Spain – DU Abroad

For the 2 months that I have lived in Alicante, Spain all I have heard about on the local news channels is Catalonia. For those who may not know, Catalonia is a northeastern area of Spain that is known for being the most prosperous region and it’s Capital is Barcelona. Catalonia has motioned for independence from Spain, and has been fighting hard for that independence.

Catalonian Citizens Protesting at the Police Station

On the 1st of October, Catalonians went out to vote for their Independence, but Spain deemed it illegal. In an effort to inhibit Catalonian citizens, Spanish police forces, known as Guardia Civil, became violent and were handing the situation very brutally. Citizens of Catalonia were beaten and billy clubbed solely for trying to vote.

From this situation, things escalated greatly, and the media continues discussing how violent Barcelona and Catalonia is. This past weekend, I was visiting Barcelona. The Catalonian government officials voted for independence, and the vote passed. However, once again, Spain deemed this action illegal and discredited it.

Being in Barcelona, I thought that things were going to become quite unsafe and riots would ensue due to the media’s portrayal of the events. However, things were surprisingly peaceful; there were massive protests in favor of remaining a part of Spain.

I ventured into the heart of these protests due to a growing curiosity of what they were truly like. I found that there were some violent and irrational people, but the majority of individuals were friendly, passionate, and peaceful. However, if you watch the news, it shows pictures and videos of the few violent individuals, making the protesters seem out of hand.

Individuals Obnoxiously Blocking Vehicles

Yes, there were hostile individuals who seemed as if they might get into fights, and a group of extremist protestors were blocking cars and yelling at other citizens. However, I never felt unsafe at any point and saw more collective passion of a community than I did violence.

It was an eye opening experience to see one of these rallies firsthand rather than on the news channel of my household television in Alicante. Catalonia is in a torn state of individuals who seemingly cannot agree. They have a lot of things to figure out before moving forward seeing as many individuals are still fighting for separation. Perhaps the main streams of media in Spain and America should focus on the collective groups as a whole rather than the small groups of extremists who are acting violent and irrational.

This past week, I walked the infamous Camino de Santiago. Throughout the Camino, we walked 104 kilometers all the way across Northern Spain; with nothing but a backpack containing: 1 change of clothes, my camera, a sweatshirt, a towel, and a blanket. On Wednesday, October 11th, we took a 3 hour train to madrid from Alicante, and then a 5 hour train through the night to Ourense where we arrived early in the morning and began our journey.

On day one of walking, we discovered a small house with food inside. We stopped in and introduced ourselves to the man inside, whose name was Caesar, and offered to buy some of his food. He insisted that we eat for free and try his homemade wine. It turns out that Caesar’s house is infamous for Camino travelers, and he had photographs with nearly 6,000 people who had walked the same path. He was so friendly, and provided us with some much needed food and water.

After leaving Caesar’s we continued walking to our destination for the day: Dozón, which was roughly 28 kilometers of walking for day one. In Dozón, we stayed in a small hostel where we met many other individuals from around the world who were also walking the Camino. We hand washed our one change of clothes, hung them up to dry outside, ate some dinner, and passed out in our room of bunk beds.

The next morning, we awoke at 7:00am, grabbed our clothes of the drying rack, laced up our shoes, and headed out onto the trail once more. We walked an average of 25.5 kilometers a day, which is about 16 miles. We stayed in a variety of small towns such as Río Ulla, Silleda, and Estrada. In these towns, we stayed in remote hostels along the trail and tried many local foods and Galicia wines.

Along the trail, we picked fresh apples and grapes for snacks when we got hungry, and swam in rivers when we got too hot and sweaty. As each day passed, it became harder to continue walking at such a fast pace due to soreness, blistering feet, and all around exhaustion, but we persevered as a group and finally made it to the renowned city of Santiago de Compostela.

In Santiago, we stayed at a ministry where they provided us with a room full of beds, because, after all, the Camino de Santiago was originally a religious pilgrimage to the holy city of Santiago. In the city, we toured cathedrals and got our certificates proving we

walked the entire Camino.

The Camino de Santiago was a tough, week long journey, for the body and the mind. That being said, it was an incredible experience that taught me a lot about the beautiful region that is Northern Spain, and a lot about myself. I would absolutely do it again, and recommend it to anyone who is considering it.

Tag: Spain

Catalonia vs. Spain

Camino de Santiago