So a huge part of the AFS Spain experience is the Camino de Santiago, which is a 5 day hike from some part of Spain (it's different every year) and goes to -- can you guess? -- Santiago. My friend Paige who studied abroad in Spain 3 years ago (I think) said it was the best part of her experience in Spain, so I payed the hefty amount for the trip and got everything ready.
On Friday, March 27th, our last day of "school" before break (not really school; they had 1 hour of class and then some activity), I headed off to Tui, where we were to start our journey. Tui is a small village right by the edge of the Portugal/Spain border. It was about a 10 hour train ride, which would have been horrendous, but my friend actually ended up going with me. He's the one who used to live in Bilbao and we always hung out together but he switched host families so he now lives about an hour or so away. It was really nice to catch up with him. When we finally got there, we almost didn't get off the train because we didn't even know it was our stop. We got to the albergue and everyone was anxious and nervous, talking, catching up, complaining about host families or crappy cities or whatever. When the people from the Barcelona area arrived, AKA my best friend from AFS, I jumped out of bed and ran across the albergue to see her. It was a big scream, hug, laugh fest...kind of embarrassing. But anywho, that was the extent of that day.
The next day, we woke up early and went out for breakfast. PAUSE. Okay the breakfast in Spain is really disappointing. They don't have pancakes or waffles or eggs or bacon or any of that for breakfast. They have a croissant or cereal or fruit...lame. Anyway, we started our hike that morning, and everyone was super excited, laughing, playing music, talking, running around, trying to stay in the front. It was easy, it was fun, but god were we naive. When we finally got to the restaurant to eat lunch after about 18 km, we were all dead. Our feet were going to fall off, our legs wouldn't lift themselves, and we just wanted to sleep. But nopeeee. After lunch, we had to walk more. We were supposed to be walking 28 km that day, and what do you know, there was a lot of uphill that day. It was so difficult, but we finally got to the 28 km mark and we were so pumped to be getting there soon. But nopeeee. We walked and walked and walked until we FINALLY got there, after 36 km...not 28...no...36! That's a lot of walking. Then they made us leave the albergue and walk to a restaurant. I remember walking back from the restaurant and genuinely not being able to move my legs. I was hardly taking steps it was so painful.
Paige, Lilly and I the first morning..so naive
Just a little tired...still excited
Dying
The second day of walking, we were only walking the morning, thank god. But that didn't make it any easier. My best friend from AFS, Paige, and I happened to be in the back pretty much the whole second half of the day (we stopped in the middle to eat a power bar and chill for about 10 minutes). We didn't even know where we were, so great. But FINALLY we got there, after what felt like a bajillion years of walking. That albergue wasn't as nice as all the others. We were staying in a room that looked like a hurricane shelter. There were like 40 tiny mattresses on the floor and almost all of us were crammed into that room. But then after getting there, Paige, Alex (the one who originally lived in Bilbao) and I walked around the town and ate a bunch of crap, which isn't shocking...we're always eating.
My peopleeee (Matt, Alex and Paige)
Finally made it to the restaurant
Dancing our way through the pain
The third day, I was once again in the back with Paige and this time our friend Caroline (who happens to live really close to me in PA). Car and I have knee problems and Paige has feet problems, so we were kind of lagging that day. Caroline's leg would just give out every once and a while and she'd go from walking totally normal to dragging one of her legs behind her. It's horrible to say, but it was actually really funny (Sorry Car ;P ). Then at one point, we stopped to pee in the woods, but we were so far behind everybody that stopping made us completely lose the group. We didn't know where to go so we had to google maps the restaurant, which ended up taking us on a totally different route, which made us arrive really early, so that was good, I guess. After lunch, we found a "foot bath" thing which apparently is pretty popular in Spain. It's like a public swimming pool only really small, about 1 1/2 feet deep, and filled with really hot water. So we all soaked our feet and legs, which was amazing after so much walking. Caroline and I stayed back when most of the people went to the hostel, and we ended up talking to these really hot guys we had seen in the hostel from the day before, who were also doing the Camino. The one that I liked had a beard and looked like a surfer, but that day he had on a muscle shirt and we found out that he has NO muscles. His arms were basically limp noodles...I mean seriously, I have bigger muscles than him...ANYWAY, then we went to the hostel and ended up having a picnic (Paige, Caroline, Margret and I) next to some farm, which was hilarious. We ended up getting yelled at that night because the four of us stayed in one room and apparently we were too loud...whoops...
The strange foot bath with Paige, Car, Alex, Chiquitino (Arturo), Margret, and Matt
Picnic timeee!
The fourth day, second to last, Car and I started strong, in the front. But then after the break we had, we ended up in the back again. Our knees were KILLING us that day, so we totally lost the group. After a while though, we just gave up trying and started walking at our own pace. We weren't really sure about the trail, and we kept thinking we were lost. It was a day of laughing, but definitely a day full of pain. At one point, we ended up lying on the side of the road for a good 15 minutes, just lying there. We just couldn't do it anymore. I mean there was an old man with a cane walking faster than us...that dude was like a freaking speed racer. So anyway, when we started walking again, we realized that the leader of the AFS group was right down the road waiting for us and probably saw us lying on the ground...awk. We finally got to the restaurant, and after lunch we were supposed to be walking another 9 km, but we were dead, and they said it'd be better if we had energy for the last day, so we went in the van. But the thing is, they told us they'd be stopping every 3 km, so we were going to go in the van the first 3 km and then walk the rest, keeping ahead so the group could catch up and we wouldn't be in the back the whole time. But nopeeee. They ended up taking us directly to the hostel, so that's awk. Car and I just ended up eating hamburgers and hanging out in the bar next to the hostel.
Hi
The last day...THE LAST DAY!!! We were too hype that day. Everyone just wanted the dang thing to be over. That day we really did stay in the front...the whole day!! We finally got to Santiago, and we all flipped out when we saw the sign. Butttttt, that wasn't it. We still had to go across the freaking city. So we walked and walked and then we found the church. We all held hands and chanted AFS until we got there. Yes we were causing a scene, but who cares, we had made it!!! We all pretty much collapsed on the ground, but we were laughing and smiling. I don't know about everyone else, but I was (and still am) SO proud of myself for doing it. It was really hard, honestly, and I didn't know if I could do it. One day I literally almost started crying and I just stopped and said "I swear to God I can't go anymore, I'm gonna sit on the ground and cry, I'm done." But I didn't...I pulled through even though my feet were (and still are) covered in a ridiculous amount of very large blisters and my legs felt like they'd fall off. That day we spent shopping and laughing and spending time with those from the Barcelona area who were leaving that night. We had to go to "mass" that night, which I wasn't too comfortable with tbh, and then they had the procesiones de Semana Santa, which isn't even so bad, except for the terrifying men with creepy KKK masks on. I can't even look at them. I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack when I had to pass by them that night. God it's creepy...
Starting out the last day STRONG
110/116
Almost there!!!
We started together, we had to end it together
WE MADE IT BABYYYYY
My ladies
That night, there was some party going on so we watched that for a while, but it was freezing, and all we wanted to do was go to the hostel. We FINALLY got there. The next day, people were leaving. I ended up leaving at like 7AM with my friend Alex, because we had to catch the train that morning. Another 10/11 hour train ride...yay. And this time, I was alone. Alex and I were in different cars of the train...awesome. It felt weird not to be with the AFSers. It still kind of does. I miss them. I miss the Camino. Yeah it was really hard and there were times when I would regret going, but at the end of the day, I'm so happy I made the decision to go. It was one of the best weeks of my Spain experience. I had so much fun, made new friends, got closer with the ones that I had, and I was a part of something. I love AFS, I truly do. And anyone who goes to Spain in the future as a student, you should most DEFINITELY go on the Camino de Santiago or you'll be missing out on an amazing experience.
