What is it about the Camino that everyone who does it, who wants to do it or who has done it wants to tell about it through whatever means they can? They all want to offer tips, packing lists, advice, the best places to eat… although they all end up being very similar, they do not stop sharing in countless forums, websites, blogs, … Social networks such as Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest are a loudspeaker to follow live the progress in the stages.
An explicit pattern is repeated in all of them: everyone wants to repeat. Possibly another of the variants or a more remote area that have not yet been able to do but almost all pilgrims can not wait to repeat it. What does the Camino have to offer to continue to provide such a unique experience and with such an oft-repeated adjective as “Lifetime Trail”?
Among so many analyses and summaries that have been published, books that have been written or blogs that have been born, everyone has their own but there is also a pattern: it is an experience that cannot be copied and that has a series of back-to-basics components (struggle, commitment, walking, nature, fascination, …) that are difficult to find in our “control zone”. But also, even if you want to do it alone, it has an absolutely social component: meeting people for a relatively short period of time who share many of your concerns. Many of those who hear the stories of the Camino from the mouths of its protagonists, hardly understand in all their depth how it marked them. That is why it is so absolutely experiential. And that’s why we want to repeat.
And what to say or how to convey the feeling of being able to help another pilgrim in the most basic way, from listening and sharing hardships to getting someone out of trouble. To experience again how a person you know nothing, absolutely nothing, can care and help you in a sincere way is one of the most impactful.
I think this is the reason for wanting to repeat the experience as soon as we return to our home areas: to experience a connection with anyone in the world by sharing steps and goals.
