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

could have left behind something, but I had nothing to offer him, as he needed nothing. So, I left my heart there and my promise that I will tell everyone about this magical place before Astorga and about the bravest man that I have ever met. How many of us long for it: to run away, to be completely free of all the restraints society puts on us? And how many would do it…? When I left, I was filled with love! After my Camino friends and I arrived in Astorga we decided to cook that night. And since I am a soup expert, I opted for a garlic soup. Eight people signed up for it and I freaked out a little bit, as I had never made food for so many people before. It turned out to be the best soup I have ever made. You know why? Because whatever love I gained from David, I was willing to share it with the others, so I put my love into that soup. After this day I was a much nicer, less grumpy, pilgrim on the Way, and I stopped rejecting approaches from my fellow pilgrims. You cannot love someone without loving others more. Thank you, David!
    El Camino de Santiago – it is over, it is hard to say anything, you have to experience it yourself. One thing is for sure: the journey does not end, it goes on forever. I just walked part of it on my own. We all have our own Camino. Saw amazing places, met amazing people, found peace and got my wings back. Thank you Spain, I will be back.

Aisling Daly
    Ireland
    We Found Love in the Strangest Place
    No, it’s not a song escaping the collagen-filled lips of a scantily-clad pop star; it’s the true story of two Santiago-bound pilgrims who discovered in each other a beautiful friendship, followed by a much deeper connection. But the “strangest place” certainly hits home, because who would ever expect to find a shag, or more importantly their soul mate, on an 800 kilometre pilgrimage across the north of Spain? I mean let’s really consider the conditions we are talking about here. You are on a daily basis at the most intense level of exhaustion your body has ever felt. This means you are dragging yourself with an often zombie-like posture; your body is sweating from the most unlikely places (and you’re just too tired to care enough to dry it off), you couldn’t be bothered fixing your hair, or applying make-up to the raccoon-eyes that you’ve acquired thanks to the obese Italian man that was snoring two beds down from you yet again. Or how about your feet; you can take your pick from the smell, the blisters, the red-raw colour, or the toenails that are hanging on for dear life; whichever you choose, none of the options really make for physical attraction. Or maybe your fashion sense, when it’s gotten to the stage that your fellow pilgrims recognise you from a kilometre away because of the clothes you’re wearing, which of course is bound to happen when you’re rotating between two outfits during the whole 30+ days of walking.
    And all of that is really just what you look like. What about the things these companions see you do? What about constantly having to stop and squat behind bushes to relieve yourself (and not always of the liquid variety)? What about brushing your teeth and showering in the same communal space where there are also cubicles that allow you to both hear and smell what your fellow pilgrims are doing? What about when they see you cry and whinge like a little child because you’re just too damn tired to walk any further and the next hostel is another 6 kilometres away? What about when they watch you drive a needle through your blisters and make a disturbing satisfied noise when the liquid escapes and you’re given relief from the pain?
    And yet despite all these obstacles love prevails, and ours wasn’t a rare story either. For any of you who find that unlikely, I’ll just say that numbers don’t lie, and out of our group of 15 friends that met and formed a walking party, 6 turned into couples (and were still together 6 months later), and of the remaining 9, there were 4 who were couples that started the Camino already in a relationship and 2 were brother and sister. And love was certainly in the air outside of our group as well. We witnessed many awkward introductions on the first days that ended in hand-holding in Santiago a month later. Of course, not all the hook-ups were of the clean variety. We also saw what appeared to be a very cute getting-together of two people a few days before reaching Santiago, only to arrive in Santiago to see the man