Upon entering the city of Santiago and reaching the cathedral of St. James, our first order of business was to make our way the the Pilgrim’s office. This is the office that issues the “Compestella” or certificate that shows that a pilgrim has completed the journey. It was late in the afternoon and the lines were short. We had heard stories about the long lines that form in the summer months as hundreds of tired and dirty hikers wait for their documents. Fortunately, the crow

I could see the trail winding upwards, almost vertical. To add to the difficulty, it was a muddy mess. The trail was so narrow in places that I had to duck under branches while I looked for a foothold. I gave up and started using branches on the side to pull my way up. I was tired and it was getting darker, but Ol kept pushing. “Come on we only need to do 42 kilometers today” he said. My legs began cramping. Just when I thought that I couldn’t go on Ol reached down to pull m

The Camino de Santiago is not a nature trail. While some natural beauty can be found, there are many other trails in the world that offer better scenery. The Camino a spiritual experience. Many people walk the Camino as an opportunity to reflect on life, change, or just get away for a while. However, the real magic of the Camino is in the people we meet. There is no better way to really get to know people from other cultures and stations of life than to spend time walking tog

Even though we had walked over 1100 kilometers it seemed that my upcoming rest day on the Camino de Santiago, was a moving target. We had originally planned to stay in Burgos for a zero day, since our last zero day in Pamplona (where we walked fifteen miles just being tourists). Ol was worried that we had several days of rain and snow in the forecast, so we needed to walk when it was nice. It’s as if Ol thinks that we will melt by hiking in the rain (I guess almost getting hy