A walk to remember

The Walk of St James. There are 13 routes, which you can trek, bike, or ride a horse. You can start in Spain, France, or Portugal and it can last up to two months depending on where you start. I did the Camino Primitivo because I only had six days. I arrived in Oviedo much to my surprise it was rainy. I took out my rain poncho, sweatshirt, and began walking to the albergue listed on Eroski Consumer iphone app, which I just recently downloaded to phone. It’s an app that lists all routes and hostels on the walk. I arrived just in time, as they were locking up for the night. Luckily, I found a bed, which are first come first serve basis. Upon arriving, I met three peregrinos (which is the Spanish word for pilgrims), two were sisters from Italy, ages 19 and 22, and a man from Valencia in his late 50’s, who was on his second Camino. I got the credentials and stamp, which is like a passport and the only way you can stay at these hostels because they are so cheap. It cost a total $7 dollars for the night in a shared dorm, in a modest room, but at least it was dry. I got to know my companions over a meal and we talked about our reasons for walking. It was already looking up for me. It turns out that the sisters were on the same schedule as me and we did not have the time to start from Oviedo, so we decided to take a bus to Lugo, which would meet the requirements needed to finish, a minimum of 100km. After a 3-hour bus ride, we arrived in Lugo and went to the cathedral to get our stamp. Like Oviedo, it was similar architecture. That’s when I noticed the shells along the trail. These are to show you the way and it’s the symbol of St. James. We walked to the next town 26 miles in the rain. At first it was like an adventure, but it quickly got old. Each albergue was different, some had 12 beds and were in places too small to be called a town and others were dormitory style with hundreds of beds in cities. Everyday we started at 6am into the darkness that greets you at dawn. I started the day packing my backpack with a flashlight. I wanted to capture these moments, so I would take out my Flip camera and do my morning greeting. When we finally made it to Santiago it was an experience. We arrived to the sound of bagpipes greeting us, hundreds of peregrinos yelling and laughing at the pure joy that they felt. It was a mixture of elation and sadness because you had to leave your friends.