The Camino Way

CHAPTER 13

Act Differently

WALKING FIFTEEN MILES A DAY FOR THIRTY DAYS IN A ROW IS NOT A normal behavior. Just walking the Camino means that a pilgrim has decided to do something radically different in their life. Completing the Camino taught me to act differently in four ways.

Don’t Wait for Retirement

Few of the pilgrims I met on my Camino were retired. Looking up the statistics, only 3.6 percent of the pilgrims who, like me, received a Compostela certificate in August 2013 listed their occupation as “retired.”¹ While retirees are underrepresented in the summer months, they only account for about 12 percent of total Camino pilgrims receiving a Compostela in recent years.

I was impressed by all the retirees I did meet doing the Camino. They ...