Behind the Albergue Door: Inspiration Agony Adventure on the Camino de Santiago

you for a group with more single moms, it will surely make you want to rage impotently at a hidden camera in the jungle (or, let’s say, the back of the door in a bathroom stall).
    Monotonous food
    Whether it be coconuts and weevil-ridden rice or hefty portions of stale white bread and greasy chorizo, the tedium of the staples will try your patience and appetite throughout. But under duress your body needs sustenance, not the pleasure of variety, and certainly not any goddamned onions.
    Stretches of hunger
    Unlike in our normal everyday lives, when even the slightest inclination toward hunger is ruthlessly stamped out with bags of chips, guilty pleasure chocolate bars or impromptu cheese slice and bread crust sandwiches, both Survivor and Camino participants routinely find themselves struggling through uncomfortable stretches of time where their food intake doesn’t perfectly match up with all their fondest desires. The difference is that on the Camino you know that despite the surprising lack of restaurants you may have encountered on a particular day, sometime before you tuck in for the night you will surely find an opportunity to stuff yourself beyond the state of perfect health. Which makes it easier from a mental perspective, and ensures your clothes continue to fit just fine.
    Racial i nequalities
    Both Survivor and the Camino suffer from a disproportionate lack of black people. Conspiracy? Or simply a group of people with the collective good sense to avoid activities of self-inflicted torture?
    Occasional reward
    Just as those lucky and determined enough to win a reward challenge on Survivor are suddenly treated to a highly incongruous feast and unhealthy amounts of alcohol, so are pilgrims on the Camino known to sporadically treat themselves to an expensive and unrestrained night on the town filled with disgustingly large meals, copious alcohol consumption and lots of talk about how much they already “love you all so much” and “deserve” another piece of chocolate cake. In fact, I have heard rumours that in popular rest day stops like Pamplona, Burgos and León city officials are discussing ways to work the phrases “you deserve it” and “one more cerveza, por favor” into their existing town mottos (most of which currently involve pay toilets and selling miniature figurines of famous cathedrals).
    Bug bites
    On Survivor it can be anything – mosquitos, spiders, sand flies, or anything else that looks cool in those atmospheric segues they use coming out of commercial breaks. On the Camino there was the occasional mosquito, probably more in summer, but the big culprits were bed bugs. But they all look the same in an ominous camera close-up.
    Follow a schedule
    On Survivor it usually goes reward challenge, immunity challenge, tribal council (man, when I start using these made-up terms so casually even I find it hard to respect myself), repeat several times, the merge, more challenges, final tribal council. On the Camino it goes hike, ailment, equipment catastrophe, repeat several times, rest day, hangover, hike, repeat a couple times, big push to the end, brood about sudden loss of purpose, hangover.
    Homesickness
    Emotional breakdowns to a hidden camera vs. quiet sobbing in the night. Erratic behaviour that sheds doubt on your place in the tribe vs. enigmatic social media posts that lead to confused questions and people discussing your sanity. Videos from home sponsored shamelessly by major electronics companies vs. video Skyping with someone who can’t get over how dirty you look. Painful struggle with lack of companionship vs. painful struggle with too much companionship.



The People that you Meet
    The biggest surprise of the Camino for us? That an 800 kilometre trial of physical and emotional endurance would end up being defined, not by the landscape or the hiking challenges, but by the people we met along the way. Some became great friends and almost constant companions. We became very tight with others for a short period of time and then went our separate ways and never ran into them again. Some people we thought were gone would suddenly reappear just when we least expected them, like long lost t-shirts tucked in between the sweaters in your bottom drawer. Many more were casual acquaintances that would drift in and out of our social orbit at random intervals, or we into theirs, depending on your perspective. It was a social dynamic similar to others we’ve experienced while travelling