Camino de Santiago

( My Camino...)

Trial or Temptation?

,,Hamlet – “Speak, I pray you, deliver this speech as I have spoken it to you. Let it flow easily from your tongue, for if you bellow with your mouth full, as many of you actors do, I might as well have had the town drummer recite my lines. And do not flail your arms too wildly—thus, no—but be modest in all things, for even amid a torrent, a storm, or—how shall I put it—the whirlwind of your passions, you must seek to acquire and display a certain restraint, which will refine them. Oh, it pains me to the very soul when I hear some awkward fellow with a wig on his pate tearing passion into tatters, rending it into rags, splitting the ears of those in the pit, most of whom understand nothing but indecipherable pantomime and clamor. Such a man I could lash, who seeks to outdo even Termagant. This surpasses Herod himself—avoid it.”

Much has been written, spoken, and filmed about the Camino. Modernity and the accessibility of information through social media have made this path incredibly popular. Rivers of people converge from all known routes toward that zero kilometer marker. I want to tell how I saw it and experienced it. A challenge? Undoubtedly.

I deliberately began today with Hamlet’s speech to the actors as I write about challenge and temptation. The wise Shakespeare described it all beautifully, and his words can be applied everywhere—even on the Camino. From overpacking your backpack or having unrealistic expectations, to flailing your arms in the air or reciting lines loudly with a full mouth—there is hardly any difference. We hadn’t even taken our first step, and already, the challenge awaited.

,,But do not be overly gentle; let reason be your guide. Let your gestures match your words, and your words reflect your gestures, yet above all, be careful not to exceed the bounds of natural moderation, for all excess opposes the purpose of acting. Its aim has always been, and still is, to hold a mirror to nature: to reveal the true contours of virtue, to show folly its own image, and to present to the ages and to human society its likeness and imprint."

What to Pack?

The internet is flooded with pictures showing a tiny sleeping bag, three t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, something for the rain… That’s easy. You can pack everything, but have you ever lived with so few belongings? You wear them, carry them, wash them, dry them, wear them again… and so the cycle continues. When I finally finished, I, who normally dislike shopping, ran to a shopping center in Santiago and, full of joy, bought a dress. Oh, my delight.

Have you ever slept in dormitories with twenty others, where there are no curtains between beds, no privacy you’re used to, no way to rest because you hear someone snoring despite earplugs? Beneath you, a mattress covered with a sheet—hygiene, presumably—and they gave you a paper cover and, heaven forbid, a blanket. Sure, you have your sleeping bag, but it’s tight… the sheet rustles, sticks… a mosquito buzzes, and that someone, is he snoring, really… snoring.

Have you ever been so exhausted that you had to set aside the mask of civilized behavior and fiercely defend your boundaries against some intrusive, rule-imposing nuisance who finds it comfortable to boss everyone around? No one will do that for you. You must do it yourself. You will carry that ten-plus-kilogram backpack on your shoulders, even when you cannot send it ahead by taxi, when your legs cramp from fatigue, when you’re sleepy and hungry because you missed the pilgrim lunch, and no decent restaurant is in sight.

A challenge? Immense.

And we haven’t even reached temptation yet.

You walk and walk… and from somewhere, a small voice in your mind whispers: “Ah, I’ll quit this. Give up. You can’t do it anymore.” The treacherous voice speaks… your hand reaches for the phone. Uber works… Who will know I covered half the way in a vehicle? Exactly, no one will know you took a taxi and cheated…

Exactly. No one. Except you. That’s the sting of temptation, isn’t it?

,,If, then, one overacts or performs weakly, you may amuse the crowd, yet the wise can only frown—and their judgment should matter far more to you than the applause of those in the front rows. Oh, there are actors I have seen, praised highly by others, who, to put it mildly, did not speak as Christians nor behave as Christians, nor as pagans, nor even as human beings at all. They strutted and roared in such a way that I thought they had been fashioned by some careless laborers of nature, and very poorly at that—so inhumanly did they imitate humanity. O, correct that utterly!

And those among you who play fools, let them speak no more than what is written for them, for there are some who laugh themselves just to force laughter from a barren audience, while they should be attending to the most important part of their performance. Such antics are tasteless and reveal a lamentable hunger for fame in these buffoons. Go, prepare yourselves!"

The Key is…

The point is to start knowing that YOU have your limits, YOU have your weaknesses. If you have that conversation with yourself before the journey, you’ll be able to make a plan for YOURSELF.

No matter your age, if you lead a sedentary life, carry extra weight, or lack fitness—don’t follow a plan left online by a guy who’s a fitness instructor or a mountaineer. It will break you. You need your own plan.

If that means ten kilometers a day, then ten kilometers a day. Cover the last 100 km in ten days and savor this wonderful journey. If you reach your limit, if you’re exhausted, take a conscious pause—call that taxi. You won’t burn in hell for it.

But if you decide to push your boundaries, push them for yourself, towards yourself, not according to the route of some instructor you follow on Instagram. After all, he’s probably climbing Annapurna right now. It’s simple—just be honest with yourself.

Yes, the Camino is for everyone. And everyone can walk it. The question is whether you know how to manage yourself along the way. That’s a question of self-control—and I’ll write about that in the next post.

The challenge is real. But the true test is conquering yourself. Don’t give up. You’ll be so proud of yourself in the end.

my camino route Route Map… and Spain, good morning…( Part two)

Buen Camino

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