Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thanks for watching this series of videos. It was a good challenge for me in many ways. If you're just discovering this series now, you can find the first video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_SDKgsw-D-A.html Now, onto a new adventure.
I've watched through this series and honestly, I think your mostly negative view of it was down to you and no one else. Coffee and croissant doesn't really do it for you for breakfast? This is Spain, it's what we do. If it was so bad, maybe you could have made a sandwich from the many places you find along the way and had that instead? This is not Canada, or the UK where breakfasts are bacon, egg etc. Then you talk about your stolen walking poles but they weren't, the man kindly drove however many miles to give you them back. Did he have to do that? No. Then you choose to take one bad experience and then not stay in Alburgues again? That's your loss, it really is as that's where a lot of the good stuff happens and you meet people with great stories to tell and some of these places are centuries old! Finally, talking about the traffic of people. Please remember, YOU are the traffic too and a little bit of research before hand would have opened your eyes to this. I'm not sure what time of year you walked but this is a pilgrimage, not a through hike and while parts of it are beautiful, a big chunk is also just head down and grind it out. I just think your negativity and always questioning others was what made this less of a beautiful experience for you. It doesn't have to be spiritual, or religious, but just walk and be open minded. Like the look to the camera when you found out the horses were for meat but then sit down and eat meat or fish some place else without even questioning it. For me, your videos came across as you finding ways not to enjoy it, rather than embrace the differences and the culture around you and living life to the full. I hope you get to walk one of the Caminos again with a much more open mind and less expectation.
I so agree with you. Although I very much enjoyed these videos, which were very professional, I disliked the attitude of many things. A little better research in advance would have made for a much better camino. Then perhaps another camino route would have been chosen - there are almost 50 to choose from.
When things don't go as I thought they would I would reflect on the following to accept my perspective and change my mindset: Obstacles do not block the path. They are the path... I hope this is helpful to you and anyone reading the post ..
What a journey. One you won’t forget. I felt for you in pain and with ur tooth issue. When that happens small things become huge. Onto the next challenge. I’ve enjoyed following your journey.
I love your honesty about this journey. So many RU-vidrs tried to make everything sound so Rosy and beautiful. It is refreshing to have you explain how you honestly felt about your trip.
Thanks Jason for sharing your journey, I enjoyed it. And thanks for being honest about the experience. I can understand how one of the things you hated doing was filming the walk-bys. I subscribe to 165 youtube channels and my least favorite part of any of them is the walk-bys. For me, it’s because they are staged and again, for me, it actually takes away from the experience. There are no coincidences, things happen for a reason. Thoughts become things. When your mind lets go and shifts into more of a neutral state, that’s when the magic happens. I think of my eyes more as projectors than receivers. Our eyes show us what our mind is most focused on. And lastly, I’ll leave you with two quotes from Richard Bach’s book Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah: “Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends”. And “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof”. Be well and journey on! ☮❤😎
Hola Jason, I'm taking my first steps on the Primativo, in about an hour, when I can drag myself out of my warm bed. It was brilliant to watch your video series & especially your honesty. But reading the comments I note you definitely divided opinion. All the best to you on your future travels 😊
It was interesting to hear your final thoughts on the Camino experience...thank you for sharing and thank you for all the effort that was put into documenting this trek. Looking forward to your next adventure!
The definition of a pilgrimage: A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. So I'm hearing you when you arrived in Santiago and was assaulted by the noise and chaos. Who wouldn't be? I was actually thinking to myself each time you showed what you had for breakfast that pastries is the worst stuff to eat when doing physical activities. You needed protein like eggs to sustain you. Food is probably the most important factor in those distance walks and it's a shame that you didn't get it. But it was great joining you along your way and look forward to the next one 👍.
My wife and I did the Primitivo three years ago and loved it until w got to Melide where it seems several routes converge and also school and coach parties start the walk to Santiago. What we did was to not leave too early. That gave time for the vast majority of pilgrims to have set off, we then found the walk reasonably pleasant to Santiago. The scenery all along the Primitivo is spectacular, the towns and villages interesting. If we were to do it again, we would take an alternate route from Malide to Santiago. We did it in two weeks, it was a vigorous and sometimes challenging walk, only because of the distances on some days. Overall verdict...Loved it. There are far more people on the Camino Frances!
I have done the Frances 2 times set off on it 3 times. Twice it was life changing due to the people I met and how they helped me reflect on issues I had going on. Third time I just wanted to be left alone. And it was no major change, or chatartic experience. So I can totally relate to the "profound spiritual experience" point.
I started watching your videos in Mexico because my wife and I may try spending time there to get away from cold Canadian winters. I enjoyed the honesty of your videos and followed you to Spain. You seem somewhat lost in life's journey, not alone in that considering what has gone on the last 2 years or more, and I hope that you find what you're looking for. All the best from a Canadian searching for a warmer, less authoritarian second home.
Not lost but searching. Good luck with your own search and let me know if you have any questions about Mexico. I'm out of the country to travel right now but returning very soon.
Hi Jason. I was going to do the Frances, but was disappointed that it is so very, very crowded. So I turned to the Primitivo and found your video series. Thank you so much for doing it for us. I know that it must have been a pain to record it all, but it is very much appreciated. And the last video tied it all together for me. I still don't know what trail (pilgrimage) I will do, but you gave me a very good, honest perspective on the whole thing. It is frustrating that some people do it over and over, and only say great things about the Camino. It was very refreshing to hear an honest and objective viewpoint. Again, thank you!
Glad it helped. In retrospect, I think the Primitivo would have been better for me if the had considered it just a long walk and didn’t have expectations for good food along the way or staying with people I could trust. As a walk, it was nice
Great to hear you sum up your journey. As a new subscriber to your channel (prompted from Simon, Bloke in Woods) I thought your story would be much more about the boots, socks, kit you carried etc. You know, what is in your first aid kit and so on, favourite backpack and the best lightweight corkscrew……….. But I really think I enjoyed your series more for NOT having any of that in. I did wonder what exactly the “quiet guy” was doing in Europe at all. People everywhere. That said, no bears, coyotes, mountain lions wolves for the most part in Spain…. Hope your next trek is fulfilling too.
My go to mentality is to try and hope for the best and expect the worst. Let things be what they will be without putting too much pressure on what other folks experiences of it were or what I wanted it to be, just try to take it for what it is now. I hope you still enjoyed the challenge. Perhaps this was more of a social challenge than you were prepared for. I'm introverted as well and have been very isolated for about 8 years now, I've found that interacting with people when I wasn't expecting to really throws me off. I'm still trying to figure out how to be around people again as I come out of a very ugly thing I lived through without being "that weird girl", but it's not going well so far, so I can't offer any advice or tidbits to ponder, lol. I hope your next long distance walk will be a more enjoyable experience.
Thanks, yeah I agree. I think this was much more a social challenge for me than a physical one - although there were definitely parts of it that were physically challenging. I definitely prefer a quiet space and to have quiet time. Sharing a room at night and a crowded path at times was the most difficult part but just like the physical, it was worth the challenge.
@@TrailguidePictures Same here, it's all too easy to isolate myself though, lol. My hat's off to you, I cannot sleep with strangers in the room. It sounds like overall the walk gave you a few growing experiences. Thank you for being so honest and open during your trip, it's been very inspiring and may help some of us introverts try to venture out a little more. ☺
Loved your Camino videos, thoughts told calmly (well mostly, apart from the sticks issue) and honestly (without the sugar coating as you called it) . And, wow, the thoughts you expressed from 21.30....that could have been me speaking, but I would never be able to express my thoughts in such an eloquent and engaging way
Thank you for your honesty here and the face of some blatant disappointment, or disillusionment. I'm planning my first Camino (possibly on this route) for May and it seems I should abandon any expectations.
It’s nice to hear your thoughts about this journey. I especially enjoyed your inserts. Thankfully your camera wasn’t destroyed. Close one there. All experiences teach you things, even on a subconscious level. You learned about yourself and what is important, bad, good or just soaking up the energy along the way from the living earth. I’d like to believe that anyways. Maybe it was what you needed for your bucket list. Great video series and thank you for sharing it all. 😎
Thank you. Yeah, the Camino wasn't what I expected but like I mentioned in the video I think my expectations and those of others played a role in some of my disappointment but all up it was a good experience and I'm lucky I had the opportunity to walk on this path for a while.
@@TrailguidePictures I’m just imagining all that walked before you as far back as the early days of Spain. It does carry good energy from everyone’s heart because of good intentions. Thank you for your reply.
We did it in October of 2019. Not many people on the walk. Yes there was a lot when they converge but it thins out after a few hours. The food was good but I was missing fruits and vegetables a lot of the time. I am not sure where you were eating but none of the food we ate was “bar” food. If was good and plenty of it. I don’t think I ate one pizza the three weeks we were there. I drank the local wine. And ate the local food. In my opinion you have to search out the places the pilgrims don’t normally go to
About the amount of people, you did it in summertime, of course there will be lots of people. About breakfast, I don’t think that Spanish people are going to change their culture for every tourist from every place around the world just because they’re doing the Camino. I don’t like having breakfast with a huge coffee and meat, so if I’m going to Canada o USA, I have to accept that it’s a cultural thing, or otherwise I won’t go, or 🤔 maybe I can take a chef with me. At least you enjoyed the scenery 👏🏻👏🏻
It actually wasn't summer. I started the Camino the last week of May and walked for 15 days. Of course the people of Spain aren't going to change their culture 🙄 It's so funny how some viewers are sensitive to a critic and strangely often when I talk about food in different places.
Thamks for your honest opinion. I've considered doing the Primitivo too, also beacuse it's the least populated and most 'wilderness' like. But I'm not sure it's for me. I like people, but I don't like them that much. Ideally I'd be doing a pilgrimage through Alaska with comfortable accomodation at the end of every day, but that's probably asking a bit much. For me it's about the walking and countryside, not the social aspect. I'm currently looking for alternatives. Maybe the Via de la Plata but by bike.
I haven't done the Camino, but have seen many videos, and from your story I can just comment this: People are (not in a mean sense) chaotic. Everyone is a personality of his/her own. So, stealing the walking things was obviously unintentional, but, us all being a one brain out of 8 billion, it should have been at least immaginable. I plan to see the total solar eclipse on the 12 of august 2026 that will be visible from eastern Spain, and then walk from, I think Valencia, that is Camino de levante, with a radio on headphones, or any other audio thing. I lived in Italy, so I somewhat do understand Spanish. I also want to go down with weight, so instead of a trouser leather belt, what's enough is a good shoelace (and spare ones in the bag). In the meantime, in my private life some things should take place for me to alleviate mental worries that I have no control over. That's how it is when you have a parent in a nursing home.
@@TrailguidePictures Sorry for that word. I forgot the number. So, in that case, if someone would have stolen one pair, it would have been kind of "understandable", but three, this just confirms the mental chaos, In Serbian language we have a saying kind of (what a casuality that it has to do with cows that here are seen less and lesss and in Spain free and many) May the neighbor's cow die. The point is even is if I as a neighbor don't get anything out of neighbor's cow dying, I'm kind of "glad" it's not mine, but I do not get anything out of it. The saying goes back ages when more cows were around here. Due to economy, the number is going down.
I'm Spanish and I feel you bro. Food in Spain sucks, specially breakfast. The bloody spanish breakfast in bars is horrible. You can only eat massively sugary crap like industrial pastry, cookies, napolitanas and all the sh*t. No chance of proper food. If you happen to need energy for work or walk then you will have a sugar drop soon. Additionally our coffee is the worst in the world by far. Specially the one in cheap bars. Even our bread is crap. Don't listen to those spaniards saying "this is spain that's what we do". That's what third world people do. Eating awful, forcing you to eat awful.
GRACIAS POR COMPARTIR ESTAS REFLEXIONES. PUEDO SENTIR LA SINCERIDAD DE SUS EXPERIENCIAS DEL CAMINO. USTED ES VALIENTE. MI ABUELA LOGRO EL CAMINO FRANCES EN EL 1920, MI MADRE EN EL 1949. PARTIERON DE CUBA, ABUELA EN BARCO, MI MADRE EN AVION. AMBAS MOTIVADAS POR LA RELIGION CATOLICA. EN UNA EPOCA MUY DIFERENTE... DIFICIL. MI VIDA HA ESTADO LLENA DE ANECDOTAS Y EXPERIENCIAS SOBRE EL CAMINO DE PRIMERA MANO. EN LA ACTUALIDAD TRATO DE OBTENER TODA LAS EXPERIENCIAS, VIDEOS Y RESUMEN POSIBLES SOBRE ESTE DESAFIO. EL SUYO HA SIDO ESPECIAL, POR MUCHAS RAZONES. GRACIAS OTRA VEZ.
Quizás solo buscabas una experiencia turística y gastronómica adaptada a tus propios gustos y expectativas, está claro que el camino no te aporta si tú solo buscas cosas concretas sin mente abierta
I think you missed the point of the Camino. So, no, I expect your life was not changed. Seems to me you weren't truly seeking change. I appreciate the effort you put into filming as I enjoyed the images
@@TrailguidePictures Of course. Seemed to me your synopsis was full of negativity and the many things you perceived wrong with your Camino experience. My experience is that real change involves embracing gratitude for the opportunity given us to experience the gifts of the Camino. ie's Many on the planet have no food period. Many on the planet have no possibility of time away from eking out a living. Many can't even begin to dream of having the luxury of a long walk. Thanks for letting me share my opinion
@@rickoveres1975 That's great, and positive but don't confuse what your outlook for life is with a "point of the camino." The camino is many things to the many different people who walk it. My synopsis contained negatives but also positives. I don't see the world through rose coloured glasses and have no issue with telling it the way it is or was for me. Life has both negatives and positives and in my opinion people who don't accept that are cowards and afraid to experience all that life offers. Even the bad things we experience are gifts, sadness is just as important as happiness, hate as important as love. I live in Mexico and I'm fully aware that some people aren't able to do things that others can, and it's important to be thankful but we shouldn't compare ourselves with others just to be thankful. This is a poisonous way of thinking. It's like saying poor people have nothing to be thankful for. I don't have a luxury yacht, so does that mean I have a less joyful life as someone who does? I walked the camino and shared my experiences and thoughts. I didn't compare to anyone else's expectations. For some reason, there are people who truly have a privileged perspective who feel the need to write a comment telling me that I'm wrong because my experiences, thoughts and feelings don't match what they want to believe and expect me to also believe instead of having an open mind and understanding that EVERYONE will have a different experience. Not just on the camino, but in life.
@@TrailguidePictures I don't recall saying you were wrong. I do believe I have as much right to share my opinion on your posted views as you do to post them
I suggest making your own "Camino". Pilgrimages don't need to be religious. Consider Asia as a destination for one of these walks. Eastern religion is not as confrontational or conflict driven as Western religion.
Well, these types of hikes aren’t really for me. More like a road walk than anything else. I don’t think the religion of an area has much to do with anything
No need to apologize for not enjoying the crowds. You would anticipate better food. Annoying travel people who you cannot trust is frustrating !! Keep moving to another trip in another area. Your videos are trusted to tell the truth about an area region country state and province. I thank you, we all thank you for your reporting. Warren from Western Canada.
siglos haciendo el camino y quieres venir tú que nadie te moleste y dedicarte a buscar donde poder quejarte anda a ver si en otra parte te va mejor majo anda tira
I think it didnt move you much, because you did not commit to the spiritual and religious spirit because you were to busy filming the whole journey. Forgetting to absorb the experience and keep everything in your mind and not in a video memorycard.😉
@@TrailguidePictures Its the same. When you do something, with the purpose of showing the the world about it. You have your focus on that, and not what the journey is about. Self awareness and thus not commiting to the inner spirit. Think about it. If you did the journey with no camera, no phone. Just you and your mind. Bring a paper journal reflecting on the day and writing it down in it. Then you would focus more on you and not thinking about, how to film this or that.🤔 That sayed, I liked your videos very much. And for that I give you a 👍🏻😉
