Original subtitles

In the summer of 2021 we walked the Camino Portugues in Portugal and Spain.

This is us. Mari and Eva, a historian and biologist from Amsterdam.

Disliking their 9 to 5 computer jobs.

We did walk another camino before and enjoyed the beautiful views and the experience of sleeping with smelly snoring pilgrims in one room.

But what made it really special was hearing the stories of the other people along the way.

That’s why this time we brought a camera and a notebook full of questions.

We asked the people we met why they walked the camino , how many blisters they had,

if they found a lover on the way and if walking the camino for two weeks is really that lifechanging.

There are many routes that lead to Santiago, one of the biggest and oldest pilgrims destinations in Europe.

Ours started in Porto in Portugal and ended 260km and 12 days later in Santiago the Compostela in Spain.

Before leaving Porto we already lost our way twice.

Our bags were heavier than expected and the weather less cheerfull.

Still we enjoyed being outside.

After a while we stumbled upon the Italian couple Giulio and Giulia.

Interviewing Julio wasn’t easy since he was mostly focused on a cat.

No, go there, vas, no, nao.

So your name is? Gulio.

Hello Gulio. Hi.

How are you? Fine.

Why? This is a good question.

Actually I started let's say by chance.

My girlfriend invited me to do the camino

and I accepted.

Portugal, I have never been here and the first camino

and the first experience after the pandemic.

I am Ana.

Well Covid never worried me very much.

But still I was planning on coming alone,

so I didn't know if there were going to be a lot of people

and it would be maybe dangerous in terms of health

or if there were not so many people, it may be dangerous because I was alone.

We spend the last year, the last two years let's saying at home.

Not seeing people or different people, different cultures.

It was something that I was missing.

We left the ocean and turned inland following the many yellow arrows.

We heard rumours about another girl named Eva on the camino and supposedly someone had fallen very much in love with her.

So when we finally met her we almost left her no choice than to talk with us.

I am Eva.

First of all there was my father who did the camino in 2014 I think.

He was gone for a long time

He got this really nice stories when he came back and

he was like a different kind of man actually.

He also looked different because he lost a lot of weight and he got really tanned.

He really literally was a different kind of man.

So it obviously inspired me.

Since he did it, he kind of hoped that someone close to him would do the same.

So he was really happy and he wanted to prepare everything with me:

buy the backpack, go buy the walking shoes.

And constantly giving tips and tricks

I am a student.

I love the fact that the camino is a life style.

Because you have a goal to achieve each day.

So an amount of kilometers to walk.

Then you arrive and you are so satisfied and you just rest in bed.

You know you deserve it.

You achieved your goal, your small goal of the day.

Emma was the youngest we met along the way and we grew really fond of them.

We didn’t walk much together with them since they always left at 6 in the morning.

The best experience that you can have is when you are with different people,

with other people of different cultures and share the moments with them.

Yesterday at Fernanda's it was that kind of experience.

Because you feel like you belong to something even though you don't know anybody. That's so cool.

You meet someone: 'O, you are a pilgrim'. You notice immediatly that people are pilgrims.

After a short night at Fernandas and a slight hangover we walked over the beautiful Ponte de Lima towards the next albergue.

Nice thing about the camino is that there is an abundance of places to sleep.

This means it is easy to walk a shorter or longer distance if you feel like it.

But some people even prefer more freedom and sleep outside.

My home city is Brno.

I have a hammock and I sleep on the floor.

So many times I sleep in a vineyard.

So many times I sleep close to the church.

Every church in Portugal has water.

It's a good place, I stay alone, it's better for me.

Sometimes it's better to visit an albergue, to meet new people.

I feel very lucky. Being a pilgrim is like having a few things.

You have flew clothes and you don't have like mascara.

I don't know how to express it.

All people tell me, you need water? You need fruit? I don't have any problem.

It's really good for me and really big surprise for me.

It's not normal.

We had the same experience as Dominque, people were very hospitable and so was the land we were walking through.

Nothing better than fresh figs and apples. And we needed that because the hiking was tough.

We chose to do long distances of around 30km a day and the sun was burning after midday.

We were not the only ones struggling.

We met Helder, a Catholic policeman who said the first shop he looked for in every town was a farmacy,

to buy medicine that relieved his pain.

I'm Portuguese, I am from next to Fatima.

I am praying all the time but I also sit in the nature.

My feet are awful and I treat in the middle of the nature my feet.

And in this times it is not a Catholic thing but a spiritual one too.

I talk with people I meet persons from all the world and it is a good experience.

My feet are hurting a lot. I have lots of blisters.

I didn't think it was going to be so demanding in a physical way.

But well, that's actually a challenge.

It has also a point where I can overcome myself and grow.

Because I never thought I could fail.

But now I think: if I fail it's not failure. If I can not do it, I will not do it and I will do it later.

My friend: 'O no you can go further, you can.'

No, no I want to stay here, I like where I am, so I will stay.

It's like in my life. I don't want to work very hard because at the end of the month I have lot's of money.

I don't work like that. Let's do this because on Saturday or Sunday you will be in Santiago.

No, that's not the point, to get there.

The point is to be happy during the way.

I had like a little romantic and really good friend from Portugal: Diego.

He was travelling with his sister and his nephew and we walked together for about three days.

Not always together, you go alone and you meet each other again and you are in the same hostel.

On the last day, they had to walk faster because they had to arrive in Santiago one day before me.

So he was walking a couple of kilometers in front of me.

He was leaving very very nice notes for me every couple of kilometers.

It was really nice. So he left them and I was supposed to find them and read them and collect them.

It connected me with other people too because apparently other pilgrims also saw the notes

and it was this whole love story from Diego for Eva.

And they were making up their own stories because they read them

and it was like: 'o wow what happened'.

They were making up their own version of the love story.

And then at the end of the day, in an albergue,

I was talking with Anja and she was asking: 'What's your name exactly'.

And I was like: 'My name is Eva'. And she was like: 'What? Are you the Eva?'.

'The Eva that Diego is in love with?' And I was like: 'Yes, yes, i am'.

They were telling that the whole day they were following the notes and they had such a nice day because of the notes.

It was a really, really nice day.

I am really happy the notes connected me and Diago and his family but also me and the people I met that evening.

Maybe it's the same for all the people here, I have a problem.

I need to maybe search for a new way in my life.

So many people have made a pressure for you. In your home, at your job.

I need to stay alone.

It's really good for me that I meet great people. Interesting people.

So many people on the camino change your view on life.

After crossing the border into spain it got very crowded with other pilgrims and the albergues were sometimes full.

To avoid big groups we decided to alter our planning a bit and sleep in smaller sized cities like Arcade.

It was quite a tough year last year.

For everyone I think, with Covid and everything.

It was quite hard.

For me doing the camino is like a little bit of therapy as well.

Just walking and forget all the problems that you have.

What I really love is that when you are on the camino

the only problem that I had the past days was my knee hurting.

It was the only thing that bothered me at the moment.

That's just really nice, to forget everything else.

What I like the most is to be alone.

But it sounds like really lonely.

But it is being alone in a not lonely way.

In Belgium I have really great family and I have the best friends.

Whenever I need someone, someone is there. So I am really lucky about that.

But when I am on the camino, I like to be alone as well

because it's good to know that if it is necessary you can count on yourself as well.

The biggest gift for me is the nature.

I live in the city.

So I am really thinking if I am living in the right place?

I am now reflecting and maybe I would be much happier in a place like this.

Because I love this.

When I look around and I see no human hand, I love it.

It's growing something inside.

And maybe in some time I will have to change something in my life.

She wasn’t the only one thinking about changes.

We slowly dared to admit to ourselves and others that we really wanted to start our own company in videography.

Hi, I am Eva. Nice to meet you.

I now know what I need in my life.

And this way is easy. When I come back home, it's different.

This is a start.

You need to change at home not only here.

What do you want to change at home?

Maybe I need to listen more to people. Not too much speaking.

And for me, for a long time I was making money and money.

But money doesn't make me happy.

I need something different.

Nowadays I have two children.

So now it's this, now it's karate, now it's English.

This weekend is this and this weekend is that and it's all very controlled.

Lots of plans. Then I have to put the backpack in the school and lunch.

And here I don't control anything.

It's like a sense of freedom and release. Not controlling that is wonderfull.

We were getting close to Santiago and decided to instead of walking one long day, dividing the last part in two days.

This way some of our new friends could catch up with us and we could all walk into Santiago together.

What do you expect from the moment when you arrive in Santiago?

I think I cry a lot.

Because I am thinking about this moment.

I don't know, it's joy and a recap of the camino.

I don't know. I am expecting all the way.

We have to go to Santiago. No time to lose.

With the five of us we walked into Santiago.

Its special to know that the bells that welcomed us, welcomed all the others we met along the way as well.

Giulio, Anna, Emma, Dominique, Eva and Helder.

And of course countless pilgrims before us.

After the camino, I feel more self assured.

Knowing that you can handle things on your own, like if your knee is a problem or you can't find a bed,

that you have to solve it on your own.

Afterwards it gives you some kind of strength.

So I think in my life, I will do it a couple of times

at moments where I feel I need the strength again.

And if you are wondering about us.

WE DID IT.

Shortly after the camino we started our own video company.