Even before the moment I stepped off the train in St-Jean-Pied-de-Port last April, The Camino Documentary was a part of my journey. In the months leading up to my trip, I stumbled across the documentary’s trailer. While I had seen many pictures of the Camino, nothing compared to seeing this living, breathing portrait of the Camino and its pilgrims. It promised me breathtaking landscapes, arduous foot conditions, comically sleepless nights and enduring friendships. On my own Camino, I found all of these claims to be genuine—although I maintain that the 17 blisters I ended up getting were slightly more than my fair share!
When I returned home after miraculously managing to reach Santiago, I experienced what I’ve come to call the Post-Camino Existential Crisis—something to which others can surely relate. All I wanted was to return to the Camino and the simple and rewarding lifestyle that it offers. I am only 20 years old, 19 at the time I walked, and I felt that the Camino was my first real life experience and my first big adventure. Although I missed home while I was away, my journey whetted my appetite for more than the boring life I would return home to: a menial job and an aimless university degree.
While I have since reconciled this melancholy attitude, I was very much fixed in a state of nostalgia for several months after I came home. The main thing that satisfied this yearning was The Camino Documentary. When I watched the trailer again for the first time after my own Camino, I felt as though I was watching it through a new set of eyes. Every word, every shot was no longer heard and seen in anticipation of what was to come, but with a new appreciation and understanding of how honestly the documentary represents the Camino.
I’m sure I am not the first pilgrim to have shed tears watching the trailer, nor will I be the last. The Camino Documentary endeavor so perfectly captures the essence of the Camino. For me, the spirit of the Camino is in the people. Walking the Camino is not really a matter of reaching the end goal of Santiago, but about the journey that we all take together, a journey that traverses time and space—once a pilgrim, always a pilgrim. Watching the trailers, what strikes a chord the most for me is how familiar all the people seem. Regardless of how different they may be in terms of age, nationality or creed, you see yourself in them. Their experience mirrors your own because of this incredibly unifying journey.
What I felt most of all when I finished the Camino is that I wanted to give back to it. Perhaps on my next Camino, I can volunteer at an albergue. For now, contributing to this blog will have to do, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to write for it.
¡Ultreia!
Pilgrim Lindsey CowieCanada
@liindseh
Completed first Camino in 2011
Well said – I struggled a lot after my return from the Camino. There are days I still do – I am planning another Camino next year. Watching movies, documentaries, (especially The Camino Documentary) and reading postings of other pilgrims’ stories eases the yearning.
Can’t tell you how much it means to me to read your comment (and Lindsey’s post) the yearning I felt when I came back from my first Camino was almost unbearable. I knew something extraordinary had happened but I had no way to articulate it. It gives me such joy to be able to finally be able to express what the Camino has meant to me.
I have experienced exactly the same thing. i realised that the camino is one of the most addictive things i ever done in my life. At certain points it influenced my studies in a way that i didn’t expect, and still every time i look back at my camino, i wish i could go back and relive the simple and authentic christian lifestyle.
hoping to encounter you on the way,
Verbeke Mickael
The way I perceive it is the actual walking of the Camino was actually partaking in an unsustainable fantasy–not going to work, eating in restaurants, sleeping in unfamiliar beds, walking 20+ km per day, meeting and connecting with people from all corners of earth. When you can take the essence of the Camino experience and apply into everyday life, however mundane, boring or aimless you think it to be, then you will always be walking the Camino.
You express eloquently that which I also have felt since finishing my Camino on 5 July 2011. It was all so bittersweet. The pull to return grows ever deeper and the plan to return June 2013 is in the making. Ultreia!
Thank you Lindsey, I’m having the same feeling ~ now nearly a year after my Camino in September/October 2011. It was the best time of my life…….always in my heart and memory! I’ve met the most wonderful people from all over the world. Each one of them took a piece my heart with them. Friends forever……we will meet again! Writing on the camino forum helps me to keep everything alive and fresh! Buen Camino~Hasta luego!
Sylvie:
Well writing for this certainly helps, doesn’t it? 😀 Perhaps I’ll see you along the way next year!
Lindsey
Verbeke Mickael:
I definitely understand the addiction. When I tell certain people in my life that I’m going back to the Camino next year, many of them can’t understand why I wouldn’t take my time and money and do something new and different. But every Camino I take will always be new and different from the last. I will always learn something new about myself and about life. And yet it will always be the same journey that I love and yearn for.
Ultreia,
Lindsey
Melissa:
Brilliant. Honestly, this is what I’m still trying to figure out – how to live and breathe the Camino even when I cannot be physically there. Thank you for the comment!
Lindsey
Jen:
Thank you! My plans for my 2013 Camino are also currently bouncing around in my head and if all goes well I’ll be walking into Santiago at around the same time you step out of your first albergue. Buen Camino!!
Lindsey
Erna:
Thanks for the comment! Totally agree – I couldn’t and will never forget all the incredible people who’s journey crossed paths with mine. And thankfully, on my next Camino, I plan to run into some of them before, during or after. But I’m also looking forward to the many new faces that will join that collection of friends around the world.
Ultreia,
Lindsey
A good documentary on Paulo Coelho experience on the Camino:
El camino a Santiago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lSyWAMk8LI