Marcela, Colombia
“I thought about how often we complain to God about all kinds of little problems, and how we so often think life is unfair. And then I remembered that during this entire trip we never once lacked food. In my life thus far, I had accomplished all that I wanted to. God gives us gifts that we don’t always see.”
Annie, USA
“Then I’d get frustrated, because I stopped focusing on the journey and got too caught up in the destination. I came to realize that when we do that, we risk losing the journey altogether, and then we start wonder why we are even walking in the first place! Like so much of the rest of life, we must keep the balance.”
Carlos, Spain
“‘Milestones’ like ‘the next day,’ or ‘the next coffee shop’ were what gave me the strength to go on. In this way, the Camino puts you in ‘can-do’ mode, even though it’s so long and difficult.”
Kirby, USA
“Little things like this on so many days made me think that the Big Man upstairs was looking out for me during my Camino. It doesn’t have to be miracles. Sometimes, those little things remind you to count your blessings.”
Family Silas, Finland (2014)
“We learned a lot about ourselves and about us as a family. It was an experience that we could never have really understood before we started the journey. Now we are sure that this Camino was our first, but not our last…”
Jason, USA
“I made a great number of steps to becoming a better person out there and it was my first solo travel experience. I learned that I’m a great deal stronger than I thought, and that just about anything can be accomplished if you just keep trying.”
Mel, USA
“I eventually fell into a rhythm with a group of people who who walked my same pace and distance. And we talked. We shared. A common first question was ‘why are you doing this?’ Like snowflakes, the reasons were unique and beautiful.”
Justin, Australia
“There was this one guy we saw several times who just LOVED going to the bathroom out in the open. It seemed like every time we passed a perfect photo spot, this guy was standing with his legs spread wide and a huge smile, just peeing away. We never actually met the guy – that might have been a weird conversation to start up!”
David, Spain
“Being from Spain, the fact that I lived no more than 4 hours by car to my home could make the arrival to Roncesvalles a bit less exciting than it would be for people coming from around the world. However, I remember feeling a strange connection with everything the moment I got off the bus.”
Simone, Italy
“Getting up each morning with the slow and gradual awakening of nature, and the genuineness in the eyes of fellow pilgrims made me understand that the beauty of the Camino is in the simple things that make you feel at one with what is around you.”
Julie, Canada
“After a sad season and slow healing process, a piece of my spirit has reawakened in me – the piece that rallies fellow pilgrims to jump in the river with me after a sweltering day of hiking; the piece that picks flowers every day and tucks them into my skirt; the piece that wants to discover and know other’s stories; the piece that feels ALIVE.”
Miesung, Korea
“People listened to my story and shared their own wisdom, all of them strangers, from all over the world. They asked for nothing but happily shared their stories and showed sympathy from bottom of their hearts.”
Marc, USA
“The Plaza del Grano brought me images of thousands, maybe millions, of citizens and pilgrims doing their thing for hundreds of years before me. I felt a part of that plaza like few other places along the Camino.”
Xina, USA
“I decided to go because I felt called by something greater than me. I answered the call … Adventurers and pilgrims alike have heard it. And so have farmers and peasants and factory workers. Some listen. Some go … I am one of these.”
Steven, USA
“The shell that accompanied me all along The Way is on a decorative stake just in front of my wife’s gravestone, one last way to honor her memory.”
“More Blissful, Less Ignorant” Chuck, USA (2014)
“If my 2012 Camino was more of an introspective journey, this was more of a social one, shared with and cherished because of my companions. Who’s coming for the May 2016 reunion?”
Kelli, USA
“I came and did what I was supposed to do: recalibrated mind, body and spirit. I am a stronger, more centered me for having hiked the Camino.”
Edna & David, Canada
“Our lives back home in Calgary consist of us both working full time jobs, commuting through city traffic, and trying to balance life at the end of the day. Our lives on the Camino were balanced every day because of the simplicity.”
Amy “BrassKnichols,” USA
“Listen. Everyone had some big, monumental, life-changing reason for going on the Camino. I met people who wanted to figure out their life, get over some traumatic past event, or maybe grow as a person. Not me. I just literally had no place else to be.”
Eva, USA
“We are all on the Camino together, we all have the same goal, but we have different ways of getting there.”