His story with the Camino de Santiago a life is long: Sumjio Tresalti, who, despite her Japanese name, is very Italian, has just left for hers 24th Camino de Santiago and has already planned that in a few months – along the Mozarbe variant – which will take her to Compostela for the twenty-fifth timea pilgrimage destination for thousands of walkers who, every year, cross Spain to reach the cathedral dedicated to Saint James.
The Camino de Santiago, perhaps the most loved of the pilgrimage routes, it is not one, but a real network of routes that cross Spain far and wide, all irremediably attracted by that majestic and superb cathedral which dominates the very central Plaza del Obradoiro to Santiago de Compostelaheart of Galicia Spanish. There, where according to Catholic tradition the remains of Saint Jamesone of the apostles who is venerated here above all else. «It is not a religious journey but a spiritual journey» explains Sumjio who lives and works permanently in Spain. A journey that, however it is done, changes your life. «For me the Camino is where I extract energy, love and trust in the world».
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His first time, 22 years ago, was almost an escape. «I was in Tenerife and I realized that the only thing I wanted was to leave without coming back. I just wanted to walk, like my grandfather did, to whom I was particularly attached. I had heard about the Camino already when I was studying art at university, the idea of doing it had always attracted me and I decided to leave. I chose the best known route, the one that leads from Roncesvalles to Santiago. And since then I haven’t stopped.” Sumjio’s first journey is called the “French” because it begins in France, in the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the Pyrenees: approximately 780 km which, generally, are covered in a month. «For me, who started it in Roncesvalles, it remains the most exciting. The one where a very particular energy comes from. The one that, while walking, allowed me to find the balance that I thought I had lost.”
Many roads for a single path
But there are many possible itineraries on this ideal route that always leads to Galicia. The Northern Way which develops along the northern coast of Spain; the Via de la Plata, which begins in Seville in Andalusia and climbs north; The Primitive Pathwhich starts in Oviedo and then joins the French Way; The Portuguese Way which begins in Lisbon and continues north with two variations, one inland and one on the coast; The English Way departing from La Coruña or Ferrol; and again the Way of Finisterre/Muxía from that place on the Atlantic that the ancients considered, as the name suggests, the “end of the earth”, up to Santiago. But there are so many routes and there are many maps that show them, small beacons to illuminate first the choice and then the roads to follow.
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But what makes this slow going more of a spiritual experience than a trek? «Your goal for the day is to simply walk. And slowly the fog opens and goes away: the colors, the people reappear. We go back to talking at another speed. It’s a conversation with yourself. And even your body, in the end, takes over and it decides when to go and how.” You don’t run, you enjoy the landscape and the company you meet along the way. «We start walking at dawn, when the first light of the sun arrives. And wherever you sleep you go to bed very early, after showering and washing your underwear which you will reuse in the following days.”
Light luggage and wake up at dawn
Yes, because the luggage it must be as light as possible. «Between what I wear and what I carry in my backpack with me I generally have three t-shirts, two pairs of trousers, underwear, a sleeping bag and a microfibre towelwhich weighs little and dries easily. And then a sweatshirt with a zip, for when you go upstairs and it’s cold.” Because the Camino can be flat but also climb up the mountain, even climbing over the highest peaks. «When I walked my longest Camino, 2100 kilometers in 85 days, I also faced the pass of the Great Saint Bernard Passin the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. For the cold I wore, in layers, everything I had with me: t-shirts, sweatshirt, oilskin.”
Yet, despite the inconveniences, more and more are choosing it. In 2023, according to the data provided by theOffice of the Pilgrim of SantiagoThe The Way recorded a total of 446,035 pilgrims, slightly more women (231,728) than men (204,054)with a slight increase compared to 2022. The vast majority of pilgrims chose to go on foot (404,039) but there were also those who traveled by bicycle or horse. Italians, in particular, are the third nationality present on the roads towards Santiago, after the Spanish (clearly first) followed by the Americans. After us, Germans and Portuguese.
Once again the French Way saw over half of the pilgrims, followed by Portuguese Way and from that of Coast. It should be noted that, despite the heat, the month of August remains the favorite, followed by September and July. And this explains why we always leave at dawn, thus trying to take advantage of the coolest hours of the day.
A yellow arrow and a shell to avoid losing your way
«All you have to do is look for a yellow arrow and a shell (the symbols that signal the route along the road). You walk all day until the next stop and, at the end of the day, you stop in a hotels of the public network or in a private reception facility, created along the routes of the Camino to host traveling pilgrims. You never book, even though sometimes you may find everything occupied and therefore be welcomed only to simply sleep on the floor, with your own sleeping bag.” Over the years, many structures have been created to accommodate walkers. There Public Network of Hostels on the Camino de Santiago in Galicia, managed by the SA de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo, for example, was founded in 1993 and today has 76 centers and more than 3000 places. They take as a model the network of medieval hospitals which depended on monastic, military, or episcopal or monarchical orders and took care of the needs of pilgrims from the beginning.
A welcome that guarantees basic services and modest prices. «Give eight to ten euros to sleep in public hostels, where you almost always have a bed with a disposable sheetthe use of a shared kitchen and, increasingly, of a washing machine for laundry. Prices go up a bit in private hostels where, however, unlike public ones, in addition to dormitories with up to sixteen beds, you can find smaller rooms, sometimes even for just two people.” But there are also “donation” hotelswhere everyone leaves what they want. «I remember an inn where at the entrance there was a box with the words “take what you need and leave what you can” written on it». Eating is also cheap. «With 12 euros you can usually eat a first course and a second course. Something more if you want to eat meat. But generally prices are low for pilgrims.”
Socialization and brotherhood
We socialize a lot when travelling. Contact with other walkers is constant and frequent. You choose to travel alone or in company, but always willing to meet others on the same path, each with their own path and motivations. «The meetings are perhaps the most important thing. There are people with whom I walked the first Camino in 2002 with whom we continue to meet and walk. Last time we celebrated 20 years since that first journey together.” Walk together encourages kindness and generosity. The common path is lived as a community experience. «One develops brotherhood. You feel like you’re in a family, like in a clan, willing to help, sure of being helped in difficulty” says Sumjio who has already met his new travel companions, including the little girl. Shanaika, a Haitian girl of only 4 and a half years who, together with his German parents, has just begun the journey.
The magic of the Camino: the joy of finding oneself
But the Camino can also be a journey of rebirth. Its history begins in 813 AD with the discovery by Bishop Theodomir of the alleged relics of Saint James the Greater, the first apostle of Jesus to die for the Christian faith in 44 AD. The discovery of those remains and the birth of a town around those relics led, in 820, the Spanish king Alfonso II to go on a pilgrimage first, followed by the faithful who wanted to follow the same route as him.
Since then the Camino has meant a lot to many. For some it was a penance to free themselves from committed sins, for others a way to ask for healing or grace. Today it is a way of taking care of your needs and listening to your needs, sometimes even together with your dog. «There is a Belgian pilgrim who has been doing it for five years, every year, since he discovered he was suffering from cancer, together with his wife. But I know that in Germany it is also used as a recovery for problematic young people, accompanied along the way by a tutor assigned by a judge. Because for a young person, facing the difficulties of the Camino de Santiago can represent a way to discover that there is a world different from the one from which he comes, that he can feel part of a family, of a clan. That you can live simply with what you have in your backpack. And nothing else. And that’s the magic of the Camino».
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Source: Vanity Fair
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