---
title: My Camino, 10 Years Later -- Lessons from Santiago
description: Ten years after her pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago, Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda recounts the trip of a lifetime.
---

[![catholic-mom-logo-v2](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/images/catholic-mom-logo-v2.svg "catholic-mom-logo-v2")](https://www.catholicmom.com/)

[![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber)

[![search-icon](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/search-icon.svg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2013/10/09/my-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago#)

# My Camino, 10 Years Later -- Lessons from Santiago

Oct 9, 2013 12:33:41 PM  |  by [María de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/maría-de-lourdes-ruiz-scaperlanda)

[![My Camino, 10 Years Later -- Lessons from Santiago](https://www.catholicmom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/FH000026-3-257x400.jpg?width=257&height=400&name=FH000026-3-257x400.jpg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/FH000026-3.jpg) My Camino, 10 Years Later -- Lessons from Santiago

It’s official.

As of this weekend, **[it’s been ten years since](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/2013/06/remembering-isodoro-hospitalero-on.html) my dear friend Pat Stankus and I marched into the city of Santiago de Compostela**—culminating  23 days of [walking the ancient pilgrimage across northern Spain](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-camino-10-years-later-remembering.html), ***[el Camino de Santiago](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-camino-10-years-later-my-walking.html)***.

Pat and I made sure that our final day would only require a short walk into Santiago in order for us to arrive [at the Cathedral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Santiago_de_Compostela) **in time to register at the Pilgrims' Office, and attend the legendary Pilgrims' Mass and blessing. **Every Pilgrims' Mass begins with reading the number of pilgrims who have been received (in the prior 24 hrs) in the Pilgrim's Office, where the pilgrims come from, and where they started their pilgrimage.

Serendipitously, and by that I mean ***providentially***, **[many of our Camino friends](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/2013/06/people-of-way-remembering-my-camino.html) also arrived to Santiago at some point that morning.** This in spite of the fact that we had been separated from one another at some point along the way during that final week.

**One woman from Germany, with whom Pat and I had only been able to communicate by means of smiles, hugs, and hands**, made her way through the ocean of pilgrims to our pew in order to sit next to us that morning. We held hands off and on throughout the Mass.

And yes, on **June 22, 2003—[the feast of Corpus Christi](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04390b.htm)—our [Pilgrim Mass included the incomparable *Botafumeiro*](http://www.caminoways.com/blog/2012/05/06/pilgrims-mass-santiago-de-compostela/),** the largest censer in the world. It only took eight red-robed guys, *tiraboleiros*, to pull the ropes and get it going into a full swinging motion across the enormous Cathedral!

[![FH000019 6](https://www.catholicmom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/FH000019-6-225x400.jpg?width=225&height=400&name=FH000019-6-225x400.jpg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/FH000019-6.jpg)

Aware of how smelly and dirty I felt in spite of having access to modern albergues with running water, I giggled when I got a whiff of the delightful incense aroma.  **A thousand years ago, that incense fragrance must have had a very practical use at the Pilgrims’ Mass! **

**From my Camino journal, **

***Things I have learned this final week on the Camino:***

1. a country church bell can be rung softly or loudly. I did both!
2. all of **creation is an open book** (St. Benedict), symbolically expressing—and   ***portraying***, the sacred
3. at least for this pilgrimage, **I was not meant to walk in boots, but in sandals**
4. people in Spanish churches sing loudly, even at daily Mass
5. **my grace is sufficient for you**
6. eucalyptus leaves are a piece of heaven—and **nothing like the ones you find at *Michael’s***
7. sheep don’t like to be sheared
8. I can still sing the lyrics to songs I learned in my childhood and have not sung since then
9. The **butterflies and wildflowers play silent music with their colors. Remember!**
10. I love Spanish food
11. I love Spanish wine
12. **I may never *fully* understand why I did this**
13. Bidden or not bidden. God is present
14. There is ***always*** shit on the path ahead. **Old or new, shit always stinks**
15. Every Camino experience, like every relationship, is different, unique. **Every pilgrim will go home describing a different experience**
16. Threading your blisters with a needle & thread and betadine *really does work*
17. **You can get blisters on top of blisters**
18. Creation’s beauty does not cost or weigh anything
19. Your heart sees and recognizes joy as well as sin in a cloister community through its mere presence
20. I doubted the guidebook. But, *yes*, cheese can be shaped to look like a breast with a nipple
21. I love Spanish cheese
22. ***Yo soy el Camino** *

[View Maria's entire post here to see her amazing travel photos from the Camino](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from.html)

*Copyright 2013 Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda*

### Share this article

[![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2013%2F10%2F09%2Fmy-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2013%2F10%2F09%2Fmy-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2013%2F10%2F09%2Fmy-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=My%20Camino%2C%2010%20Years%20Later%20--%20Lessons%20from%20Santiago) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2013%2F10%2F09%2Fmy-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.catholicmom.com%2Farticles%2F2013%2F10%2F09%2Fmy-camino-10-years-later-lessons-from-santiago%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) 

**

#### About the Author

![CatholicMom Logo](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/logos/favicon-catholicmom.png)

### [María de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/maría-de-lourdes-ruiz-scaperlanda)

María Ruiz Scaperlanda writes regularly at [DayByDayWithMaria.blogspot.com/](http://daybydaywithmaria.blogspot.com/). María is an award-winning author, journalist, and retreat facilitator. She has been published broadly in the U.S. Catholic Press, traveling on international assignments in Central America and the Caribbean, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and throughout Europe. María and Michael reside in Norman, Oklahoma.

## Related Blog Articles

[

 Jordan: the undiscovered Holy Land

Read

](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2016/02/24/jordan-undiscovered-holy-land)

[

 Who is my neighbor?

Read

](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2015/12/03/who-is-my-neighbor)

[

 The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe as told in “The Blood and the Rose”

Read

](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2014/02/05/the-story-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-as-told-in-the-blood-and-the-rose)

## Comments

## Donate now

[![Support Catholic Mom](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/275132/10016573-1c5c-4aa5-baba-c2ac91fe7545.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/275132/10016573-1c5c-4aa5-baba-c2ac91fe7545)

[![CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)](https://www.catholicmom.com/hs-fs/hubfs/CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png?width=1806&height=731&name=CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png "CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)")](https://www.catholicmom.com/)

##### Subscribe to Catholic Momcast on iTunes or Spotify

[![itunes-logo-black](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/logos/itunes-logo-black.svg)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-momcast/id1362352357)[![spotify-logo-black](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/logos/spotify-logo-black.svg)](https://open.spotify.com/show/15CoipHL7z61IDcYErV0b8?si=hqaQJSxDQgq7S1hxCwsoxQ)

##### CatholicMom on Social Networks

[![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber)

##### About Catholic Mom

[Who We Are](https://www.catholicmom.com/about-us)

[Contact Us](https://www.catholicmom.com/contact)

[Support CatholicMom.com](https://www.catholicmom.com/support-us)

 

##### Associated Links

[Holy Cross Family Ministries](https://www.hcfm.org/)

[Family Rosary](https://www.familyrosary.org/)

[Family Theater Productions](https://www.familytheater.org/)

[Congregation of the Holy Cross](https://www.holycrossusa.org/)

[Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C.](https://www.fatherpeyton.org/)

<https://www.avemariapress.com/series/20/CatholicMomcom-Books/>[The Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life](https://www.peytonfamilyinstitute.org/)

### **Stay connected!** Don’t miss a thing! Sign up to receive our free daily digest email.

Copyright © 2026 CatholicMom.com. All Rights Reserved.