019: Don't Wait for Someday: Walk the Camino de Santiago While You Can
A gentle nudge that when it comes to a physical endeavor like this one, sooner is better than later.
Hello Camino friends! Here’s what’s in this issue:
📆 “Don’t Wait for Someday: Walk the Camino de Santiago While You Can”
📸Scenes from the Camino: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
🎥I’m going live on Substack! Check out the schedule.
🥾How to get help planning your Camino.
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“What’s the Camino?”
❓Not even sure what the Camino de Santiago is? Start here.
🤔Heard of the Camino but not sure if it’s for you? Read this.
Let’s get started!
Don’t Wait for Someday
When I was 24, I resigned from my job to go on a cross-country trip with my then-boyfriend. I lost count of how many people said, “We’re going to do that too—when we retire.”
My first thought was: You could be dead by then.
But I didn’t say that.
My mother taught me to hold my tongue on such things.
—
I don’t bring up death lightly. But it seems to me that we Americans shy away from the topic a little too much.
So let’s face reality: we’re all dying. Maybe it’s not imminent, but as of this moment there’s no way to avoid it.
So yes, I’ll talk about death—not to be morbid, but to inspire you to live your dreams sooner rather than later.
Do I think you should blow through your retirement savings tomorrow? No.
But do I think it best to do something like the Camino de Santiago sooner rather than later? Absolutely.
The Camino de Santiago challenges you in every way possible: physically, mentally, spiritually. You might be able to handle the latter two until your dying day. But like death, we can’t predict our physical health 2 or 5 or 10 years from now.
—
Tomorrow I start a week of volunteering here on the Camino de Santiago. I’m in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France.
Population: 1500.
Pilgrims who arrived here last week to start their Camino: 1000.
I know my job well—this is my fourth time volunteering in the Pilgrim Office here. There are the details:
Giving out the map of the first day’s route over the Pyrenees
Pointing out the water stops and the emergency phone number that works across the entire European Union (112).
Handing out Camino credentials (the pilgrim passport that gets stamped along the way)
Giving them that momentous first stamp.
Answering questions like:
How hard is the walk tomorrow?
The hardest day of the entire Camino Francés. But also incredible—the views, the people, the accomplishment. You’ve got this.
Should I use hiking sticks?
I do. And I’ll tell you why. But like most things on the Camino, there’s no right or wrong.
Where can I buy food for tomorrow’s hike?
I give them a map of the town and show them where to go.
Where’s the ATM?
Same as above.
My bag didn’t show up at the airport. What should I do?
That’s a story for another day. Don’t worry — it’s only happened once in the time I’ve been here and we figured it out.
The list goes on and on.
But the most important thing we are told as volunteers — our number one job—is encouragement.
—
Going from saying “I want to do the Camino” to actually getting to a starting point where you can say “I’m going to start walking the Camino tomorrow” is no easy feat. I should know—it’s what I help my clients do.
So when a pilgrim sits down with me in the pilgrim office, yes—they’re there for information.
But you know what they need most at that point?
Someone who acknowledges all it has taken for them to get here, someone who believes they can get over the Pyrenees and walk to Santiago de Compostela.
Starting on Monday, that’s my job.
I can’t wait.
With love,
Rebecca
📸Scenes from the Camino: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
For those that want to embark on a 33-day journey (or more) to Santiago de Compostela, the most popular starting point is St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France. The first 1-2 days require pilgrims to walk over the Pyrenees mountains so an office—staffed year-round by volunteers—was set up many years ago to be sure pilgrims got the information they needed before starting out. This is where my father and I will be volunteering this week:)
🎥Join me for live interviews here on Substack!
For now, just mark your calendars. More info will come in subsequent newsletters.
Wednesday, July 9, 11-11:45 EST: Tim Wesolowski — In April, Tim completed the Camino Portugués from Tui, Spain.
Wednesday, July 30, 11-11:45 EST: Maria Seco of Spanish for the Camino
Wednesday, August 13, 11-11:45 EST: Hana Maris — Last August, at age 65, Hana walked the Camino Primitivo.
🥾Ready to start planning your Camino?
Rebecca Weston is an American who walked her first Camino in 2012.
She helps people 45 and over plan their own walks on the Camino de Santiago through her business The Camino Calls.
She and her husband live in Spain in a town of 6500 people on the Camino del Norte. She’s walked more than a dozen Caminos, spent many days volunteering along the trail, and if she’s not walking one now, she’s planning the next—and would love nothing more than to help you plan yours, too.
Beautiful reminder on death
I’m stalking you Rebecca😉and loving your posts, YouTube interview, and I have a phone date set up with you in July. I’m reading the news fr both Portugal and Spain about the demonstrations asking for no more tourists. Not sounding very inviting. Your thoughts.