During my journey through Portugal and Spain, I left typically between seven and eight in the morning.  I would take long breaks and rest my feet.  When I arrived at each hostel around two in the evening, I had little to do and very few sights to see.  Some cities had a monastery or old ruins, yet this could be enjoyed at a leisurely pace in less than an hour.  I came to the question, why leave so early and rush the journey to arrive in a little town?  What are the schedules of people who do the Camino?

Sunrise in Muxia

Of course some have a very limited schedule, people on vacation from work or others with deadlines, and need to do a certain amount each day to finish the route quickly.  Drastic weather during the summer can bring people to leave early to avoid the “infernal temperatures” as an experienced Spaniard informed me.

Most albergues don’t even open until the afternoon, the municipal ones opening around three is typical.  So people often times rush only to sit outside in line and lose the essential part of the Camino, meeting people along the way.

An Austrian couple I met said they don’t like to go to the bathroom in the woods, since they have small small bladders, and so rush for 4 hours to the next hostel or cafe and go there.

One enthusiast English woman named June I enjoyed walking with said, “People still have a burning selfish desire, even though it’s a spiritual communal journey” and there was a profound “lack of respect and manners”.  The people who left early tended to be loud and obnoxious, especially “the Italians with their singing and loud conversations” according to a hiking power couple from the States.  They would rifle through their bags, talk to one another, and I’ve seen over 30 people leave their sheets and blankets on the bed for the volunteers to clean rather than put them in the washing bin like everyone else.

With severe blisters on my feet for the entire pilgrimage, I learned to slow down. A teacher from Australia named Teresa, on a day with pouring rain, told me to “appreciate every moment and capture it with a picture. You will never see this again.”  One of my favorite experiences was walking into a local celebration.  I had been walking rather slowly that day and ended up catching up to a crowd of people singing and playing music. Flowers decorated the street in beautiful patterns.  I wish I could say most people learned to slow down and enjoy the moment, but people do not always need to or can not. As June said, “Once I get going I need to keep going”.

Our class’s guardian angel, an ever so positive and caring woman turning 70 from the Netherlands described el Camino De Santiago as “the road to Heaven. Straight to heaven”.  A fundamental issue to leaving early is to be missing out on the Camino experience: seeing the beautiful landscapes and participating in the culture of meeting other pilgrims and bonding.  For me the Camino is meeting other people and hearing their stories.