El Camino de Santiago – Was it tough?

Is it tough? Yes. We’re not going to lie and say it is easy, all beautiful, and amazing. It is all that, plus it requires all your strength, patience, and willingness to keep going. The pain is inevitable no matter how much you have prepared for your camino. We could not even imagine how tough it would be when we were back home training. On average it was between 20-30 kilometers daily for any given stage imagine that! You will feel exhausted at the end of each stage and you will be pushed to your limits at least once on the camino. Back pain, blisters, sun irritation, tendinitis, and soreness are all part of this journey. Santiago did not have any blisters throughout the entire camino (lucky!) he did have back, knee, and muscle pains. Ingrid did have blisters (amongst other pains) which became a daily routine for both of us to squeeze the fluid out, this would be painful depending on the location of the blister but very necessary in order for the blister to dry out. I remember two very painful ones, one on each little toe (weird), where Ingrid almost cried. After those two painful blisters heeled (about a day) Ingrid was a professional with blisters and the entire rest of the way they were not a problem. Everyday we would wake up with a different part of the body hurting or making it uncomfortable to even move. The positive side of all this is that once you warm up and start each day it all goes away until off course you stop for a break or finish your stage that day. There were also the days where we woke up perfectly fine, no pain, nothing! It was like magic! We were always amazed and still are of how much our bodies can change and get accustomed to as well as how we managed to keep going regardless of how much our bodies were hurting. This is a lesson we proved in the camino, that we are stronger than we think and it is all in your mind, this is so very true you just have to live it to discover it.

There will be times when you will want to give up, get discouraged, frustrated, and will think of taking a taxi or bus to the next town, don’t do it! just keep walking, I promise you will get there and it will feel amazing. Go at your own pace, take breaks, walk shorter distances, talk to pilgrims, take a rest day, have some wine along the way or a beer, it is your camino and you make it however you want!! It is not a race and everyone is equal in the camino, no one is judging, on the contrary, everyone is there to help and find their own way. You will find many pilgrims are suffering more than you at some points, you can help if needed, and then just keep walking. That’s just it! It’s so real and human that the physical pain becomes normal and it ends up being a part of your journey.

Rest days, are very important and we believe necessary if you’re going to be walking the entire camino. We took rest days in Logroño and Burgos. We also took a shorter walk of 8 kilometers to Ponferrada and stopped there. Rest days are very helpful for the body and the mind to recharge. A nice hotel with amenities such as a sauna, jacuzzi, normal towels, a nice shower, nice sheets, and the ability to sleep in without being disturbed is always good during the camino. We also used this time to wash our clothes at the laundromats around town. Using the hotel laundry service was more expensive so we took advantage of the laundromats around town for less than half the hotel rates.

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