It's hard to begin to explain how amazing I think this experience was. The Camino de Santiago is a centuries old route with centuries of symbolism, stories, miracles, and traditions, and being a part of that community for a few days was really beautiful.
The northern countryside was so different from Southern Spain. Everywhere you look there are rolling hills and a million different shades of green. The terrain was not very difficult, and the weather was mostly the perfect cool temperature with a slight breeze.
I think for the remainder of this blog about the Week of Backpacking I'll divide it into categories...
Graham
Our first night was spent in Sarria, a beautiful town with conch shell bridges and trees and pretty little creek. The real point of interest about Sarria however is that we went out to eat our first Peregrino meal, and who did we run into but Graham Spanier, who until recently was the President of Penn State University. since 7 of the 11 people in our group were Penn Staters there was quite a commotion as they called out to get President Spanier's attention. Apparently he'd been biking the Camino starting in Leon (quite an achievement) along with some other PSU Faculty Members. He seemed happy enough to meet all of us, as well as other members of our group. We even got a good number of photos together. At the same time, our Spanish professor Salva was incredibly confused that we'd run into someone we knew almost as soon as we stepped off the bus, but we explained things fairly well, and his English is good enough that he was able to joke around with Spanier as well. Such a coincidence!
Our first night was spent in Sarria, a beautiful town with conch shell bridges and trees and pretty little creek. The real point of interest about Sarria however is that we went out to eat our first Peregrino meal, and who did we run into but Graham Spanier, who until recently was the President of Penn State University. since 7 of the 11 people in our group were Penn Staters there was quite a commotion as they called out to get President Spanier's attention. Apparently he'd been biking the Camino starting in Leon (quite an achievement) along with some other PSU Faculty Members. He seemed happy enough to meet all of us, as well as other members of our group. We even got a good number of photos together. At the same time, our Spanish professor Salva was incredibly confused that we'd run into someone we knew almost as soon as we stepped off the bus, but we explained things fairly well, and his English is good enough that he was able to joke around with Spanier as well. Such a coincidence!
The most meaningful thing on the Way of Saint James: People
We usually walked for about 6 hours a day, with a 15 to 20 minute stop halfway for a snack and bathroom break. Since most of the Camino in Galicia goes through countryside (little farms, and tiny villages) we were never far from settlements and waystations. As you walk you can vary your pace and meet up with people from all over the world. Some favorites of mine were a married Dutch couple who walked from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We talked things like Family, Art, our homes, and their childhoods. I asked what their favorite part of the Camino was, and they said the Pyrenees were amazing. I told them my last name apparently comes from Leiden Holland and they said it was a very beautiful place to go. This is the sort of small exchange that happens all along the way. I also spoke with Irishmen, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, French....Some travelers from Korea didn't seem to speak much English or Spanish but every day when we passed them along the way they'd enthusiastically wave with both arms and embrace us. The one term everyone knows on the Camino is "Buen Camino" and these Korean Peregrinos said it with so much enthusiasm I don't think anyone in Galicia could have meant it more sincerely.
We usually walked for about 6 hours a day, with a 15 to 20 minute stop halfway for a snack and bathroom break. Since most of the Camino in Galicia goes through countryside (little farms, and tiny villages) we were never far from settlements and waystations. As you walk you can vary your pace and meet up with people from all over the world. Some favorites of mine were a married Dutch couple who walked from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We talked things like Family, Art, our homes, and their childhoods. I asked what their favorite part of the Camino was, and they said the Pyrenees were amazing. I told them my last name apparently comes from Leiden Holland and they said it was a very beautiful place to go. This is the sort of small exchange that happens all along the way. I also spoke with Irishmen, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, French....Some travelers from Korea didn't seem to speak much English or Spanish but every day when we passed them along the way they'd enthusiastically wave with both arms and embrace us. The one term everyone knows on the Camino is "Buen Camino" and these Korean Peregrinos said it with so much enthusiasm I don't think anyone in Galicia could have meant it more sincerely.
Once we stopped and spoke with some Americans who were curious about the nature of a college course that goes backpacking on the Camino; it's certainly not a common occurrence. They asked if the class really helped us get more out of the Camino, and without hesitation, the three of us present said we had learned so much already. I told them I couldn't hear a rooster without thinking about the Miracle of the Gallo and the Gallina that we learned about, and then, since they had not heard of this miracle from the Camino, we were able to translate the Spanish version of the story that we had heard and pass it on to others. When we ran into them again in Santiago they told us that thanks to our story they too had found the roosters more significant, and thanked us again for passing it on. In such a small way, we made an impact in their lives that bettered the rest of their experience.
On the Camino de Santiago you can't help but feel closer to humanity. It has nothing to do with the fact in that in albergues you shower in public stalls and sleep in room with at least 10 other people (some girls on our trip found that particularly gruesome). It's that along the walk you make so many connections, whether fleeting like ours, or life altering, like so many people that start the Camino to walk alone and end up finding their spouses or new best friends. All along the way there are messages of encouragement and promises from one pilgrim to another, much like the one I posed by: "Laura, I'm waiting for you in Portomarrin." Others were declarations of love, promises, thank yous'....Everything about the connections made with other pilgrims that you happened to walk a while with. In a way it's a microcosm for life, in that there will always be people you meet and instantly get along with, and others that only pass through your life briefly but have an influence nonetheless. The huge difference here is that when you're backpacking everything superficial is stripped away from your life. There's no class on the Camino, only pilgrims. The entirety of one's belongings must fit on your back. Age also plays less of a factor on the Camino. I spoke with retired people and smiled as children filed along with their parents.
I can call Salva and Alfonso our professors, and it's true that they led us and organized everything, and told us all sorts of interesting information throughout the course and the journey, but in the end we were all one group traveling together. They didn't have the status of "professors," but it'd be impossible to find a class that has more respect for their teachers. Perhaps a result of hours and hours of walking, or sitting down together three meals a day for a week. In such a short amount of time they gained as much respect from me as the best studio professors and faculty in Art Education that I've known for several years now. Once we set out in Galicia we weren't so much a class as a group of friends trying our best.
I think a lot of people have said that the Camino de Santiago brings people together, on a personal and societal level. All I can say is I wholeheartedly agree, and as a result I feel closer to Spain and closer the World.
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