Camaraderie

It has only been a few days and yet the way the Camino brings people together is already apparent. We are all facing the same challenges so barriers are down, people seem less judgemental and most seem to take time and make effort to talk to their fellow travellers. It hasn’t taken long to become familiar with many of the faces, if not the names, of those who are travelling along following the same itinerary as you and people who have known each other no more than a couple of days greet each other - genuinely - like long lost friends. It is quite heartwarming.

As I am travelling alone I seem to have had more opportunity to chat with a wide range of people walking the route. There are young and old, fathers and daughters, fathers and sons, married couples, groups of retirees and lone travellers like me. And the range of motivations are just as wide: long held ambitions; time away from home to think through problems; genuine hopes of personal spiritual discovery; a Taiwanese couple doing it as a test for a future life together; and for Paul, the English guy paralysed from the neck down and doing it in a wheelchair helped by his team, a defiant and brave charity exercise.

On top of all this is the way we are received by the local population. Yes, we bring a much needed boost to the economy in some rural areas and of course the locals help us part with our money; make no mistake, the Camino is an industry. But it seems to be an industry with a heart and I for one do not feel I am being exploited by those who provide roadside drinks or the extensive number of basic pilgrim accommodation you encounter on the route. The reception from the local population to the travellers that pass through seems warm and genuine; locals often nod you a 'Buen Camino’ and as I entered Pamplona a car slowed alongside me, the driver honked their horn and shouted a 'Buen Camino’ to me through the open window, gave me a thumbs up and then sped away. It seems that the advice I read in the Codex 'that peregrinos of Santiago, poor or wealthy, in justice should be taken in, and diligently attended to' is still taken seriously today.