Pilgrimage to Santiago. Meet the Pilgrims!

Encounter’s first official scholarship initiative is the French Way of the Camino de Santiago. The route usually takes 30-35 days from the border of France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela in the far west corner of Spain. Pilgrims walk an average of 20-30 kilometers a day for roughly 800 kilometers. Since we didn’t have that much time, we decided to see a portion of the Camino by car and walk approximately 130 kilometers. The minimum one can walk to receive their Compostelana (pilgrim certificate) is 100k.

Our group is an interesting one. Dean and Kelly Jo have lived all over the world and have recently settled in Phoenix where Dean is an adjunct business instructor. Gayle, Abby, and Riki are professors at a college in Iowa and they’ve all had cross cultural experience. Falecia currently lives in Granada and walked the Camino when she was an undergraduate student. Quincy is a consultant in Chicago and currently serves on the board of directors for Encounters. She was only able to join us for a few days but it was so great to have her. Sharenda rounded out our group as the leader. She has led several students along the Camino Francés.

The group first met up for a few days in Madrid. We wanted to visit some museums and get used to the time change and food before we started moving from place to place. It also allowed for those with cancelled or delayed flights to get into Spain so we could start our Camino as a group. Follow along as we talk about our Camino experience!