On July 17th, I flew to Pau in France At the airport I met four French girls who kindly
gave me a ride to Bayonne. From there I took the train to St. Jean Pied de Port. That
night I stayed in a pilgrim?s hostel.  The next morning I left at 6.30am to start my
Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage. This is a path of 815 kilometers (506 miles) and I
need to arrive in Santiago before August 24th. The first two days were through the
Pyrenees. The path was very steep with a climb of approximately 45%. This was quite hard with a backpack of 20 pounds to carry but the view was worth it.

The third night I slept in the old horses tables of Napoleon together with 110 other
pilgrims. What an experience that was!! The daily routine is as follows: I wake up round
5.30am, get dressed, have breakfast then start walking around 6am. Sometimes I even
started at 5am. Walking early in the morning is wonderful as everything is so quiet and
it is still dark outside. Watching the sunrise is another magical experience. I would
arrive at the next hostel after walking between 13.7 & 23 miles. These hostels mostly are
large rooms with an average of 50 beds. You pay an average of  5. - euros per night and
sometimes a meal is included. Then the first luxury is to have a warm shower. Sometimes they are cold. Then I wash my clothes because I only brought 2 of everything. After this,
it is time for a much needed nap. When refreshed, I do some writing, talk to other
pilgrims and have a meal. A pilgrims menu exists of a salad, fish or meat with fries,
bread, wine and water and cost aprox.  8 euros. Then it is time to go to bed. At ten o’clock
the lights dim in the hostel and if you are lucky you will have a good night sleep
without too much snoring. Last week, there was a man from Japan who snored so loud that even with earplugs I could not fall asleep. So, I took my mattress and moved to the
balcony. Soon two others followed. I guess this is part of the whole experience.

So far the camino (journey) has taken me through mountains, forest, vineyards, and fields of grain, green hills, small villages and big cities. The temperature is above 95. This
is quite warm to walk so you really want to be at your destination around 2pm. Yearly
more than 100.000 people walk the camino. The age varies from 18 till aprox. 70 years old and I have met people from many different countries mostly European but some from Korea, Japan and one from Australia. No Americans. Are they too scared????  Even though I walk alone, there is still a lot of contact with others and it feels as if we are one big family. You really support and help each other.

The camino is a journey that can chance your life. I have heard this many times and am
experiencing this as well. By focusing on walking only, I have become very aware of my
thoughts and way of living. I have received many wonderful insights and also some very
important lessons to learn. I have always been very focused on a goal and my goal was to
get to Santiago.  To make it in time, I walked too fast and got blisters on my foot. They
became badly infected and my foot started to swell. When I arrived in Burgos (a large
city) I did not feel well at all and went to the hospital. The doctor gave me antibiotics
and told me not to walk for at least three days. The wound took a long time to heal and I
was stuck in Burgos for seven days. This was about 1/3 of the camino.

The camino will really give you what you need and I know that I need this experience as
well. The first few days I felt very sad as I couldn’t continue walking with all the
wonderful people I had met. I was constantly thinking about when I could start walking
again. My thoughts were not in the present moment at all. The man that ran the hostel
where I was staying didn’t speak one word English and I didn’t speak Spanish. Through the dictionary and sign language he told me that it was important to experience inner peace.
It doesn?t matter that you are not walking; you are still on the camino. Find your inner
peace and your blisters will heal, he said wisely.  The goal is not important but the
journey in itself. He is right, but how difficult it is to change old patterns. So, this
was a wonderful opportunity to learn this. Every day I would sit on the bench in front of
the hostel writing and observing. Slowly I started to feel inner peace. I am grateful for
this experience and…. my Spanish has improved too.

Every pilgrim who walked too fast or too far in the beginning got problems. Some had huge blisters, others needed to go home because of a sun stroke. Those who started out slowly and listened to their body could continue without problems. I felt that I got a second chance so when I finally started walking again, I started slowly and listened to my body as well. If I will make it to Santiago, I don?t know but it is not important anymore. I
will enjoy each moment.

It felt like I was starting a whole new journey. I was now about one third of the way. The first stage of my journey was one of fun, lots of singing and meeting wonderful people. This new phase was more of an inner journey. In this time, I received many insights about myself and my lifestyle. I discovered that I am a excitement junkie. I am addicted to peak experiences. The minute something becomes familiar, I am searching for new challenges and find my happiness in this. But do I want to continue living like this? No, I realized. I had a strong feeling that the end of the camino would be the end of a phase in my life. It was more than ten years since Nico passed away and since I started my journey of discovering who I am. I did this through al the traveling and through many experiences. Now, I felt I was starting a new phase in my life. One of inner peace. I want to create a more simple life. Now that I am aware of this, I will make different choices that can help me to create this.  

After a few days on my new journey, I met a wonderful Italian man who did the camino by bike. He felt that I could teach him something and asked if he could walk with me.  Asking many questions and with his bike in his hand he walked with me for two days and 46 miles. This man has entered the World Championships downhill skiing and duathlon for

Italy. He now drives for Ferrari in the auto races. He has climbed a 17000 feet mountain in South America and 16000 feet mountain in

China. Has been on TV and owns a successful dentist practice. He has achieved anything he wanted and yet he is not happy.  That is why he is doing the camino. He would like to get insights that can help him to find happiness. This man was a great mirror for me as he also lives from one peak experience to another. 

After the big city

Leon, 2/3 on the way, I got diarrhea.  Lying in my bed at night I was shivering. I had a fever and was really cold.  Pilgrims offered some medicine to me but I felt that this was a physical cleanse so did not accept them. I was letting go of the old. The next morning the fever was gone but the diarrhea lasted a few days. This was quite a challenge while walking but I got through it. 

At the Cruz de Ferro, a cross high on a mountain, I left the list with all the names and emotions that you wanted to let go of.  Initially I was going to do burn it in Fisterre but this is the place where every pilgrim leaves the stone they brought from their hometown. This stone represents all the things that they would like to let go of. I really felt that I needed to leave the list here so that we could enter a phase of transformation. I am very curious to hear if you have experience anything that is connect to what you wanted to let go of. In these past two months. I would love to hear your story.  

A week before I would arrive in

Santiago, I did not feel like walking anymore. The mornings were ok. I would have enough energy but after 7 miles, I was done. I didn’t enjoy the whole routing anymore of getting up early, walking, finding a hostel, showering, washing clothes and sleep and I wanted to go home. I prayed for strength and guidance and learned that this was a very important issue in my life. Normally when I enter such a phase, I look for a new peak experience. Now, I felt that I really needed to persist and hold on to the vision of my goal. I could make it to

Santiago and I realized that I could choose to enjoy these last steps. With new energy I continued to walk. It was a very emotional experience for me when I finally arrived in

Santiago on August 22^nd. I had made it; not just physically and mentally but I had also received so many important insights. With tears in my eyes, I entered the Cathedral and witnessed the special service for pilgrims.  

I had intended to walk another 62 miles to Fisterre. This is where the land meets the ocean and where the camino really finishes. It is also called: The end of the old world. This is very appropriate for a pilgrimage. Because I had to rest in

Burgos for seven days, I didn’t have enough time to walk another three days. My flight to

Holland would leave early in the morning on the 26^th. I did feel that I needed to go there so I took the bus and walked the last 10 miles. At night, I went to the ocean and burned some clothes as a metaphor to let go of my old self. When the sun went down, I felt that I indeed had finished a phase in my life and I had entered a new one. With much gratitude and many fond memories I think back to an incredible experience. This journey has changed my life. 

 In peace.,

Simone Awhina