People on the Camino that become your Friends

[kfw]

One of the most endearing aspects of the Camino experience is the human interaction. You may meet a person for 20 minutes, a day or travel with them over the course of the trail and recognize that you have made a connection.

Sometimes it may mean exchanging email addresses, becoming Facebook friends or just laughing over a cold beer or glass of wine. Other times, it may mean integrating people into your life. This is not always easy as we have the tendency to compartmentalize our lives to the degree that it doesn't allow for new components,.

However, sometimes people make the effort and it is well worthwhile.

Recently I did the Via De La Plata and I met a great group of guys. We had fun, drank beers and laughed about our lives.

I have been in Crete for the last 2 months to write my 3rd book and the guys have made the effort to come over and visit. Being away from your family can be difficult but their visits made it enjoyable. Here is one of my Camino friends and his wife who were kind enough to give me some of that Camino spirit.

Thank you guys!

 

[SYates]

I am still friends with someone I walked with part of my first Camino in 1999, I know what you mean ;-)

BC SY

 

[lovingkindness]

I was sitting in a norwegian railway station eating apple cake with coffee one day in 2010 when a lady (Anita) came over and asked me who I was. She had seen me walking the road near Gjorvik one howling wet day a few weeks earlier carrying an enormous pack. She said to herself ,That lady is a pilgrim, poor thing! I'm sure of it. Her husband asked, How do you know? She said, I have no idea, just an intuition….Then a few weeks later there we were meeting up in a railway cafe. That night I was Anita's guest and the following day she and another friend guided me through the forrests on my way south to Larvik…. Nine years later, this year, I spent three months in Norway hiking pilgrim trails and volunteering. Anita met me at the airport in Oslo, arranged for me to stay with her brother overnight before I set off on the Osterdalen trail then, three months later welcomed me into her home for a big rest! Tusen Takk! Friends forever.

 

[Dave C.]

As anyone who has walked the Camino (whatever route) know, it is all about the moments and the other Pilgrims that you meet along the way that makes the journey special.

 

[lovingkindness]

As anyone who has walked the Camino (whatever route) know, it is all about the moments and the other Pilgrims that you meet along the way that makes the journey special.

Absolutely!!!!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

On the first night of my first camino in 2015 I met two other Americans at the communal dinner table. We were all from the Midwest and we meet yearly for 2 nights at changing hotels in various central locations for a "Camino Mini Reunion". We create our own tapas meal, including Santiago cake and Rioja wine, reminisce and share stories of our most recent caminos or other trips. I have walked the Le Puy in 2018 with one of them, and we also meet up for "girl outings" periodically.

 

[Bragsly]

Three years ago I set out to ride the Camino from Pamplona to Santiago. On the 2 day I met a couple from Madrid doing the same ride. We decided to ride together a bit, which turned into completing the ride together. We now meet up every year to ride together for two weeks and they have become great friends.

 

[Felipe]

Yes, sometimes Camino friends became e-mail contacts. Exchanging photos is a classic, but also Christmas greetings. And even we meet occasionally when we coincide in a city, travelling for job or vacation. It is rather unusual, but it happens.
But generally speaking, I am reluctant to take the initiative to exchange e-mails, even with people with whom I have walked many days or shared diners. I feel that as a bit invasive of their privacy, and that that there is a general feeling that "Camino friends stay in the Camino". But maybe it is that I am not a particularly "social" person.

 

[cathn]

One of the most endearing aspects of the Camino experience is the human interaction. You may meet a person for 20 minutes, a day or travel with them over the course of the trail and recognize that you have made a connection.

Sometimes it may mean exchanging email addresses, becoming Facebook friends or just laughing over a cold beer or glass of wine. Other times, it may mean integrating people into your life. This is not always easy as we have the tendency to compartmentalize our lives to the degree that it doesn't allow for new components,.

However, sometimes people make the effort and it is well worthwhile.

Recently I did the Via De La Plata and I met a great group of guys. We had fun, drank beers and laughed about our lives.

I have been in Crete for the last 2 months to write my 3rd book and the guys have made the effort to come over and visit. Being away from your family can be difficult but their visits made it enjoyable. Here is one of my Camino friendsView attachment 66993View attachment 66995View attachment 66994 and his wife who were kind enough to give me some of that Camino spirit.

Thank you guys!

Lifelong friendships have bee formed on the Camino.
Just this year I met up with people I walked with in 2013 in Ontario and Toronto.
We still have so much more in common than JUST THE WAY.

 

[robinhd74]

I think St Augustine said it best: “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

 

[soniaba]

I walked the Camino Frances in the fall of 2015. I choose not to go the albergue/hostel accommodations way but booked my accommodations through a Camino travel agency. I was told by a Camino veteran of local Camino chapter that I would not experience the "true" Camino of communing with my fellow pilgrims. Turns out that like minded pilgrims like myself booked with the same type of travel agencies and we almost always ended up in the same accommodations. By the fourth day on the Camino I had befriended a lovely couple from New Zealand. By the end of the Camino we had become family, along with another couple from Australia, and a lovely lady from the US. I have since visited my "Ma" and "Da" in New Zealand, my friends in Australia(who have visited us in Canada), and am going to Arizona this holiday season to visit my Camino soul sister. We are in constant contact by Facebook, Instagram and telephone. More than lifelong friends...Camino family.

 

[Crandall]

My first Camino starts April 2020. I can't wait to meet all of you.

 

[erith long]

I came from Canada on 2004, for my first Camino . I was celebrating my 50th birthday, I met lots of wonderful people and in particular this lovely Englishman , who was celebrating his 65th , (our b-days same day, same month, 15 years apart) We have been together ever since, this year we celebrate 12 years of marriage and have walked and survived many more Caminos together. and going strong!!

 

[Canche]

One of the most endearing aspects of the Camino experience is the human interaction. You may meet a person for 20 minutes, a day or travel with them over the course of the trail and recognize that you have made a connection.

Sometimes it may mean exchanging email addresses, becoming Facebook friends or just laughing over a cold beer or glass of wine. Other times, it may mean integrating people into your life. This is not always easy as we have the tendency to compartmentalize our lives to the degree that it doesn't allow for new components,.

However, sometimes people make the effort and it is well worthwhile.

Recently I did the Via De La Plata and I met a great group of guys. We had fun, drank beers and laughed about our lives.

I have been in Crete for the last 2 months to write my 3rd book and the guys have made the effort to come over and visit. Being away from your family can be difficult but their visits made it enjoyable. Here is one of my Camino friendsView attachment 66993View attachment 66995View attachment 66994 and his wife who were kind enough to give me some of that Camino spirit.

Thank you guys!

Yes, this is one of the best parts of the Camino, those new friends

 

[StevethePlanner]

In 2017 while walking the VdlP, I met a German woman at the albergue one night. The next morning was cold, winding, and mostly rainy. We left at the same time after helping attach her poncho. We walked together all day in this challenging weather and as a result of talking for hours, we bonded. I called her my Camino Daughter and I her Camino Dad (she’s 30-something and I’m 60-something). Not having someone to walk with this long miserable day would have been very demoralizing, but it is a great memory. We walked together several days and then she went ahead of me. (I completed Seville-Santiago in 6 weeks. She did it in 4 weeks. Well – she is 30 years younger than me!). We kept in touch and when she was in the states for several weeks for work, she visited us one weekend in Kansas City. I’m planning to visit them in Berlin next year. There are others from my 2 Caminos that are Facebook friends and I wouldn’t hesitate to contact them if I had the opportunity to visit (and vice versa). Relationships like this are important and what a cool way to meet people.

 

[Thomas Yingst]

Still friends with Patti and John ... met on northern Camino 2 years ago ... there are others that I stay in contact with from other Caminos but I seem to have really bonded with Patti and John.