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Do the walk of life: A pilgrim's journey on the Camino de Santiago
He was a highly respected university president. Now Jesuit priest Bienvenido “Ben” F. Nebres is about to become a math teacher again.
But in between, he decided to take a walk.
This was no ordinary walk, but a journey of nearly a thousand hallowed kilometers that the 73-year-old Fr. Ben undertook in May 2011, beginning with a single step in Spain on the Camino de Santiago—the Walk of St. James. And after his long walk, Fr. Ben gave a talk.
“One of the challenges... is that it [the road] goes on and on and on,” Fr. Ben told his audience in the Spanish Embassy in Manila. “What you actually find is that in the first week, you are adjusting physically... after one week, the challenge is boredom...you begin to wonder 'when am I going to get where I'm going to get?'”
“The Way to Santiago is much more than a simple route,” said Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Jorge Manuel Domecq Fernández de Bobadilla in his introduction of Fr. Ben at the latter's talk last July 5. “It involves a lot of passion and spirituality to such an extent that it has changed the lives of many people throughout the centuries.”
A pilgrim's passport: Fr. Ben's credencial for his walk to Santiago de Compostela.
A short history of the Camino
The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage that dates back to medieval times, when a tomb in Compostela was declared in the 9th century to be that of the Apostle St. James the Great. After the Moors were ousted from Spain, around the tomb grew a shrine. Around the shrine grew the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—and around the basilica grew roads that spread out all across Western Europe.
Today, it is considered the third most important Christian pilgrimage, declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO, and proclaimed a First European Cultural Itinerary.
Even though a pilgrim can travel the Camino de Santiago via bus and bike (and in some cases, skateboard), many of the thousands all over the world who undertake the Camino still choose to have a go at it on foot—and make it to their destination the same way others before them have done for over a thousand years. Many who choose to make the trip undertake it for the spiritual journey the Camino is said to bring about, but it is also perfect for those who simply wish to hike or climb mountains.
When asked why he decided to walk the Camino, Fr. Ben said, “I thought it would be a good transition from 18 years as President of Ateneo de Manila University to teaching mathematics again.”
The pilgrimage's traditional dirt roads may have given way to smooth asphalt paths in the 20th century, but the Camino is still no walk in the park. Each route of the Camino traverses plains, forests, and mountains, but quite a few towns and roadside hostels and albergues (huts) too, where pilgrims collect Camino stamps on their passports as proof that they had come that way. All roads lead to the Cathedral, the main goal of the pilgrimage, and vary anywhere from 100 kilometers to 980 kilometers, with the latter distance (known as the Camino de Frances) beginning in Roncesvalle, France.
Practical concerns
The 980-km route was undertaken in a little over a month by Fr. Ben, who wowed an audience mostly comprised of Filipinos and a smattering of Spaniards with his patience, endurance, and delightful pictures of his trip shown via slideshow.
Some of the audience members had already undertaken the walk while others were still considering it. In the open forum afterward, many of the latter asked questions pertaining to budget, room and board, laundry, safety, and even where to “go” to answer the call of nature.
“You spend about €25 on average per day,” said Fr. Ben. “There are always hostels you can sleep in with groups of other pilgrims, though I paid for a private room because I did not want to hear someone snoring very loudly.”
“Bring clothes that dry easily overnight. I went close to their summer, so at times it was very hot and the trees were sparse. As for where to 'go'...well, you will get to the point where you need to go and you're in the middle of the road and it just doesn't matter anymore.”
Fr. Ben said that in spite of the heat, there were cold periods atop hills and mountains. A torrential downpour damaged both his cellphone and camera. He was able to replace them for cheap at the next town—his new cellphone even had €10 worth of load in it.
When asked if there was anything in particular that he missed about the Philippines as he walked, he answered, “No, I knew that I'd be back in six weeks. And you could always get internet. You could always find out what was going on.”
Fernández de Bobadilla explained with regard to safety that the Spanish government takes good care of the Camino. There are no thieves or bandits, and if one is injured close to a city, then an ambulance can get to the wounded pilgrim in seconds. If the injury occurs when one is in the middle of nowhere, then they can be evacuated by helicopter.
The rewards of the Camino
“One of the Camino's rewards is the magnificent views,” said Fr. Ben.
He was referring to the sprawling landscapes dotted with sheep and cows, edged with mountains, and filled with clean air. But there is much else along the Camino worth seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and committing to memory.
For example, beautiful medieval churches and monasteries (some of which Fr. Ben stopped at to say Latin Masses with the other priests) abound along the roadside, and a tower of wine somewhere in Logrono, where a festival also happened to be going on as Fr. Ben passed through the city.
His sighting a live rooster inside the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada led him to ask around as to its purpose. Legend has it that a young man was falsely accused and executed, but his mother had a vision that he was alive. In reply, the mayor said to her, “He is about as alive as this chicken I am eating!”—and then the chicken got up and started to sing.
And everywhere else, frozen memories: memorials to pilgrims who had fallen along the way, statues of Galicians and their cows, walking pilgrims, and St. Ignatius, who is the patron of the Jesuits.
Pilgrims from all walks of life
Fr. Ben's fellow pilgrims were not just natives or citizens of other Western European nations—groups of Koreans, Japanese, Americans, fellow Filipinos, and many others also traversed the beaten path with him.
Among the many people Fr. Ben met along the Camino was a Filipino family at a Roman bridge in Orbigo, a newlywed couple undergoing the Camino to mark the start of their lives together, and a Japanese man who had been walking the Camino for five years and selling trinkets to fund his journey.
In Sarria, where the 100 km route to Compostela begins, Fr. Ben met his niece Maria and three other colleagues—Marsha, Teri, and Bopeep—who walked with him the rest of the way.
“Maria and I went ahead because Bopeep and the others had so much fun collecting stamps everywhere we went,” he chuckled.
Fr. Ben and Maria arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela some time before noon in order to avoid the crush of other pilgrims. They heard High Mass there, and took a video of the Mass's high point: a giant censer being hoisted close to the ceiling and swung in a wide arc back and forth.
In total, Fr. Ben said, he lost 12 pounds and tanned considerably.
Bittersweet ending
With his trademark infectious smile, he recalled how, after a week of walking, a pain that had nothing to do with blisters assaulted his toes.
“Then I remembered that I had been warned that my feet would expand and I thought, 'ah, that must be it,'” he said. He had to buy new shoes that were a size larger.
But the Camino became a “friend” to Fr. Ben, he said. By the 29th day, when Compostela was in sight, he was surprised to find he was both happy and saddened that the journey was coming to an end.
In reply to questions about how he had managed such a trip, his answers were twofold. Firstly, he has been jogging five or six days a week since his youth. Secondly, he has this quotable quote applicable to the Camino and to life: “You just go ahead and bear it, putting one foot in front of the other. As long as you can keep doing that, you will get to your destination.” — BM, GMA News
Photos courtesy of Fr. Ben Nebres
The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage that dates back to medieval times, when a tomb in Compostela was declared in the 9th century to be that of the Apostle St. James the Great. After the Moors were ousted from Spain, around the tomb grew a shrine. Around the shrine grew the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—and around the basilica grew roads that spread out all across Western Europe.
Today, it is considered the third most important Christian pilgrimage, declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO, and proclaimed a First European Cultural Itinerary.
Even though a pilgrim can travel the Camino de Santiago via bus and bike (and in some cases, skateboard), many of the thousands all over the world who undertake the Camino still choose to have a go at it on foot—and make it to their destination the same way others before them have done for over a thousand years. Many who choose to make the trip undertake it for the spiritual journey the Camino is said to bring about, but it is also perfect for those who simply wish to hike or climb mountains.
When asked why he decided to walk the Camino, Fr. Ben said, “I thought it would be a good transition from 18 years as President of Ateneo de Manila University to teaching mathematics again.”
The pilgrimage's traditional dirt roads may have given way to smooth asphalt paths in the 20th century, but the Camino is still no walk in the park. Each route of the Camino traverses plains, forests, and mountains, but quite a few towns and roadside hostels and albergues (huts) too, where pilgrims collect Camino stamps on their passports as proof that they had come that way. All roads lead to the Cathedral, the main goal of the pilgrimage, and vary anywhere from 100 kilometers to 980 kilometers, with the latter distance (known as the Camino de Frances) beginning in Roncesvalle, France.
Practical concerns
The 980-km route was undertaken in a little over a month by Fr. Ben, who wowed an audience mostly comprised of Filipinos and a smattering of Spaniards with his patience, endurance, and delightful pictures of his trip shown via slideshow.
Some of the audience members had already undertaken the walk while others were still considering it. In the open forum afterward, many of the latter asked questions pertaining to budget, room and board, laundry, safety, and even where to “go” to answer the call of nature.
“You spend about €25 on average per day,” said Fr. Ben. “There are always hostels you can sleep in with groups of other pilgrims, though I paid for a private room because I did not want to hear someone snoring very loudly.”
“Bring clothes that dry easily overnight. I went close to their summer, so at times it was very hot and the trees were sparse. As for where to 'go'...well, you will get to the point where you need to go and you're in the middle of the road and it just doesn't matter anymore.”
Fr. Ben said that in spite of the heat, there were cold periods atop hills and mountains. A torrential downpour damaged both his cellphone and camera. He was able to replace them for cheap at the next town—his new cellphone even had €10 worth of load in it.
When asked if there was anything in particular that he missed about the Philippines as he walked, he answered, “No, I knew that I'd be back in six weeks. And you could always get internet. You could always find out what was going on.”
Fernández de Bobadilla explained with regard to safety that the Spanish government takes good care of the Camino. There are no thieves or bandits, and if one is injured close to a city, then an ambulance can get to the wounded pilgrim in seconds. If the injury occurs when one is in the middle of nowhere, then they can be evacuated by helicopter.
The rewards of the Camino
“One of the Camino's rewards is the magnificent views,” said Fr. Ben.
He was referring to the sprawling landscapes dotted with sheep and cows, edged with mountains, and filled with clean air. But there is much else along the Camino worth seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and committing to memory.
For example, beautiful medieval churches and monasteries (some of which Fr. Ben stopped at to say Latin Masses with the other priests) abound along the roadside, and a tower of wine somewhere in Logrono, where a festival also happened to be going on as Fr. Ben passed through the city.
His sighting a live rooster inside the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada led him to ask around as to its purpose. Legend has it that a young man was falsely accused and executed, but his mother had a vision that he was alive. In reply, the mayor said to her, “He is about as alive as this chicken I am eating!”—and then the chicken got up and started to sing.
And everywhere else, frozen memories: memorials to pilgrims who had fallen along the way, statues of Galicians and their cows, walking pilgrims, and St. Ignatius, who is the patron of the Jesuits.
Pilgrims from all walks of life
Fr. Ben's fellow pilgrims were not just natives or citizens of other Western European nations—groups of Koreans, Japanese, Americans, fellow Filipinos, and many others also traversed the beaten path with him.
Among the many people Fr. Ben met along the Camino was a Filipino family at a Roman bridge in Orbigo, a newlywed couple undergoing the Camino to mark the start of their lives together, and a Japanese man who had been walking the Camino for five years and selling trinkets to fund his journey.
In Sarria, where the 100 km route to Compostela begins, Fr. Ben met his niece Maria and three other colleagues—Marsha, Teri, and Bopeep—who walked with him the rest of the way.
“Maria and I went ahead because Bopeep and the others had so much fun collecting stamps everywhere we went,” he chuckled.
Fr. Ben and Maria arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela some time before noon in order to avoid the crush of other pilgrims. They heard High Mass there, and took a video of the Mass's high point: a giant censer being hoisted close to the ceiling and swung in a wide arc back and forth.
In total, Fr. Ben said, he lost 12 pounds and tanned considerably.
Bittersweet ending
With his trademark infectious smile, he recalled how, after a week of walking, a pain that had nothing to do with blisters assaulted his toes.
“Then I remembered that I had been warned that my feet would expand and I thought, 'ah, that must be it,'” he said. He had to buy new shoes that were a size larger.
But the Camino became a “friend” to Fr. Ben, he said. By the 29th day, when Compostela was in sight, he was surprised to find he was both happy and saddened that the journey was coming to an end.
In reply to questions about how he had managed such a trip, his answers were twofold. Firstly, he has been jogging five or six days a week since his youth. Secondly, he has this quotable quote applicable to the Camino and to life: “You just go ahead and bear it, putting one foot in front of the other. As long as you can keep doing that, you will get to your destination.” — BM, GMA News
Photos courtesy of Fr. Ben Nebres
