Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

Our last couple days were pretty hectic. We drove the Camino twice over first getting Bryan to Pamplona and then getting interviews in Carrion de los Condes and Astorga in one day. In total, the last two working days, we drove 14hrs. Our last two interviews were the founder and President of the Camino Federation, and a young pilgrim that Elena had met a year ago who was walking the Camino for the third time at only the age of 22. It was a very successful last day and provided me with a nice capstone to a difficult but rewarding experience. I can rest well on our 40 total interviews.

That being said, this would never have been possible without the myriad other people who participated. I want to especially thank the team, Bryan and Elena. They took on a project that was not their idea, showed an amazing amount of dedication, and really went above and beyond the call working long hours under often-ridiculous conditions. This project would not have been possible without the people and organizations that sponsored us. They believed in our shared vision and helped to build something bigger than all of us. Also, thank you to everyone who read this blog, prayed for us, or even thought about us along the way. It takes more than money and a team to keep this project going. Knowing that there is a community of people behind us makes all the difference.

However, the project unavoidably ran over budget. If you are able, please click the donate button at the top of the page and give what you can. We accomplished a lot but keeping a team going for four weeks takes more resources than we could have imagined. Please help if you are able.

It is often said that religion is dying in Europe. Church attendance is through the floor. Something like 94% of Spaniards claim to be Catholic, but hardly any of them attend mass on Sundays. Churches are starved for both congregation and pastors. The official statistics and the impressions of people on the Camino point to the fact that young people walked the pilgrimage increasingly for tourism and adventure, while it is the older pilgrims that walk for the spiritual reasons. This would seem to fit with the general trend of flagging religious fervor on the continent that gave the world Augustine, Luther, and Wesley.

However, in my mind, there is more to it than simply that. In October, I was able to visit the Taize community. Here, every weekend throughout the year and every week during the summer young Christians from around Europe and the world flood in by the bus load to worship, pray, and spend time in fellowship together as young Christians on a continent that seems to have no young Christians left. Taize handles up to 10,000 people a week at its peak during the Easter season, and most of these are young people. This relates to our work on the Camino because over half of the young people that we interviewed cited a religious motivation despite often pointing out that most young people are not similarly motivated. We may have just interviewed unusually spiritual young people, but I think that there is more there. The Christian apologist C.S. Lewis talks about humanity’s innate need for God, and these places and times of pilgrimage in Europe seem to bring that fore bringing out people even those who feel solely motivated by adventure to come into the space of something greater. Religion itself may not be thriving in Europe but pilgrimage by young people is and continues to grow. Maybe, this is a sign of things to come – a different future for faith in Europe than is currently predicted by the statistics.

For the Young People on the Camino project, this is Trey Comstock signing off wishing everyone a Buen Camino. Check back here in August for the first rough cut of the documentary.  

Days: 32

Distance Drive: 6000km

Total Distance hiked: 421km

            Distance hiked by Bryan (12 days in the field): 330km

            Distance hiked by Elena (10 days in the field): 143km

            Distance hiked by Trey (5 days in the field): 91km

Total Number of People Interviewed: 40

            Hospitaleros: 6

            Older Pilgrims: 1

            Camino Officials: 2

            Young People: 31

Number different places stayed: 24

Number of Team Members Killed by Bulls: 0

Madrid, Spain

The festival of San Fermin takes places every year in Pamplona starting the evening of July 6^th and reaching full height by July 7^th with the famous running of the bulls. Although the bulls tradition possibly pre-dates the festival, it becomes associated with San Fermin supposedly because he was martyred by being dragged through the streets by a bull.  During the festival, pretty much everyone takes to the streets of the old city, dresses in the traditional dress of a white shirt, white pants, a red neckerchief, and a red stash, and gets wildly drunk before committing themselves the next morning to run away from 500kg animals who can cover 150m in just over 14 seconds.

 We arrived in Pamplona the night of the 6^th and went into town so that Bryan could scout out the course. We did not realize that the streets would be utter pandemonium. They were choked with people wearing white and red, drinking copious amounts, and dancing. It was like Madrid all over again expect this time it was in the close in medieval heart of a city, and your shoes stuck to the ground their was so much spilled booze. Another difference was that you heard a lot of American and English voices amongst the throng as people from around the world settle on Pamplona for this festival of drinking and danger.

That evening, we had to run from a bull of sorts. Part of the tradition is that there is a fireworks bull, worn by somebody, that runs back and forth through the track, while the crowd of tightly packed thousands tries not to get burned. I got some decent pictures and managed to avoid getting burned (unlike in Madrid). Apparently, fireworks at close quarters are part of any Spanish festival.

So Bryan gets a rough idea of the course. We do not drink, and we return at 6:00am the next morning for Bryan to run the bulls. For the spectators of the running of the bulls, unless you a a balcony that over looks the course, the actual events looks more like the jogging of people in white rather than the excitement that you see on TV from the running of the bulls. At any point were spectators can watch there is a double layer of eight-foot tall fences. Medics stand behind the first fences to treat runners who hop the fence to avoid the bulls, and the crowd has to stand behind the second layer. Elena and I stood out there for over two hours pressed by a huge crowd, never saw a bull, did see a black streak that might have been a bull, but only over saw people in white jogging. It was a fairly unexciting three hours.

For Bryan, this was a completely different story. Many, if not most people, who run the bulls never actually see a bull or never get very close to one. Bryan was one of the “lucky” ones who got to get up close and personal with the irate animals. Fireworks announce the bulls progression down the track. Bryan had hoped to be towards the middle of the track where there is more space, and the bull are slightly tired by that point making them less dangerous. Instead, through some bad luck, he ended up right towards the front. After the first firework announcing the release of the bulls, he did not see anything. About 10 seconds later, her heard the second firework, and within just a few seconds, a bull was on him. The bulls covered the first 150m to where Bryan was in just under 15 seconds. Thankfully, a bull did not hit Bryan. However, a bull hit the guy behind Bryan throwing that guy into Bryan. In fact, Bryan was so close to one of the six bulls that if he’d reached out his arm, his hand would have been taken off by the bull. He got close, but he walked away with only a welt on the back of his head and a bruise on his shoulder where the guy was thrown into him. The last Bryan saw of the guy behind him, he was passed out on the ground. Bryan declared this officially the stupidest thing that he’s ever done.

To see some of my photos from San Fermin and messages by me and Bryan Click Here

To see a You Tube video of this year’s running of the bulls Click Here

Buen Camino,
Trey Comstock 

Trey Week 2

Bryan Week 4

Trey Week 4

Trey is the clear winner!

Bryan After Shaving

Trey After Shaving

For the full photo spread click the link Click Here

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Bryan arrived safely in Santiago by 11:00am (a new record as far as I’m concerned). Despite his best efforts, he still had no luck on the interview front. However, he is officially a successful pilgrim having completed the 115km from Sarria and is currently out getting his well-deserved Compostela. Although we did not get a young people interview, yesterday was fairly productive. We interviewed the Hospitalero for the large Albergue in Santiago, the head of stastistics for the Pilgrim’s Office, and worked on getting background shots (which I’m way behind on). We tried pulling down some young people interviews in the evening, but there were issues with that, which I will detail later.

We have one more working day in the field (here in Santiago) before our epically long road trip. Starting tomorrow, we will drive basically the entire Camino route going Santiago to Pamplona (so Bryan can run the bulls). We also hope to follow up on a lead with a young pilgrim who is on the Camino, and I’ve been emailing back and forth. After Bryan’s near death experience on the in the morning on the 7^th, we will first drive to Carrion de los Condes to meet with the founder and current head of statistics for the Spanish Camino Federation before returning Madrid. In total, it’s 14hrs of driving across two days essentially making a complete lap of Spain. We really want to put our beleaguered rental car to good use.

Santiago is a town of about 60 thousand people. Even by Camino standards, it is not a big city. Yet, on a Saturday night, it completely comes alive. It was an amazing site to see. There is some sort of medieval festival going on, so there were street vendors in period clothing selling from booths, which were also made to look historical. We saw a troupe of street performers twirling fire and telling an old fairy tale through dance. The streets were choked with people. It looked as if the entire town, old people, college students, everything in between, were out for the evening. It was a completely different Santiago than we’re used to. Usually, it’s tourists, pilgrims, souvenir shops and small cafes. Last night, it went from sleepy town to thriving nightlife. However, there are two problems with this transformation from my perspective. One, it makes it effectively impossible to spot young pilgrims amongst the hordes of college students, etc. Two, a certain member of our team does not like cultural displays making it difficult to hold still and take in the experience. Subsequently, I’m not sure how much of a fan I am of Santiago’s nighttime transformation.

Now according to the team, I am a bad leader for not giving them the 4^th of July off, as it is obviously a US Federal holiday. I responded to this by saying that I gave them Spanish Soccer Victory Day off instead. I’m not sure that worked as planned, but I hope that everyone had a fun and safe Fourth. There will be a new video blog up in the next couple days, so stay tuned for that.

Buen Camino,
Trey Comstock 

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

During my pilgrimage to Santiago two years ago, Galicia was an oasis. After the long, fairly boring across the endless, dead straight, dead flat, Meseta, Galicia had all the advantages of beautiful scenery, a climate with moisture in the air, octopus sandwiches, and the knowledge that I was within a stone’s throw of Santiago. Unfortunately for the reputation of Galicia, it has put us back on the defensive struggling for every interview. After the great success of last week, this is looking more like a long march to the finish rather than an easy breeze into victory (our financial struggles aside).

Bryan has been out on his own for two days now. I spoke to him briefly this evening. He is doing well but only seems to find pilgrims who do not speak English. Bryan has many useful skills, but speaking Spanish is not one of them. Although he takes great pride in the one conversation that he managed to carry on with a Spaniard in Spanish for over 45 minutes, when it comes to garnering interviews, Bryan (like me) has to stick strictly to English. Despite staying in the Albergues with the other pilgrims and living the pilgrim life to its fullest extent, Bryan has been unable to find an English speaker who is willing to be interviewed. Elena had a similar experience walking in Galicia on Tuesday, and we all had that experience (for the most part) in our first foray into Galicia that led to us fleeing to Astorga. Galician fieldwork does not seem to bear the same fruit as any other region.

This is puzzling on an analytical level. Galicia has the most pilgrims of any other region. It is where the 100km mark (the minimum distance needed to get the Compostela). So, the pilgrim who does not have the time to do the whole thing will normally start in Sarria (in Galicia). Logically speaking then, Galicia should be more productive given the greater numbers. We also see a larger percentage of young people in Galicia (probably again owing to the time factor). Despite the logic in the numbers, pilgrims in Galicia seem to be less willing to speak to us than pilgrims in other regions. Given the numbers, we made sure to dedicate the whole end of the trip to Galicia and Santiago itself (also contained within Galicia). However, this has not worked as planned, as pilgrims seem less willing to speak to us.

Our problems in Santiago have as much to do with tactics as anything (as Elena will detail in the latest edition of the Elena Report). The fieldwork in Galicia baffles me. Is that the shorter run pilgrims feel that they have less to share? Are motivated by reasons that don’t lend themselves to interviews? I really have no way of knowing.

In a general update, Elena and I are working out of Santiago now with Bryan in the field (currently fast asleep in an Albergue in Melide for those you playing along at home). Tomorrow, we will spend the morning/afternoon with Bryan and the evening talking to the statistics guy in Santiago and fishing for interviews in Santiago. The next few days see more of the same with a crazy travel schedule slated for Sunday and Monday. We will drive from Santiago to Pamplona (for Bryan to the run the bulls) then back to Madrid the next day with some stop in between (a total of around 1100 miles). Then, at last, the adventure will be over, but we are by no means there yet.

Buen Camino,
Trey Comstock