El Camino Adventure
Have you ever heard someone say ‘a movie changed my life’? I am sure this is often exaggerated, but in my case, these words held true when my husband, John, came home from a business trip to Germany.
Now first I should explain that John is typically a very mellow person, it’s one of the reasons that we are such a good match. He balances out my intensity with a calm that manages to work for but of us. So when he came home from this trip all excited about a movie he had watched on the plane, I had to raise an eyebrow. What was even stranger was that neither of us had ever heard of this particular film before that day.
The movie, The Way, was a smaller production, but it featured a couple of industry heavy-hitters. Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez playing a father and son, as they are in real life. Martin Sheen is a dentist from California who is about to have a life-changing experience when he embarks on a personal journey initiated by a tragic event. (I won’t spoil the movie for you, in case you want to watch it yourself.) But suffice to say it was this journey that sparked my husband’s interest and imagination. And John proceeded to tell me he wanted to go on this journey, too!
Martin Sheen’s journey follows the real-life path traveled by hundreds of thousands of people before him, beginning in the 9th century with a discovery of the remains of St. James, one of the original apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. As the legend goes, St James originally evangelized in the Middle East but then traveled to northwestern Spain where he was successful in spreading the gospel and developed quite a large foundation for Christianity in the area.
St James eventually returned to Jerusalem where he was martyred by King Herod. But the story doesn’t end there, as two of James’s own disciples decided to take his body back to Spain, (by boat - an arduous journey in itself in those days) where they were hidden in a Roman crypt for nearly 900 years before it was rediscovered by a monk. The monk reports his discovery to a local bishop and this marks the beginning of the building of a Church dedicated to St James – “Santiago,” in Spanish. And so the church of SANTIAGO de COMPOSTALE was founded.
Today, however, the word pilgrimage seems to have become an international term for any personal journey that involves a physical challenge taken by foot (or bicycle). And although there are many pilgrimage trails around the world involving many different faiths, most people aren’t doing the El Camino these days for religious reasons. For me, it was probably a combination of both the challenge of a physical adventure AND the time to “Be Still.” I know that sounds contradictory, but when you are walking 15 miles a day you do have plenty of time to get inside your own head – to that place of quietude and contemplation. But whatever your personal reason is to embark on El Camino, the end goal is still the same – to get to Santiago de Compostale.
There are six main original routes of El Camino, which go through France, Portugal and Spain. Then there are many more which travel though most of the countries in Europe. Each route is marked along the way by various forms of a marker, from formal looking concrete monuments with shell tiles (shells have become the symbol of St. James) but often they were simple blue and yellow arrows spray-painted on buildings and telephone poles. Often it turns into a scavenger hunt to find the next sign that will tell you you’re still on track, and we did get lost some days when local merchants took advantage of weary travelers and steered us in the wrong direction!
Along the route were various establishments, where you needed to get your “pilgrims passport” stamped to prove you had actually undertaken the Camino journey. These used to be mostly churches, but over the years it’s been difficult for the Catholic Church to staff these small-town parishes with someone to do the official stamping. So now they have given some local hotels, cafes, and shops the “honor” of handling this official duty. If you complete a minimum of 100 documented miles you are able to submit your passport in Santiago de Compostale for an official certificate.
It’s true, the Camino has become a bit of a tourist industry over the past two decades, so it’s not unusual to have a tour company arrange your hotel accommodations in each town AND move your luggage, too!
My own experience with El Camino was very different from the movie - we did not do any camping. If you know anything about me - you will know that although I love physical activity and the outdoors - I am not a fan of sleeping and peeing in the woods. (Although I got pretty good at the second by the end of our trip.)
I must admit we stayed at some nice, modern accommodations along the route we took which technically began in Baiona, Spain, although our group initially met in Porto, Portugal. Our daily walks averaged 15 miles and took us through a variety of terrain - everything from city streets and alleyways to country roads, hillside farms, coastal boardwalks and forest trails. Each night we had a hotel destination, where our luggage would be waiting for us. Since our group consisted of travelers of different ages and physical abilities, we did not spend the whole day together but broke into several smaller groups. However, dinner was shared each evening, along with stories of the people we met along the way.
I must admit it was these fellow “pilgrims” (as anyone undertaking the trek is called) that made the trip special for me. We met people from all over the world, Australia, South Africa, China, Belgium, Canada, as well as fellow Americans. The comradery of saying “BON CAMINO” to another pilgrim brought us all together, young, old, women, men, experienced hiker, or a first-time long walker – we were all a part of one world – sharing an adventure of a lifetime, El Camino.