Camino de Santiago: The Walk of Life

Participants in the religious pilgrimage share their powerful experiences

Asst. Feature Editor / Allie Longo / The USD Vista

This past June, a group of 32 USD community members, aged 17-71, embarked on the historic Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  The 70-mile pilgrimage takes six days to complete and starts in Madrid, Spain. The trek involves a network of routes that lead the pilgrims to the shrine of Saint James the Great, located at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. 

The Camino de Santigo is one of many world-famous pilgrimages completed by members of all religions, with various motivations for one to walk the Camino. Some may partake for religious healing, others for clarity on personal matters. The wide range of ages in the group of USD pilgrims brings about a diverse range of reasons for participating in the trek. 

For Kimberly and David Cesal, college sweethearts who met at USD, they went to celebrate their 27th anniversary. USD sophomore Fatima Licona Balderrama had no specific intent; rather, her interest in attending began as general curiosity when her Resident Assistant (RA) sent out an email about the pilgrimage. Fatima took quite the risk as the only USD student to attend, but she brought along her younger sister, who celebrated her 18th birthday while on the walk. 

Fatima reflected on her intentions to walk the Camino. 

“Sometimes it’s okay to not look for anything,” Balderrama said. “Most people walk it for a reason, but when talking to people, I realized maybe I don’t need to look for anything. Maybe I just need to walk, just enjoy it, do nothing, just admire the present and walk and not think about anything or find answers.”

USD President Dr. James T. Harris III intended to fulfill the Pope’s declaration of the year 2022 being the year of the pilgrimage. President Harris is accustomed to long walks and hikes as he incorporates them into his daily life. However, he experienced a hiking accident in January 2021 when he fell hiking the Rocky Mountains and ended up in a neck brace for six months. This accident completely altered Harris’ intentions for the trek. 

“I was not sure I could do it, even though I was the one that wanted to do it,” Harris said. “I remember before we went into surgery, I talked with the surgeon and told him I intended to walk the Camino in June. He goes, ‘Well, that’s a big stretch if you will be able to walk 71 miles in six days.’ The Camino became a motivating factor for me.”

USD Director of International Outreach Engagement and Alumni Outreach Claudia Gonzales, who coordinated the event, had no intention of doing the walk until President Harris called her one day and asked her to join. 

Like Gonzalez, University Chaplain Father Robert Capone had no previous intention of walking the Camino until President Harris asked him to be the pilgrimage chaplain.

Each pilgrim had an impactful experience, regardless of their original intentions of walking the Camino, though some found it more difficult than they had prepared for. 

“The tour guides said the reason you do the Camino is for the atonement of sins — that was the original purpose. So if you are finding the Camino more difficult than you thought, you may have more sins than you thought,” Harris said. “So on the third day, I’m eight miles in, it’s pouring down rain, I’m in a poncho, my nose is running, I think I have Covid, I am feeling miserable and I am thinking, ‘Really God? Did I really sin that much? What did I do?’” 

The Camino allowed President Harris to look inward and reflect on his priorities.  

“I don’t need everything that I have,” Harris said. “There are so many things that I can give to those in need I don’t need anything else in my life. I have a strong family and an amazing role here at the university. It’s a feeling of gratitude, I have to unpack and discard and think, ‘What are the essentials I need for my journey of life?’”

Each person had their own, individualized experience, and each found beauty in the Camino in different ways.  

Father Capone commented on the Camino’s beautiful views. 

“It was quite beautiful, very pastoral, very green; there were cows along the way and horses, and it was very picturesque,” Capone said.

The most impactful aspect of the journey was the connections made along the way. 

President Harris felt that what he learned from each pilgrim was what made his experience so special.

“I had a conversation with every single person on this trip, as they did with every single person,” Harris said. “You get to have more deep and meaningful conversations, like ‘Why did you decide to take the Camino?’ I learned as much from our oldest pilgrim as I did from our youngest pilgrim. I learned about their cultures, about their lives, even the difficulties they face.” 

Balderrama also attributed her incredible Camino experience to the relationships she made along the way.

“You get to uncover the layers of people, and they were all nice and wanted to get to know my sister and me,” Balderrama said. “The older pilgrims treated us like daughters. They would always check in on [my sister] and me. I [got] a good impression from all those people.”

While the connections pilgrims made with one another were impactful, individuals also connected with themselves in a deeper way. Father Capone experienced a unique spiritual connection to God while on the Camino.

“The Lord spoke to me at the end of the journey… what the Lord revealed to me was that my heaven will be enriched by those I help along the way, and I kind of knew that, but in that moment, I really felt it,” Capone said.

For Gonzalez, the journey of the Camino remains with her and teaches her new lessons every day.

“I have talked to the pilgrim group, and they keep saying that you do the Camino, but it stays with you the rest of your life,” Gonzalez said. “There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t thought back about it, and in hindsight, what you take from it, every day is different. Today it is patience.”

Many pilgrims of the Camino believe the trek provides more profound meaning and understanding of life.

“The Camino is a metaphor for life. There is a beginning, a middle and an end,” Capone said. “There are ups and downs along the way. It’s all about the people you walk along with that are a part of the journey.” 

Gonzalez expressed a similar sentiment.

“The walk is a metaphor for life – you need a great group of people to travel the journey with, and it makes all the difference,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez expanded on the powerful dynamic of the USD group of pilgrims. 

“This group was so special and spirited that our bus driver Rouey who was with us every day and would hear the stories, on his day off, chose to put on his tennis shoes and walk the last 12 miles as a part of the group,” Gonzalez said. “Not once had he felt called to do the walk, til he met our group.”

President Harris, Gonzalez and Balderrama agreed they would embark on the Camino journey again, if given the opportunity. However, Father Capone worries a second time won’t compare to his first experience. 

“It was such a rich experience with all the people a part of it. I don’t know that it would be the same,” Capone said. “You can’t recreate it.”

The Camino created a unique bond between all the pilgrims, as they all still keep in touch and will have a reunion soon.

The walk of Camino de Santigo was a life-changing and enriching experience for all 32 participants from USD, allowing for cross-generational connections and introspection. USD is excited to announce they will host the walk of Camino de Santigo again in June 2024.