to interact with sections of the road and trails, the amount of money changing hands is enough that it is literally keeping some areas of Spain economically healthy.  For others it is an absolute lifeline.

I do not begrudge that side of what is happening there. Without the Camino the enormous swathe that it cuts through rural Spain would continue to depopulate until many of the Towns and Pueblos would simply disappear. Before the Camino became popular again there was visible degradation that did take place.  Personally I think it’s great.  The more people that walk that trail the more resources the locals have to keep it in order and the more well maintained the trail is the better the experience for those  who are out there  on it.

Does that make it any less Spiritual?  

There are legions of people that are walking the Camino simply because it’s “cool” and can be done on a budget. I think the vast majority of the younger people walking the Camino are doing it only because it’s there. Why not? There aren’t many trips like this you can do anywhere in the world and judging by the percentage of hikers that are single women of all ages, it is extraordinarily safe.

There is a large Korean contingent making the journey apparently due to an enormously popular book published in their Country but I would also hazard a guess that it’s also the longest separation any of them will ever have from their work until they retire. So for countless young people from all over the world the Camino may very well be a once in a lifetime journey for them.  Just like American youth have the ritual “backpack around Europe for a summer”, the Camino is a similar resource and a place for lifelong friendships to be forged. 

Religious people hear about the Camino all their lives and are driven to make the journey to help fulfill their faith. The time and energy and money they put into what is nothing short of a sacrifice have become, again, a way to give back to their own beliefs, perhaps atone for past sins or to simply show their love for what God has given them. I was told that in the past, if you committed a minor crime in Holland you were given the option of walking the Camino (From the Netherlands).   If you returned with proof that you had completed the journey then your crime was forgiven. I don’t believe this was for things like murder or rape but it would certainly keep you from committing minor offenses. Take it from someone that just walked it twice. I would definitely keep my hand out of the cookie jar.

The most poignant Pilgrim stories however are about the people that come here to walk things off. We’ve all heard that expression and probably wondered what it meant. “Go walk it off”. If you are alert you can see people on the Camino that have recently undergone something they are having a hard time with. They aren’t difficult to spot.

Sometimes it’s the pain you see in their faces. One day it was a woman being held by her partner as she sobbed uncontrollably on the side of the trail. Just hours before they had been holding hands and appeared to be happy but something must have triggered a memory because as we walked past she was racked with tears. It was hard not to get watery eyes just feeling her anguish as we walked past.  

If you are paying attention to the trail and, by that I mean not just staring at your feet so you don’t participate in the most inelegant act of tripping or falling, you will also notice the various monuments that dot the embankments from start to finish. Some are simply laminated cards with pictures of the deceased and only a name, date of birth and date of passing. Others are entire pages with stories and photos. There are many, many simple crosses often times missing the original messages that were placed on them and then there are the full-blown memorial markers. Tombstones along the Camino for the people that either came here knowing they were probably going to die or others that simply met their fate on the trail not because of some hazard or wild animal. Their clock simply ran out right there and right then. People die on the Camino every year.

uberlinda A trail as old as the Camino has seen so much death that it’s part of the rhythm. I don’t mean this in a macabre way either; it’s the cycle of life. From frogs and slugs to men, women and children, people die. People also get emotionally hurt and one of the most tried and true ways to recover from that is to separate from the reminders and introduce enough challenge into your day-to-day life to keep your brain occupied.

The Camino is uniquely suited for this because in addition to being absolutely foreign to most people and having ample physical and mental challenges, there are also other Pilgrims, many of whom are warm and loving people that are a joy to befriend and share this small part of your life with. I’m sure there are countless examples but I was presented with one a few days before my 2nd Camino ended that touched me deeply.

We were having coffee with Lu, our Guide, at one of the hundreds (thousands) of bars (coffee shops) that dot the trail. A man she had helped before with some Ibuprofen cream for his swollen knees came up and she asked if he needed some more. They started talking but as we exited the patio we noticed his head on her shoulders and they both appeared to be sad and maybe even crying.

Later that night we asked Lu if something had happened.  She said that 3 months prior his wife of 41 years had died of cancer. She went on to say that he had described his life with her as 41 years of blissful marriage and now she was gone and he was trying to walk off the grief that would come with a loss like that. 

There were a few of us sitting there and you could feel the wave of emotion sweep around our table as we contemplated what we had just heard.  My eyes watered up and I had to take several deep breaths to compose myself.  How could you not feel compassion for this person and yet we had also seen him many times sitting with groups of people talking and laughing and he always waved and said hello as we walked past.

The Camino has a lot of power and healing is probably one of its strongest. For this man, long afte he got home, at least some of his pain would be gone and replaced with fond memories from this trip. He had  experienced kindness and kinship on the trail. He probably would not go home completely whole but being with all of those other people and having so much to occupy his days with had to be better for him than sitting at home.  

A few nights later a group of Pilgrims spontaneously joined each other for diner in a remote hotel restaurant. We were in an isolated area away from any towns so the only logical place to eat was where we were staying. When you see someone come into the restaurant that you’ve seen on the trail it’s only polite to ask him or her to have a seat.

A large table of Pilgrims formed; mostly people that had been befriended by members of our Group, and we ended up eating and drinking together that night. We laughed and told stories (in multiple languages) and shared our experiences on the Camino.

One of the men at the table had also lost his wife but it had been a few years ago. Now he was able to talk about it with no obvious grief.  He was there with a German woman that had been walking parts of the Camino for several years; I think since her divorce. In her case she had simply walked out of her front door one day and started her first portion. They had met somewhere and now appeared to be great friends. 

  The next night, in another City, while our Group was having their final dinner together we saw the German woman again.  When she saw us she didn’t hesitate to stroll over; several people at the table had obviously met her before. She came over me to thank me for picking up the tab at the previous restaurant. Because I had thrown what little German I remembered at her the previous night I knew she had two daughters and was divorced. This time, in English, we chatted about her past adventures and where she was headed to next; she was by no means done with her trek.

There was a moment when our eyes met and I could feel a kinship with this woman I barely knew. I think, given the opportunity, most of the people at the table would have had the same experience with her. Regardless of what life had thrown at her she had picked herself up and was out there living her life, meeting new people and, most importantly not only laughing and smiling herself, she was contagious making everyone around her laugh and smile.

We spontaneously reached out and held hands, looked at each other and smiled. I sincerely doubt I will ever see her again but I am equally sure that I will remember the twinkle in her eyes, the smile on her face, and the energy that radiated off of her short, compact body. We wished each other a Buen Camino which, in that moment meant “Have a good life”.

For millions of people that live within a few hours flying time from parts of the Camino; walking a part of it is as simple for them as it is for my partner and I to fly to San Francisco for dinner.  We do that for my birthday and if the Camino was only an hour away I’m sure I would be out there every year for at least a few days reliving my favorite parts.

If you want to enrich your life with experiences like this then go walk the Camino. Maybe not all of it or maybe not all at once, but it will always be there waiting for you.

April 26, 2015

Joe Jeter