By: Ella
In April, I walked the Camino de Santiago with my friend Vivi. The Camino is a roughly 500-mile walk across northern Spain. Each night we stayed in albergues—hostels for pilgrims—and each day we walked from one town to the next, until 32 days later we reached the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
To be honest, I hated the first three days. In my defense, there was also a heat wave during this time. Day 1, adrenaline carried me up the hill. By day 2, I was exhausted, bored, and questioning why I’d chosen to do this. I did whatever it took to distract myself: counted my steps, sang songs to myself, rewarded myself with a bite of a granola bar every mile. In the middle of all that distraction, I started asking other pilgrims why they were doing the Camino—partly out of curiosity, partly because I needed motivation to keep going. So many had done it before, so I’d ask them something closer to: what’s so great about it? It’s just a lot of walking. They’d laugh, and say something along the lines of, “You signed up to walk 500 miles, didn’t you? But you’ll understand once you reach Santiago. You’ll know why.” Often they’d add, “And you’ll already be planning to do another.” I told them I wasn’t so sure about that.
Unconvinced or not, there was only one way forward: step by step. And eventually, I did come to love it. Yes, some days were flat-out boring: a straight path alongside a highway for 15 miles, nothing to look at, nowhere to stop. Restaurants closed for siesta right when we arrived, and once open, they served the same bland “pilgrim meal,” so on the rare occasions we got vegetables, we were thrilled (you really do learn to appreciate the simple things in life).
What made even the boring stretches worth it, though, was the people. I met so many genuinely amazing ones along the way. The best part was watching our Camino friends reappear—you’d see them on day 1 and maybe again the next day, or perhaps not again until day 32. You might lose track of someone for a week, but you always crossed paths again. No other pilgrims were our age—we didn’t meet a single teenager until the last five days, when the path gets much more crowded. Our closest friends ended up being a New Zealand couple who loved telling us about their grandchildren. We met them on day 2 and celebrated walking 500 miles together on the very last day! Between the friendships and the boredom, I found my own ways to pass the miles. I turned counting my steps into a private game—how many until that tree? I got weirdly into the Hamilton soundtrack, which somehow made every steep climb feel conquerable.
More than anything, I learned that life (and my perspective of it) is fickle. In a single day I could feel love, hatred, boredom, excitement, and exhaustion, sometimes all before lunch. Eventually I stopped fighting it and trusted the process. If I didn’t want to walk, I walked anyway, telling myself: by mile five, my body will wake up, and I’ll be glad I kept going. It almost always did. Sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other, and that is okay.
Strangely enough, the more our bodies strengthened from the days of walking, the more we slowed down. We realized there was nothing to rush to, so we might as well enjoy the process and take stops along the way. I’m pretty sure the other pilgrims referred to us as the “two late American girls,” but we always made it in time for dinner! Most days we walked 8–10 hours, doing nothing but putting one foot in front of the other. Some stretches we talked, some we walked in silence, and every now and then we sang out loud. The silence felt unproductive at first—there was so much else we could’ve been doing—but looking back, all those “unproductive” hours added up to something incredible: we walked across an entire country!
After Santiago, my friend had to fly home, but I kept going for four more days, to the western coast of Spain, Finisterre—which translates to “the end of the world,” because back when people believed the earth was flat, they thought this was its edge. One day of walking, I didn’t see a single other person. It was scary, considering I’d never been this “alone” before in my life. It also made me wonder: how far have most people ever been from another human? Yes, I’d hiked remote places before, but always with someone. I’d spent nights home alone, but never more than a few hundred feet from a neighbor. Walking that stretch completely alone, I found a new kind of independence and confidence.
Pilgrims love to tell you that the “true Camino” starts once you reach Santiago—the Camino of life. I like that framing. Life as a Camino: a journey taken step by step. After all, much of what I learned on the Camino is applicable to everyday life: always make friends, but don’t be afraid of silence or being alone. Have gratitude for the simple things. Find ways to enjoy the journey—and trust the process!
Vivi and I at Santiago de Compostela! We made it! And on the left are some of the stamps we collected in our Credencial (used to receive the Compostela, which is proof that we completed the pilgrimage! Plus it makes the best souvenir!)
In the middle: the most amazing communal dinner at Casa Susi, an albergue designed, built, and run by Susi. Despite living in Australia, she loved the Camino so much that she moved to Spain to open her own albergue along the route—and just two weeks after opening, she met her now-husband, who runs the albergue with her! During dinner, we had the best conversations with fellow pilgrims, and before bed Susi gave each and every one of us a hug!
On the left: a photo from an albergue attached to a church, run by nuns! They put on a nightly sing-along, and all the pilgrims joined in to sing “Country Roads.”
On the right: a beautiful dinner set up at Albergue Verde, following a communal meditation session!
Two Duke related coincidences / “Camino miracles”! I randomly sat next to a man who used to be a professor at Duke during a communal Paella dinner! And fellow Duke Gap Year member Evie finished her Camino one day after me, so we got to have dinner together in Santiago!
Some of my favorite photos from along the way!
