¡Buen Camino!

by Elina Lilova (Bulgaria)

A leap into the unknown Spain

¡Buen Camino! This is what I say to my two best friends as I close the door of the apartment that I live in Sofia, Bulgaria. We have been preparing to say these two words for a few months now and the moment has finally arrived. Our Camino de Santiago has begun as soon as our feet stepped out of home. We chose to do the classic route – from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela and the inspiration came from my parents, who have already completed a big part of their Camino. It’s a very interesting sensation once you realize you suddenly dream of spending most of your paid leave from work not lying on a beach or traveling to an exotic Instagram location, but of walking roughly 800 km with a heavy bag on you back containing literally every material thing you have in life right now. As we live in the 21st century there is so much information to be found, so many stories to be read, so many helpful tools to be used. But there is nothing you can read or hear, or download which can even remotely resemble the experience you will have once you actually decide to undertake this particular journey. It is a leap into the unknown not because there is no information about it or because it is such a rare thing to experience or because it is a very hard to reach destination but because it is a leap into your own persona. What’s unknown is how this journey will affect your inner self, how it will feel when you are so far away from your comfort zone. It is an adventure, not because your adrenaline is going to jump off the charts but because there is no way to predict or plan what will happen to you at any moment, what you will see, who you will meet, how will you overcome all that physical pain, how will you cope with all that freedom that you have just given to yourself. It’s a leap into the unknown because it’s one of those very rare moments in life when you are completely free. It is day 3 of our Camino de Santiago and our bodies are slowly starting to get used to the physical pressure of walking on different terrain 25-30 km per day. We have already experienced all the seasons. We had light snow, heavy rain, hot sunshine and strong wind. Walking is getting easier though the shoes are getting heavier, the bags start feeling as natural extension of our backs and we start disconnecting from the lives we live at home. All this was expected but we never expected what came after. I have been always passionate about taking photos when abroad but this time was different. This time I felt an urge to pay more attention to myself and the people I was walking with than to the surroundings and yes they were beautiful. What was even more beautiful were my thoughts, my sensations. Never have I ever felt so connected with nature, with the sounds, with the air, with my mind. Having one simple daily goal – to reach the place we wanted to sleep in was so relaxing. Forgetting about my phone opened my mind and helped me create real connections with people I have never imagined to be able to communicate with. Well, we are still friends today. I remember some of the thoughts that raced through my mind, one of them was: This is what traveling means! You do it for yourself, you experience it, you are here now with people from all around the world, it’s your moment, cherish it forever, because when you go back home and sit next to your office desk it’s going to be this memory that gets you through to the next trip. Unfortunately, our paid leave per year is not long enough to enable us to do the full route from start to finish on a single try. We have exactly 295,8 km left to Santiago. Nevertheless, the Camino is within me every day, it is my personal space of freedom. I can’t wait to go back on the road…