Camino de Santiago de Compostela

It is like walking in a daisy field, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

I did not plan to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, neither did my mom.  It was in the spur-of-the-moment that we decided. 14 Days later we left Cape Town International Airport heading for Madrid, Spain.  We started our pilgrimage route from Burgos. We had to make the best of the 2 weeks even if we did not do any research.

I bought a small pocket map with the main route on it.  No accommodation was booked and with a small back pack and extra pair of underwear, trouser and t-shirt in.  After breakfast me and my mom sipped on our coffee and started laughing.  What are we doing here, we did not exercise beforehand, we did not really read about it we just packed our bags and left.  A mission to the unknown. Walking on highways, cobbled streets, through Peoples backyards, through farmland, walking with cows, following chickens and just viewing this beautiful country from a different angle.  So many people passed us by and we passed some by aswell. Children, parents with babies on their backs, married couples, divorces, widows and people dying trying to find peace in their heart before taking on the afterlife.

Getting up each morning at 6 am and sometimes 5 am was a blessing.  Walking, being stunned and mesmerized by the sun coming up in the east, flowers opening as the sun touches their peddles, so peaceful.  We met people from all over the world, from every continent you can think of and of every age.

What was next?

The next town on our route was Hornillos del Camino. From there on we just carried on until we reached Santiago de Compostela.  We averaged 28 km per day and started early in the morning.  Did not buy anything on our way because we did not want to carry anything.  Along the way we checked in at each towns church and we received a stamp in our Camino passport.  At the end of the route we each received a certificate and the satisfaction of being privileged enough to be able to walk the Camino.  Humble is the word that comes to mind.