1000 Km walking meditation to Santiago de Compostela using the "Via de la Plata" route.
One year ago a good Italian friend told me "Hey, I'm going to walk to Santiago de Compostela!". "Really" I said. "Awesome! I would love to do it too". I immediately reminded the book from Paulo Coelho, "El peregrino de Compostela" ("The Pilgrimage" in English) that I had read many years before. I actually don't remember anything about the book except for a thought that came to my mind... "Wow, does this really exist? I would love to do a pilgrimage trip like this".
Just think about it, walking for days and days without worrying about anything else, without thinking about anything but just being there, aware of the present moment, aware of every step without analyzing the situation, just being there.... Sounds good, no? That to me is walking meditation and that's the way I saw the experience in my mind. One year later I found myself sitting in a restaurant with the same friend getting some of her tips to start my own trip :-)
My plan was just to be alone and walk alone to be able to enjoy every moment without distraction, just to be with myself. That's why I chose the "Via de la Plata" route, the same route that my friend did, a route to Santiago not as popular and crowded as the French route but that is getting more and more attention every year. It is a pretty lonely route. It starts in Sevilla and ends in Santiago after 1,000 Km... I love that number!!! I didn't thought about doing tourism, visiting beautiful cities or meeting nice people. I was just looking for the opportunity to do nothing but walk. I didn't try to find out about the history of the route and I even had no idea that Santiago (St James) was one of the apostles. Not surprisingly, once I reached Sevilla to start walking I realized that I was not properly prepared, I didn't even have a map or a guide book! At least I had that meeting with my friend, otherwise it would have been a real mess.
So, how was it? Well, it was just fantastic. It's unbelievable how many things you can see in just one day walking and I walked for a total of 38 days. So many beautiful landscapes, so many different trails, so many sunrises and sunsets. I walked on the sidewalks, on the main roads, on the national road, on the forest, on the mountains, I walked through farms next to the cows, I walk on stones, gravel, mud and grass, I walked on every type of terrain that you can imagine. I walked for hours and hours and even days and days without any company, without seeing any other pilgrims except when I reached the "albergues" at the end of the day, but even then in some occasions there was nobody except me. And although it was not my plan I was happily surprised to see so many beautiful cities and villages and even better to have made a few good pilgrim friends. The last three days I decided to walk together with my pilgrim friends, it was a different experience but just great.
Exactly what I want to do, very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
Thank you, you inspired me to do this pilgrimage (again, because I've had already this idea years ago) !
ReplyDeleteDid you have a spiritual practice back then? How did you relate to that while doing the walk? Were you able to meditate on the journey? (I don't see it on your day to day planning on the FAQ page) or maybe use mantra while walking?
Also, I am a vegan, is it possible to just sleep at the albergue and not eat what they serve (as I prefer to cook my own vegan food!)?
Thank you !
Oh Camille, I'm just reading your comment now. I'm sorry. Yes, I already had a daily meditation practice back then, but it was difficult to do it at the albergues cause there were people around, except in those days when I was totally alone.
DeleteSo most of the time I would try to find a spot on the way to meditate but also my practice changed to a mindfulness practice, being more present, stopping at random moments to fully appreciate wherever I was. I used to count my breath while walking. I did that a lot, pretty much every day.
But if you are vegan, at least in 2010 when I did the walk you will struggle. The only thing you can find to eat is salads. Even then they always add tuna fish to the salads. You can always make your own bocadillo (sandwhich). You'll need to buy local bread and whatever else you might like to add to it. Good luck! and if you already did the walk please let me know how it was. ;-)