We Speak the Same Language – “Walking the Camino” Returns to Spain

This is the second blog of a series of posts that I’ll be writing over the next two weeks as I venture across Spain to bring Walking the Camino even closer to home – Santiago de Compostela.

 

Yesterday was a day full of walking and adventure with friends of the Camino and the documentary, both old and new. I’ll take you into a few details of those adventures in three different parts that only reaffirmed that no matter the tongue in which we speak, pilgrims who have been transformed in some way by the Camino all speak the same language.       

  

PART I – Old Camino Family

First, I spent a few hours in the afternoon with our good friend and long-time, HUGE supporter of the documentary Denis from Rayo Travel, a travel company with a deep understanding of the spirit of the Camino. Their goal is to bring more people to experience the Camino de Santiago in Spain by walking or cycling a portion of, or the entire trail, by pre-booking tours, renting out iPhones, and encouraging pilgrims to use their custom Camino app.

 

Denis and I went to the Mercado de San Miguel here in Madrid, and we walked, ate a plethora of tapas, and talked all things Camino. As we were on the Camino, Denis and I were pilgrims, and the barriers one normally must break through to feel comfortable opening up to someone were non-existent; we were pilgrim family from the beginning.

  

Left – Pimientos de Padrón // Right – Hanging art installation from the ceiling of the Mercado

And after eating more than our fair share of delicious food and drinking Spanish beer, it became even more clear to me than before that the mission of Rayo Travel and our Walking the Camino have at the heart of them the same goal: to provide people with the opportunity to have a ‘Camino experience.’ To say, to give people the opportunity to open themselves up to the spirit and magic of the Camino de Santiago, that individual transformation so many undergo while walking this ancient pilgrimage.

 

Left – My first try at pulpo – octopus. Click here to watch the video! // Right – Tapas upon Tapas

PART II – New Camino Family

In the evening, I went on an evening stroll on the Camino de Santiago in Madrid with Noelia and Juan of Woman to Santiago. Having completed more than a dozen Caminos combined, through my out-of-practice Spanish ears and tongue, I knew we were speaking the same language. As Juan called it, the “human language of the Camino.”

 

“Two Smiles, One Camino” – Noelia & I, from WomanToSantiago’s Instagram

Noelia and Juan give back to others what the Camino has given to them. With a beautiful blog only just over a year old – still so much in its infancy – they have reached and called in so many people who are thirsty for the lessons they know the Camino can provide them.

 

Left – Me and Santiago! // Right – Calle de Santiago illuminating the night

With a palpable passion for the Camino and understanding & appreciation of it’s sacredness and spirit of transformation, I came away from an evening of walking, history, and eating (of course!) with a heart full of that Camino spirit. It was a connection of Camino family that had been there all along; our paths just hadn’t crossed until last night.

 

   PART III – Road-Tripping the Camino to it’s Heart

 

 

Tomorrow, I’ll be embarking on a journey of most epic proportions. I’m headed to Villafranca del Bierzo this weekend for a very important forum about the Camino de Santiago being put on by the Fraternidad Internacional del Camino de Santiago. The mission of the forum, and the Fraternidad, is one we believe in and support very deeply:

 

“A FORUM, A WORK SESSION, A TIME OF REFLECTION and REALIZATION, where ALL will PROPOSE, EXPLAIN and PLAN NEW ACTIONS in defense of traditional pilgrimage to Compostela and the values that make it what it is.”

 

Tomorrow night, I’ll be showing the documentary to all of the people who have gathered at this forum, hoping to give back to them this beautiful creation that captures the essence of the Camino and the magic that it is all about.

 

Below is the map of the route I’ll be road-tripping over the next ten days starting tomorrow, going from:

Madrid – Villafranca del Bierzo – Santiago de Compostela – Muxia – Finesterre – Madrid

The Google Map of my journey to the end of the Earth and back

I know that this weekend and beyond will have in store for me even more connections with Camino family both old and new, people that I do not personally know. But really, we do know each other, because we know and hold the spirit & soul of the Camino in our hearts. We speak the same language, even if my Spanish is a little rusty.