Stories from El Camino de Santiago with Edwin Covarrubias
In this episode of The Random and Wonderful, Grace Simmons chats with Edwin Covarrubias, full-time podcaster and creator of Scary.fm, a podcast network dedicated to paranormal storytelling. Edwin recounts his life-changing experience walking the El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage through Spain that has shaped his outlook on life and work. He shares how the physical challenges of the journey pushed him beyond his limits and helped him achieve mental clarity, patience, and resilience. Throughout the episode, Edwin gives practical advice and insights for future travelers, all while offering heartfelt reflections on his personal growth during the pilgrimage.
Key Topics Discussed:
- Edwin’s preparation for the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage and the physical challenges he faced.
- How the simple act of walking for days provided mental clarity and self-discovery.
- The lessons of perseverance, patience, and resilience learned from the journey.
- The cultural and spiritual significance of the Camino and the connections made with fellow travelers.
- Practical tips for anyone considering the pilgrimage, emphasizing the importance of mindset over physical readiness.
Takeaways:
- The Camino de Santiago offers much more than just a physical challenge; it is a mental and emotional growth journey.
- Travel, especially solo travel, has the power to shift perspectives and offer clarity in unexpected ways.
- Edwin's experience shows how perseverance through hardship fosters personal development.
- The pilgrimage is a cultural and spiritual experience that profoundly connects you with others and yourself.
Resources Mentioned:
Scary.fm Podcast Network (Edwin’s platform for paranormal storytelling)
The Way (movie)
El Camino de Santiago App
Transcript
Hello travelers. My name is Grace Simmons
Speaker:and this is the Random and Wonderful
Speaker:podcast. Settle in and listen to
Speaker:stories of wanderlust and transformation
Speaker:as you gain tips to inspire your next
Speaker:travel experience. The Random and
Speaker:Wonderful is brought to you by the
Speaker:Amethyst Palaba Hut, LLC.
Speaker:Hello everyone and welcome to the Random
Speaker:and Wonderful. Today my guest is
Speaker:Edwin Cova-rubias. How do we do?
Speaker:Spot on. That's perfect.
Speaker:Welcome, Edwin. I'm so happy to chat with
Speaker:you again. Thank you. Thank you. Happy to
Speaker:be here. You're also a podcast
Speaker:movement person that I met for the first
Speaker:time. And so we got to talking about our
Speaker:different interests and of course, travel
Speaker:popped up and I got really excited. So
Speaker:Edwin has a really cool story. But first,
Speaker:Edwin, please tell us about yourself,
Speaker:who you are, what you do, and then we'll
Speaker:dive into the travel stories. Well, from
Speaker:the very beginning I actually started
Speaker:studying engineering and then somehow
Speaker:down the road I took a trip and I went
Speaker:down to Peru. And since then I started
Speaker:trying to figure out some way to keep it
Speaker:going and work online, tried a bunch of
Speaker:things, and eventually I got to launch a
Speaker:podcast and that podcast failed. But then
Speaker:five years after that, or four years
Speaker:later, I launched another one in the
Speaker:field of paranormal and creepy
Speaker:storytelling. So. That show
Speaker:took off. Then I launched another one, a
Speaker:second one, and then a third one, and
Speaker:they've all done pretty well. And
Speaker:that's my full time thing now. So now
Speaker:when I travel, I carry, I have like my
Speaker:own setup and I travel like that
Speaker:working. So it's hardest thing is to find
Speaker:quiet places to record, but I make it
Speaker:work even if it's middle of the night,
Speaker:early in the morning. But yeah, that's
Speaker:what I've been doing, like a podcast
Speaker:business and also. I
Speaker:have, you know, a small shop for
Speaker:notebooks that I sell online on Amazon,
Speaker:and all these things are managed
Speaker:remotely. So they're making it work that
Speaker:way. But I love traveling and I've been
Speaker:to a few places. Actually, a few months
Speaker:ago, we took a trip to Southeast Asia. I
Speaker:wasn't by myself this time. We went to
Speaker:all the, you know, Thailand, South Korea,
Speaker:Philippines, a bunch of little, you know,
Speaker:the countries that everybody does and
Speaker:everybody sees. But it was fun. It was
Speaker:fun. And now I am like 100%
Speaker:tolerant of the heat and humidity. It
Speaker:doesn't bother me. I might start sweating
Speaker:and I don't mind it because it's
Speaker:completely normal over there. Yeah. But
Speaker:yeah. And how we met was over the Camino
Speaker:de Santiago talk, which was something
Speaker:that we did exactly a year ago. I would
Speaker:have been starting exactly last year. Oh,
Speaker:that's so cool. Oh my goodness. This
Speaker:wasn't even planned. That's awesome.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah, really cool, really cool.
Speaker:So before we get into that, I'm wondering
Speaker:while your job allows you to move around,
Speaker:do you plan your travel around your work
Speaker:or is travel like I can
Speaker:work while I travel?That's a really good
Speaker:question because the very, very first
Speaker:trip that I took by myself down, you
Speaker:know, backpacking, like actual backpack
Speaker:and trying to figure out how I'm going to
Speaker:do this or whatever. I met a girl and
Speaker:I actually ended up like going, following
Speaker:her to Ecuador, like she went to Ecuador
Speaker:then I'm like, I want to go to. So then I
Speaker:went next thing, you know, we've been
Speaker:together for up until now and this was
Speaker:like 8 years ago. So now
Speaker:if it were just me, I would probably plan
Speaker:around work and be like, oh, well,
Speaker:there's these creepy stories in so and
Speaker:so. And I'm just going to go and just go
Speaker:up into whatever town, whoever wants to
Speaker:tell me a story and travel that way. But
Speaker:now it's more like we have to compromise
Speaker:and say, OK, well, I want to go here.
Speaker:It's like, OK, fine, but I also want to
Speaker:go here. It's like, all right. Or like, I
Speaker:want to stay longer here because a
Speaker:routine, you know, like it's going from
Speaker:hotel, hotel, you're like calling,
Speaker:checking for the Internet speed and you
Speaker:know, like if it's quiet around there off
Speaker:of Main Street. So like, I mean, there's
Speaker:a lot of compromise that way. So it's
Speaker:like a 5050 thing. Like, I feel like
Speaker:I want to make it work.
Speaker:Because of my job, like what I get to do,
Speaker:which is storytelling. But there's also
Speaker:that part where it's just like, you know,
Speaker:OK, where I'm gonna go there and I'm
Speaker:gonna just adjust also. Also the thing
Speaker:with taxes and being out of the country,
Speaker:like out of the US would be a thing that
Speaker:now I'm gonna start considering to or
Speaker:like I have to count my days. It's, I
Speaker:mean, I've been sorting it out. Yeah,
Speaker:that way it's like you're still, you're
Speaker:like somewhere else. Your taxes aren't
Speaker:completely US based. Like you have to be
Speaker:outside of the country for a certain
Speaker:time. So it's getting a little more
Speaker:complicated in that sense. yeah That's
Speaker:definitely something that I don't think
Speaker:people consider, especially when you're
Speaker:working and like working remotely, but
Speaker:like you know the digital nomad world
Speaker:where if you're just traveling, you're
Speaker:like, oh yeah, you know I like this
Speaker:hotel, it's close to these locations.
Speaker:Meanwhile, you're like, I need to check
Speaker:the internet speed. I need to make sure I
Speaker:can actually have some quiet when I need
Speaker:to record. How do I time my recording?So
Speaker:there's a couple of other things that you
Speaker:have to think about that people don't
Speaker:really consider. And also the little
Speaker:hacks you figure out, like, you know,
Speaker:when you get to a hotel and they give you
Speaker:that little, it's not really a stool, but
Speaker:it's like where you put your luggage on
Speaker:that little table E thingy. I don't know
Speaker:what it is. Like I had to do a setup one
Speaker:time where like I literally put it on top
Speaker:of the table and a blanket to make a
Speaker:little sound booth type of thing where
Speaker:like so it won't echo back and forth and
Speaker:cutting out whenever, you know, somebody
Speaker:passes by with their talking on their
Speaker:phone or running it down the hall. So
Speaker:yeah, it takes some struggle. But now,
Speaker:you know, like in some places where you
Speaker:go that are cheaper, sometimes you can
Speaker:get, for example, an Airbnb or a hotel
Speaker:with like a smaller subsection, like a
Speaker:little smaller area. So Airbnb's premier,
Speaker:like if I look for a place with two
Speaker:bedrooms or like a room with like a small
Speaker:laundry room or something where I can go
Speaker:in there and close the door and also
Speaker:check for layouts if they're not like
Speaker:facing the outside, you know, like the
Speaker:outs exterior next to the L already,
Speaker:yeah. Yeah, or something like that, yeah,
Speaker:yeahBut yeah, little hacks you figure out
Speaker:here and there, like how to plug things
Speaker:in when the outlet doesn't reach. Oh
Speaker:yeah, a ton, a ton of stuff, but you
Speaker:get used to it. You get used to it.
Speaker:Adapting too, that's pretty cool. Mm-hmm,
Speaker:yeah. So what exactly is
Speaker:your balance when it comes to
Speaker:picking?So if you're working, do you
Speaker:actually have time then to enjoy the
Speaker:travel?You know what?
Speaker:Whenever there's peaks, like for
Speaker:example, when I have a lot of projects
Speaker:that are due, like there are things that,
Speaker:'cause I don't work by myself anymore,
Speaker:right?Like, so I send things to sometimes
Speaker:an editor, or somebody's
Speaker:requesting something like an ad read, for
Speaker:example, that's the most common thing.
Speaker:Those things pile on, like one after
Speaker:another. Usually, you know, like near the
Speaker:end of the year, people, sponsorships go
Speaker:big, and there's a lot of back and forth
Speaker:all the time, and I know that it's
Speaker:definitely more stressfulAnd I have to
Speaker:fight against, like, try at
Speaker:least to get out and not be in the room
Speaker:working the whole time. Not because I
Speaker:want to, but because I have to. And it's
Speaker:hard, you know, like sometimes you're
Speaker:literally, I don't know, it could be like
Speaker:by a cool pool or like by just the
Speaker:coolest little park and you're on your
Speaker:phone, like replying to things. That gets
Speaker:stressful. But I know that now, at least
Speaker:like I've been practicing it on my own,
Speaker:like while I'm at home. to like
Speaker:discipline myself and be like, okay, hold
Speaker:on. Like, you need to work from this time
Speaker:to this time. Stop checking Facebook,
Speaker:stop checking Twitter, stop like going
Speaker:on, you know, all these other things and
Speaker:YouTube videos on whatever. Even
Speaker:procrastinating by organizing my desk,
Speaker:which is a very thing that I do when I
Speaker:don't want to write. And I think
Speaker:practicing getting all those things done
Speaker:does free you up to do more things. So. I
Speaker:mean, it's a thing I'm working on. I'm
Speaker:going to be testing it more out because I
Speaker:know that when we were traveling this
Speaker:time, I was like, you know what, I'm
Speaker:going to wake up early and I'm going to
Speaker:do my things. And yeah, it actually freed
Speaker:me up for like a lot. So I I realized
Speaker:that I do have a lot of time. It's just
Speaker:poorly managed. You know Like I stretch
Speaker:it out. Yeah. Yeah It's terrible.
Speaker:But we're working on it. We're working on
Speaker:it. All right. So let's get into
Speaker:the Camino pilgrimage. Is that a fair
Speaker:way to?I guess you could call it that.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah, a lot. I mean, it's different
Speaker:for a lot of people. But let me look up
Speaker:the. I just lost the site that I had open
Speaker:just so that I could remember the name. I
Speaker:was telling you early before we started
Speaker:recording. I was like, what are these
Speaker:towns called?But yeah, I think would call
Speaker:it a pilgrimage. For me, it was probably
Speaker:like an adventure, I would call it. But
Speaker:yeah, people, you normally call it the
Speaker:pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago
Speaker:pilgrimage, Camino de Santiago.
Speaker:So what is it?How did you get into it?
Speaker:And it's a pilgrimage. How long does that
Speaker:take?Oh, I mean, people can take as long.
Speaker:I mean, I've heard people do it in as in
Speaker:23 days. Other people take 60 days, you
Speaker:know, two months. A common thing is
Speaker:around a little over a month, like a few
Speaker:days over a month. But basically it's
Speaker:this. It's gonna sound strange to people
Speaker:who might have, you know, probably never
Speaker:heard of it, but it's basically a walk
Speaker:across the northern part of Spain where
Speaker:you start from typically like from
Speaker:outside Spain, like in France.
Speaker:And from a place called, well, I started
Speaker:from Saint Jean Pied de Port. So it's
Speaker:like the more traditional place to start,
Speaker:I guess for the French, what they call a
Speaker:French route, French route. And then you
Speaker:just go down like walking across all the
Speaker:way across until you get to the Santiago
Speaker:de Compostela place, like the cathedral
Speaker:and. People like to hang out there and
Speaker:like for a little bit after their
Speaker:pilgrimage is over and then continue to
Speaker:finish what they call is a finestera.
Speaker:It's not on the map here, but it's like
Speaker:they call it like the end of the world, I
Speaker:guess. So it's like you reach the ocean
Speaker:so that you literally walk all the way
Speaker:across Spain. And yeah, but I mean, it's
Speaker:just because they walk in extra, you
Speaker:know, days, but it's really cool. It
Speaker:actually has a really cool history. I
Speaker:wish I knew more, but like, I can't
Speaker:consider. I mean, I'm not an expert on
Speaker:this at all, so I can't. Like say that
Speaker:everything's going to be like completely
Speaker:factual here. But the story goes like
Speaker:that there was this an apostle of Jesus
Speaker:that walked across there and
Speaker:pretty much ended up and his his remains
Speaker:are at right here, which is the Santiago
Speaker:de Compostela Cathedral. So
Speaker:it has a strong significance, I think to
Speaker:a lot of Catholic people and but
Speaker:when you're there, you're going to see so
Speaker:many people from so many. Walks of life
Speaker:like you see Buddhists, you see Jews, you
Speaker:see like just an unbelievable
Speaker:amount of people that are they do it
Speaker:basically to like some are there on a
Speaker:journey for themselves, like an inner
Speaker:type of discovery. Like I've met this man
Speaker:who had lost his wife and he was really
Speaker:old, a really old man in his 80s and he
Speaker:was walking across the country like in
Speaker:her honor. Also met a couple who was just
Speaker:from Australia. They were just wanted to
Speaker:do a thing and they do it every year and
Speaker:that's what they do. And also you see
Speaker:families, you see kids, you see people
Speaker:from Spain that are also walking, like
Speaker:they just, they have time off and they
Speaker:walk a certain section, then they go back
Speaker:to work and the next break they get, they
Speaker:continue from where they left off and
Speaker:walk more and then they go back. That's
Speaker:what they're doing. Yeah. But
Speaker:it's a beautiful like thing that I
Speaker:honestly, I went in without any knowledge
Speaker:of what it was necessarily. I had seen a
Speaker:movie called The Way just to kind of get
Speaker:like to see like, is this how it's going
Speaker:to be?And then I remember watching other
Speaker:like documentary, like mini documentaries
Speaker:on YouTube about it. And they all had
Speaker:like the people document their own
Speaker:experiences as they're walking across.
Speaker:And I mean, I heard a couple of, you
Speaker:know, some stories of people that gave
Speaker:up. They're just like, I can't do this,
Speaker:but that's kind of like there's a lesson
Speaker:in that too, right?It's like, oh, you
Speaker:couldn't finish because you hurt yourself
Speaker:and you really do. It's a tough physical
Speaker:thing to do. I mean, walking across. A
Speaker:country, it's like, what I think is like
Speaker:almost 800 kilometers or something. It's
Speaker:like it's a lot of, it's a lot. It's
Speaker:a very long distance. You walk for six
Speaker:hours, 8 hours, depending on how fast you
Speaker:go a day. And then you
Speaker:get to a certain area. I mean, I can get
Speaker:into the details later on, but your
Speaker:question was about like how I found out
Speaker:about it. And this was a through some of
Speaker:the Paulo Coelho books, which like The
Speaker:Alchemist and some of the other like
Speaker:there, he has a book. I want to know what
Speaker:the hold on, let me see if I can find the
Speaker:book quickly. Paulo, he's a
Speaker:Brazilian author. He writes in
Speaker:Portuguese. Is he from Portugal or Brazil?
Speaker:I think it's called. Hold on, let me the
Speaker:pilgrimage. That's what the novel is
Speaker:called. And that's how I first heard
Speaker:about the Camino and the experience of
Speaker:it was. I mean it magical in its own way,
Speaker:right?Like for me, not like as they
Speaker:describe it where like, oh, you have to
Speaker:do a quest or whatever and like
Speaker:some magic discovery and not necessarily
Speaker:like that. But there's definitely
Speaker:something that goes on and something that
Speaker:draws you, like you just want to go back.
Speaker:Like for me, I just want to go back. And
Speaker:like, I think I told you when I met you,
Speaker:I was like, yeah, I hated every second of
Speaker:it while I was walking. And I just want
Speaker:to do it again. Describe this entire
Speaker:story. You're like, I just want to do it
Speaker:again. Yeah, yeah, yeahThat is
Speaker:incredible. Yeah. YeahIt's a thing.
Speaker:Like, I swear to you, I think about it
Speaker:every day. I think about it every single
Speaker:day since. And not so much that I
Speaker:felt like, oh, I was, it was a
Speaker:transformation or, you know, anything
Speaker:like that. But it was just like literally
Speaker:my whole task was to get to the
Speaker:next town and find a place to stay. Like
Speaker:that was a task. So when you can
Speaker:concentrate on that. And also for me, I
Speaker:still took my laptop. Like I was still.
Speaker:Getting to places and had to record
Speaker:sometimes and in the end I ended up,
Speaker:yeah, I ended up like that failed. That
Speaker:plan didn't work and I don't recommend
Speaker:it. I think we should, if you do that
Speaker:kind of work, you should probably work
Speaker:ahead or like really schedule a time
Speaker:before, like work way ahead, get ahead of
Speaker:your work and try to actually take some
Speaker:time off. Because I know that it really
Speaker:kind of, I don't know, held me back a
Speaker:little bit. I feel because I was stressed
Speaker:out during the whole thing. So not during
Speaker:the whole thing, but like, well, I, you
Speaker:know, had stuff to do. I'm like, oh, I
Speaker:need to get there early. I need to finish
Speaker:this or I'm too tired to like read or
Speaker:revise anything. And that was tough, very
Speaker:tough. Were there any points
Speaker:of this journey where either like a story
Speaker:that kind of stuck with you or an
Speaker:experience, 'cause it was, you were going
Speaker:through it, an experience that really
Speaker:stuck with you or kind of stood out to
Speaker:you on the entire, on your pilgrimage?
Speaker:There's a few things. When I started
Speaker:thinking about the Camino, again, I
Speaker:always find like a new little snippetOf
Speaker:something that happened that I'm like, I
Speaker:remember this, like for example, right?
Speaker:Like there's one, this is around the
Speaker:second day. This is me still walking with
Speaker:my girlfriend. Like, so we're both, by
Speaker:the way, this is a whole topic unto
Speaker:itself, like doing a very tough,
Speaker:frustrating trip with somebody and how
Speaker:you you learn how you get along with each
Speaker:other in terms in times like that. But
Speaker:anyway. We were walking down, I think it
Speaker:was the second day or getting into the
Speaker:third day. And there were talks like in
Speaker:the, you know, the hostels, the
Speaker:albergues, they call them like the places
Speaker:where you stay for very low cost, like
Speaker:1213 euros. And they were saying
Speaker:that it's going to rain, like it's
Speaker:raining. I hear there is a lot of rain
Speaker:and we might have to like hang out here
Speaker:for a little bit longer. But you just
Speaker:kind of hear that like rumors or like,
Speaker:yeah, it's raining. Like, but there's
Speaker:people like us. We were new to the whole
Speaker:thing. We're like, well, make it, it's
Speaker:fine, right?And as we're going, like the
Speaker:sky looks clear, we're walking, we're
Speaker:climbing up a hill and then we have to
Speaker:make our way down this really steep hill.
Speaker:It's like jagged rocks. This is dangerous
Speaker:area, I guess. But right as we're heading
Speaker:up, like the rain starts and
Speaker:it's like this stream at first that's
Speaker:just kind of coming at you and you're
Speaker:walking against it. You're like, this is
Speaker:weird. You climb up, it kind of meets
Speaker:another little river, little Creek, and
Speaker:then it's just going all the way down. So
Speaker:like by this time it's no longer a
Speaker:stream, but it's like. It feels like a
Speaker:river, like it's going up to like halfway
Speaker:up to your knees, sometimes your knees
Speaker:like. And by the way, this is already
Speaker:dangerous, right?Like there's jagged
Speaker:rocks there. The people slip and fall.
Speaker:Actually, there's people that did fall.
Speaker:And there was this man who was walking
Speaker:behind us with the sticks. He's older and
Speaker:he's like, he just starts singing. Like
Speaker:I'm saying our dad is like I'm singing in
Speaker:the rain. Yeah, yeah, the rain.
Speaker:And I follow along like automatically
Speaker:they were both singing and we're like,
Speaker:you know how the whole so this whole song
Speaker:goes and he's like
Speaker:buen camino and he keeps walking, right?
Speaker:We meet him up again like closer to like
Speaker:when we're going working our way down and
Speaker:he's there walking slowly, coming down
Speaker:with his walking sticks and.
Speaker:We're like, hey, like we're kind of doing
Speaker:this thing. We're like, I get ahead, they
Speaker:get ahead and like, you know, and he gets
Speaker:ahead, we get ahead. And then as we're
Speaker:going, like, we're like, this is odd
Speaker:because, you know, we we come prepared as
Speaker:much as we can, right?Like the shoes, for
Speaker:example, are waterproof, but not like
Speaker:riverproof, like, right. Like you can't
Speaker:walk in a river like
Speaker:and everything like and yeah, it's it's
Speaker:non-slip shoes, but like, come on, these
Speaker:are like flat rocks, jagged. Like if
Speaker:you're going to slip, but something's
Speaker:going to happen, right?So. Also our
Speaker:ponchos, like everything was just kind
Speaker:of, it just went bad. We're like, oh,
Speaker:what are we gonna do?And then we start
Speaker:seeing less and less people coming down.
Speaker:So it's just us basically all like going
Speaker:down this long hill. And I'm saying long,
Speaker:not just like, oh, you know, like the
Speaker:typical you go on a day hike and you come
Speaker:down, but it's like hours of just, you
Speaker:know, making your way zigzagging down.
Speaker:And I remember at one point, like
Speaker:of the frustration, you're just like, oh,
Speaker:like, what are we gonna do?My girlfriend
Speaker:and I look at each other and we're like.
Speaker:What the heck, right. Like there's
Speaker:nothing else but except get there. Like
Speaker:we just have to. And this is a very first
Speaker:like challenge, like a first like here we
Speaker:go, we have to get through this. And then
Speaker:we just kind of start like like, you
Speaker:know, like smiling, like you're just
Speaker:going down, like it's fine. It's just
Speaker:water. And the whole it's just water
Speaker:thing became a thing where we're just
Speaker:like, if it's raining, hey, it's just
Speaker:water. Yeah. And I mean to her, I feel
Speaker:like it meant something else, like as in
Speaker:her own meaning. But for me, whenever
Speaker:there's like, I got that stuck where. You
Speaker:have setbacks and you have things that
Speaker:are holding you back. And to me, I
Speaker:automatically, I just think like it's
Speaker:just water, like it's just it's serving
Speaker:its purpose and it is what it is and you
Speaker:can deal with it. Or even if you like if
Speaker:you're just exposed to the water, like
Speaker:it's just water, like it's not poison
Speaker:coming on you, right. It's just water. So
Speaker:I really a big shift in perspective.
Speaker:That's the thing I literally thought of
Speaker:like today, like I was thinking like,
Speaker:what can I talk about the Camino?And I
Speaker:thought of that and I'm like, I hadn't
Speaker:thought of that since since I did the
Speaker:Camino. And I know the water thing has
Speaker:always been there, but the story behind
Speaker:is what little habits that I pick up here
Speaker:and there. I know that are related to
Speaker:what I experienced in the Camino, which
Speaker:are little things like that. And there's
Speaker:a lot more some about people that you
Speaker:meet. And for example, for me, there was
Speaker:a kind of a not a struggle, but like a
Speaker:decision point where some people like to
Speaker:put their flags of their country on their
Speaker:backpacks. I always thought it was like
Speaker:kind of weird to do that, but I'm like,
Speaker:what kind of, what flag would I put?
Speaker:Because for me, I was born here in the US
Speaker:and I grew up here. But my parents are
Speaker:Mexican and I've always felt like
Speaker:here I'm not like 100% like American.
Speaker:And when I go to Mexico, it's like just
Speaker:based on how I speak and how I, you know,
Speaker:culturally, there's a lot for me to learn
Speaker:there. So I don't feel like I'm Mexican,
Speaker:like even though I am, right?And
Speaker:I decided at one point I'm just gonna get
Speaker:two flags and I'm gonna tie them to my
Speaker:backpack. And I did that, right?Like, why
Speaker:does that mean anything?And. And thinking
Speaker:of the flags and like just actually from
Speaker:like tying them just on the side, I
Speaker:actually pat them at the bottom. So
Speaker:they're like really displaying. I would
Speaker:be walking and everybody that I would
Speaker:hear, you know, they wouldn't like say,
Speaker:hey, America or US or anything. They
Speaker:would say Mexico, right. And I would turn
Speaker:around and I'd be like, hey, and I would
Speaker:just keep walking. And then as I came, I
Speaker:heard it several times. Like we're like
Speaker:Mexico and again, Mexico, like everybody
Speaker:kept saying, you know, Mexico, Mexico,
Speaker:so. I don't know if that means anything,
Speaker:but it definitely, I brought it back
Speaker:like, hey, you can like, you're still a
Speaker:part of it. Like people are still going
Speaker:to recognize that. And that's the flag
Speaker:that stands out to them. And next thing
Speaker:you know, like in my mind, I'm already
Speaker:set for moving to Mexico City. Like, I
Speaker:want to go there. And I worked on getting
Speaker:my dual nationality. So now I'm a citizen
Speaker:of both places and it kind of, you know,
Speaker:it's like one of those things where like,
Speaker:does this have anything to do with each
Speaker:other?I don't know. But definitely
Speaker:there's some weird connection there,
Speaker:right?Like, yeah. Maybe not a quite a
Speaker:coincidence. I like, but like the
Speaker:demonstration of you having both flags
Speaker:also connects to what
Speaker:became you deciding to get your dual
Speaker:citizenship. So instead of having to
Speaker:choose, you are both. Yeah.
Speaker:There we go. See, like that's a little
Speaker:things like that, like. That's so neat.
Speaker:You connected it really well. Yeah, Yeah
Speaker:that's right. Yeah. That's incredible. So
Speaker:tell me more about like some of the
Speaker:people that you encounter. Were there
Speaker:lessons?Did anyone?I love first off
Speaker:going back to the gentleman who was
Speaker:walking by you all and inspired you guys
Speaker:to sing through the rain, which is
Speaker:music and singing is such a beautiful way
Speaker:to ground and center you, especially
Speaker:when you're in the middle of a very
Speaker:difficult situation and to have someone
Speaker:outside do that. Were there any other
Speaker:people maybe that taught you a lesson or
Speaker:that you kind of took something away from?
Speaker:There were a few things that. I know, for
Speaker:example, one of them was the my
Speaker:girlfriend had blisters, right?Like they
Speaker:were big blisters and she didn't know
Speaker:what to do. I didn't know what to do. And
Speaker:we were trying to figure it out online to
Speaker:see, hey, what are we supposed to do when
Speaker:we get blisters?Because you're gonna have
Speaker:to keep walking and this could get
Speaker:infected if you don't do it right. So we
Speaker:get to one of the the albergues and this
Speaker:one guy just helped
Speaker:like helped us out like. As in completely
Speaker:just selfishly, like as in he gave us the
Speaker:materials, he gave us a little bit of,
Speaker:you know, the thing that we needed, as
Speaker:many bandages as you need. Here's what
Speaker:you do. And like he wasn't grossed out
Speaker:about it, even though, you know, you're
Speaker:talking about foot blisters. This is
Speaker:like, but he like
Speaker:talks everything and
Speaker:and we kept encountering him and every
Speaker:single time we would see him, we would
Speaker:remember, like he would be like, hey,
Speaker:hey, how's your feet or whatever?And it
Speaker:was just like one of those things where
Speaker:like. And he was a fast Walker. Like he
Speaker:would start late and get there early.
Speaker:Like this was you see a lot for us, we
Speaker:would start early and get there late. It
Speaker:was just like our. But we enjoyed our
Speaker:time like stopping by what they call
Speaker:bodies, the bars, which are like
Speaker:cafeteria, like little shops where you
Speaker:buy bread and sandwiches and you know, a
Speaker:little all the delicious
Speaker:Spanish bread and ham and everything.
Speaker:You get there, but it's so good. That was
Speaker:one of the people that I know really
Speaker:stood out to me. But there was one really
Speaker:interesting story. We had met this
Speaker:guy, this, this man at, I don't honestly,
Speaker:I don't remember exactly when we first
Speaker:encountered him, but we started talking
Speaker:just like you do like when you're
Speaker:walking. And it was funny because
Speaker:we had kind of lost track of each other.
Speaker:Like, you know, you meet people, they
Speaker:kind of stay in a certain place or they
Speaker:speed up and you're kind of, you lose
Speaker:each other. So you don't know when the
Speaker:last time that you talk to them is going
Speaker:to be so. We're getting to this
Speaker:place and it's I can't believe I I don't
Speaker:have this written down to remember
Speaker:exactly the the town, but it was very all
Speaker:these towns were very beautiful, but this
Speaker:one was old. It had that like old vibe to
Speaker:it. The stone buildings, stone road, like
Speaker:you know the roads where you walk on
Speaker:and we got to the to the reservation we
Speaker:had made through Airbnb actually that
Speaker:thing saved our lives and. Because, you
Speaker:know, I don't even know if it's 100%
Speaker:legal there. It probably is, but maybe
Speaker:just not very well liked by the locals.
Speaker:But we got to this place and we're
Speaker:like searching, like zigzagging through
Speaker:the little town, the city to get to this
Speaker:Airbnb. And we're like
Speaker:right outside there's this machine, like
Speaker:a vending machine which has. Sandwiches
Speaker:and food and little, you know, Coke,
Speaker:which is like, I don't like drinking
Speaker:Coca-Cola, but man, when you've been
Speaker:walking all day and it's cold and you're
Speaker:like, oh, I want that. And it was there,
Speaker:right?So we're struggling and I remember
Speaker:my girlfriend and I were like, OK, let's
Speaker:get this thing out or whatever. One of
Speaker:the things kind of gets stuck. It's a
Speaker:funny story to me. It's not funny to
Speaker:anyone else, but like my girlfriend puts
Speaker:her hand into the vending machine and
Speaker:she's like, can you help me?But what she
Speaker:managed to help her with her backpack and
Speaker:I think that she's her hand is stuck. So
Speaker:I pull her. And she's like, no, like
Speaker:with my back. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker:right at that time. What
Speaker:is that grace?We're struggling with the
Speaker:vending machine, right?And then this guy
Speaker:that we had met earlier was walking like
Speaker:through the the city too, like he was
Speaker:walking up toward us and he's like, hey,
Speaker:and we're like, hey, like, how are you or
Speaker:whatever?'Cause he sees like we're like
Speaker:laughing kind of like fighting this
Speaker:machine, we're like, what's going on?And
Speaker:he's like, he looks like he's kind of
Speaker:worried. And also he's walking with
Speaker:someone else with this other guy and he's
Speaker:like, have you found a place to stay?
Speaker:Because we don't know what we're gonna
Speaker:do. And I'm like, what do you mean?Like
Speaker:you search around. This is a very common
Speaker:thing that I can tell you about later.
Speaker:But he was really worried. I'm like, no,
Speaker:I mean, we're staying here. I can ask,
Speaker:right. And by the time he had already
Speaker:rang the the doorbell. So somebody was on
Speaker:their way down while we were fighting
Speaker:this, the vending machine and this.
Speaker:Woman comes down, opens the door like
Speaker:barely and she's like, Hola, you know,
Speaker:and we're like, hey, we have a
Speaker:reservation. Do you happen to have any
Speaker:extra rooms?Because they're looking. And
Speaker:then she's like, yeah, I do. And
Speaker:she's like, well, how much are they or
Speaker:whatever?And she's like, oh, it's, you
Speaker:know, so and so, I don't know, 20
Speaker:euro each or 30 each or whatever. And
Speaker:he's like, OK, let's take it because they
Speaker:had no. Choice because and by the way,
Speaker:when you're struggling to find a place to
Speaker:stay, it's like they go from place to
Speaker:place to place and everybody leads them
Speaker:around in a circle and sometimes there's
Speaker:zero beds anywhere in that town. So you
Speaker:have to keep walking. The other option is
Speaker:to like sleep outside, which I didn't see
Speaker:any anybody doing, but I know that some
Speaker:people had tents with them just in case
Speaker:it's a thing. But anyway, they did find a
Speaker:place to stay and they were really could
Speaker:see the relief in both of their like they
Speaker:weren't friends. They had met each other
Speaker:walking, but like they weren't friends
Speaker:and. They had to share a room, which was
Speaker:obviously they were happy about it.
Speaker:Either way, like they would have just
Speaker:slept on the in the living room if it
Speaker:were just up to them, like they would,
Speaker:they would do it. But they managed to get
Speaker:up there and we were talking. They're
Speaker:like soaking wet. It's like it's it's
Speaker:cold. It's just, you know, you're
Speaker:disgusting after walking for so long.
Speaker:You're sweaty, you're like salty. This is
Speaker:just like this. It's not good.
Speaker:But I think people have done the
Speaker:pilgrimage like they kind of get it. It's
Speaker:just like, hey, this is how it is. It's
Speaker:fine. And we're just talking about how
Speaker:the two people that were walking up,
Speaker:we're now finding a place to stay and
Speaker:that they were worried about having to
Speaker:sleep under one of the bridges. And
Speaker:they said we just happened to find you
Speaker:like right at that moment. Now when I
Speaker:thought about it, immediately I'm
Speaker:connecting. Like we rang the doorbell.
Speaker:The lady was taking a bit and we were
Speaker:fighting the vending machine, which is
Speaker:what held us back, right?We were like,
Speaker:had we just gotten our things, gone
Speaker:inside, we would have missed them because
Speaker:they left right?Like they would just pass
Speaker:right by us. This didn't have like a
Speaker:hotel sign or like a hostel or anything
Speaker:on it. It was just no signage, just a
Speaker:building with a wooden, big wooden heavy
Speaker:door. So they would just walk right past
Speaker:us. And they're like, yeah, like, why
Speaker:were you?Outside like at
Speaker:that time we're like, oh, and then we try
Speaker:to explain that we were fighting thing
Speaker:like I thought and then we just explained
Speaker:it and then they started laughing. We're
Speaker:like, oh, it was just one of those
Speaker:moments where you're like sharing a story
Speaker:like was it really didn't mean anything
Speaker:to anyone else except for us because of
Speaker:the timing of it just worked out for them
Speaker:and we got to do it unintentionally,
Speaker:got to, you know, help someone out.
Speaker:So, and it really, it was the lady's
Speaker:house that really helped them, the lady
Speaker:that helped the other people. But like,
Speaker:it felt like, oh, it was a team effort of
Speaker:like they spotted us had also they maybe
Speaker:they didn't know who we were. They might
Speaker:have just kept going. But you know, we
Speaker:happened to have met him before. So it's
Speaker:one of those things that you're just
Speaker:like, are these coincidences?And the
Speaker:logical part of you wants to say, yeah,
Speaker:you know, it's all a thing, but then you
Speaker:meet other people that. For example, this
Speaker:man who was in front of a church, he was
Speaker:standing there and I'm looking at him.
Speaker:This is near the end of the Camino, like
Speaker:about a week before we finish. And
Speaker:he's looking at me and I'm looking at him
Speaker:kind of like from outside of the church
Speaker:property. And he
Speaker:kind of waves at me like, come over. And
Speaker:normally I don't. I mean, I wouldn't do
Speaker:this, but I'm like, hey. And I told
Speaker:Carla, my girlfriend, I'm like, I'm gonna
Speaker:go talk to him. She's like, OK. So I
Speaker:leave my backpack and I walk up and he's
Speaker:like, how are you?And I kind of start
Speaker:talking like, Oh yeah, he's like, he's
Speaker:like, why are you, what's your reason for
Speaker:doing the Camino?And I'm like, I feel
Speaker:like I'm barely discovering that now. And
Speaker:now that it's almost over and just saying
Speaker:that, I'm like, wow, I didn't know what I
Speaker:was doing, but now I feel like there is
Speaker:something that I need to work through.
Speaker:And I'm like, I feel like there is
Speaker:something there though, that I need to
Speaker:work through in my life or like really
Speaker:meditate on and think about. And he's
Speaker:like, I can tell he's like.
Speaker:Look, and then he started kind of telling
Speaker:me a little bit about what his adventure
Speaker:and like his life, which was he had done
Speaker:the Camino, liked it so much that he went
Speaker:back home to sell all of his stuff and
Speaker:then just moved to Spain. Now he lives
Speaker:there and runs groups for the people
Speaker:that want to do the Camino and for
Speaker:religious reasons. And I mean, he was
Speaker:already, you know, retired. So he had
Speaker:that time and I guess the energy to do it
Speaker:too, because the Camino says that you
Speaker:meet a lot of people. And that's kind of
Speaker:what he wanted to do. And he was
Speaker:obviously a very good communicator. But
Speaker:thinking of that, I'm like in real
Speaker:life, like what I call it now, like for
Speaker:me now, if somebody says, hey, come here,
Speaker:like, I probably wouldn't do it. I'll
Speaker:probably just be paranoid and be like,
Speaker:I'm OK and then keep walking because you
Speaker:have your backpack with all your stuff.
Speaker:So, but it was little snippets here and
Speaker:there. And the more I speak, the more I
Speaker:remember these things where I'm like, I
Speaker:also met this other like so many little
Speaker:things that I'm like, this was much more
Speaker:than just like a regular vacation. And
Speaker:it's, I would say a little embarrassing
Speaker:to say it that way for a lot of people.
Speaker:Like if you all I want to talk about is a
Speaker:Camino sometimes. Like it's just like I
Speaker:want to talk about where people went,
Speaker:what they ate, what they didn't like, how
Speaker:long it took them to get from a place to
Speaker:a certain, you know, certain place to a
Speaker:certain place. But you're kind of alone
Speaker:in it because not a lot of people
Speaker:understand it. Even if if they do get it,
Speaker:they're gonna, they're limited if they
Speaker:haven't experienced it. But every once in
Speaker:all you meet travelers who are like, oh,
Speaker:wow, that sounds like something I would
Speaker:like to do. And they ask you all these
Speaker:questions and you don't they don't find
Speaker:you annoying for just blabbing all about
Speaker:the Camino whenever you get the chance.
Speaker:But I know that it's, it definitely, I
Speaker:mean, I'm discovering now too that it
Speaker:really changed my life. That is
Speaker:absolutely amazing. And it's it's
Speaker:beautiful. I like that your
Speaker:transformation story, like there are
Speaker:little points that continue to come up
Speaker:for you, even thoughOverall,
Speaker:like I think when you told me about it
Speaker:first time, what you said was it was
Speaker:magical. And now as we're talking about
Speaker:it, like there's still more pieces and
Speaker:parts that you're learning about
Speaker:yourself. You're learning that like
Speaker:during that entire journey, your
Speaker:girlfriend were able to bond. Someone has
Speaker:literally said before you marry anyone,
Speaker:make sure you go on a road trip with them
Speaker:to see how they handle. Ohh And I think
Speaker:the Camino isThe king of
Speaker:all road trips, especially since you're
Speaker:walking that. My goodness.
Speaker:You mentioned a little bit about how you
Speaker:all were able to get your food, but like,
Speaker:how do you plan for this?Like, do you
Speaker:measure, you know, how long it'll take
Speaker:you to get there?Walking speed to reserve
Speaker:like you all reserved an Airbnb, but how
Speaker:do you plan your journey?There's a few
Speaker:ways like I know some people have like
Speaker:the guidebooks, right?That just tell you
Speaker:at this town you're going to find this
Speaker:thing in this other town you find this
Speaker:thing or this place is really big. So
Speaker:you're definitely going to find a place
Speaker:to stay or hey, call ahead because this
Speaker:place is small. For us, there was an app
Speaker:that really, I don't even know if I still
Speaker:have it installed, but I mean, I can send
Speaker:you the name of it later, but it's it's
Speaker:app like a guide type of app for your
Speaker:phone. And it tells you literally
Speaker:how long it's going to take you,
Speaker:elevation, how high you're going to
Speaker:climb. tells you, like you can
Speaker:even start, like connect with other
Speaker:people that are doing, you know gonna be
Speaker:there at the same time. But definitely,
Speaker:definitely like logistics wise, there's a
Speaker:lot of people that are doing the Camino
Speaker:now, or from what I heard, people that
Speaker:compared to you know years past, like now
Speaker:it's just growing in popularity. So,
Speaker:there's a lot less beds to go around. You
Speaker:have to reserve your spots way before,
Speaker:like as in a couple of days, so you do
Speaker:have to plan as to where you're gonna be.
Speaker:What we did was we would, for
Speaker:example, if it's Monday, we would say,
Speaker:OK, where are we gonna stay on Wednesday?
Speaker:So that Monday morning, we're like trying
Speaker:to figure out how, you know, where we're
Speaker:gonna stay. And then we already know.
Speaker:Now, it doesn't feel as like legit
Speaker:doing that, right?Because you're not
Speaker:going like where the wind takes you.
Speaker:You're not like, oh, I'm gonna stay here
Speaker:for the night or whatever. Yeah. But
Speaker:every once in a while we did risk it as
Speaker:it give us that that opportunity to say,
Speaker:hey. Let's just take it slow. Let's stay
Speaker:here. We'll figure out the next thing
Speaker:tomorrow. And we would do that just
Speaker:because we're tired or hey, we can't
Speaker:continue. Like we're just, I'm done. Or
Speaker:it's getting dark and we're gonna have to
Speaker:cross through a forest or whatever. And
Speaker:you choose. You're like, OK, no, you
Speaker:always know how far the next town is.
Speaker:Again, they're not just like the main
Speaker:towns that are listed in the maps.
Speaker:There's in between little small towns. So
Speaker:like y'all and you always know it's like,
Speaker:oh, it's 6 kilometers ahead or it's, oh,
Speaker:it's five. And the typical thing is like
Speaker:you walk around for. A little bit. I
Speaker:would say like a couple of kilometers,
Speaker:maybe 2-3, you might start spotting
Speaker:signs of like civilization again, like a
Speaker:small town or something. Maybe after like
Speaker:a couple of hours you find a place like
Speaker:where you can have breakfast in the
Speaker:morning and you kind of trust that you're
Speaker:gonna find a place because there's a lot
Speaker:of people that do this, right. So little
Speaker:small businesses like have popped up very
Speaker:small ones sometimes and other times it's
Speaker:like full on like operations of like you
Speaker:show up and like there's a lot of tables
Speaker:and it's like a restaurant set up. And
Speaker:other times it's like literally like a
Speaker:little tent built out and
Speaker:somebody's serving you juice and
Speaker:Gatorade or whatever and
Speaker:bread with ham in it. And that's it. But
Speaker:you always know how far ahead you like,
Speaker:how much more you have to walk if you
Speaker:want to know, because some people don't
Speaker:want to know. They just want to keep
Speaker:going. And you know, whenever they get
Speaker:tired, they stop. And some people do
Speaker:manage it that way, which is odd. And
Speaker:another thing also that kind of ruins the
Speaker:experience for some people is that. You
Speaker:have to for some of the places like what
Speaker:do you call like albergues that are they
Speaker:run out of beds. They have a certain like
Speaker:you have to get there early and get in
Speaker:line because they won't have a
Speaker:reservation system. So you have to get
Speaker:there really early and you see a line and
Speaker:then at one point it's like cut off and
Speaker:you you can't stay there. So what they do
Speaker:is like they either they keep walking or
Speaker:go back to the previous town, which means
Speaker:another hour or so. Oh wow, 40 minutes
Speaker:of like with all your stuff going to
Speaker:another town and. And figuring it out
Speaker:that way. So what you end up seeing is
Speaker:people kind of rushing to get to the next
Speaker:spot, like racing, getting up really
Speaker:early, rushing to the next stop. So
Speaker:that's kind of like the downside of it,
Speaker:like the logistics, I feel. Because I
Speaker:don't think it was meant to accommodate,
Speaker:you know, hundreds of thousands of people
Speaker:doing the thing all the time. Yeah. We
Speaker:used to do it with the with the app
Speaker:mainly. Is there a self-care
Speaker:practice that maybe you
Speaker:incorporated or maybe you learned on this
Speaker:journey that you use now when you travel?
Speaker:Self-care, like in terms of, I guess both
Speaker:like physical and mental. There's things
Speaker:that I know out of habit that I do now.
Speaker:Like for example, even just the having
Speaker:the time to yourself early in the
Speaker:morning, for example. It's one of the
Speaker:things that I know I crave, like I
Speaker:want the sunrise and I didn't really
Speaker:understand why until I stopped the Camino
Speaker:and you kind of miss it. You're like it
Speaker:was so cool to. You're walking in the
Speaker:dark and you see the sunrise behind you,
Speaker:in front of you or next to you or
Speaker:whatever. But I know that during those
Speaker:times it makes you appreciate a lot of a
Speaker:lot of stuff, like very grateful. Just
Speaker:it's another day, you get another chance.
Speaker:Here you go. I don't think a lot of
Speaker:people that do the Camino considered a
Speaker:lesson from the Camino because you can do
Speaker:that pretty much anywhere. But I know
Speaker:that. Space to myself in that morning or
Speaker:just being able to have that time,
Speaker:designated time to say thank you and like
Speaker:to yourself, like even just, hey, I made
Speaker:it. Here's I woke up this morning. I
Speaker:don't really think about it as much as I
Speaker:did in the Camino, but I know that I made
Speaker:a practice out of it to try to really be
Speaker:conscious of like, hey, I woke up and
Speaker:I here we go, let's let's do what we can
Speaker:today. That's one of the things like it's
Speaker:a very like emotional kind of mental
Speaker:thing, but. Physically, I know that I
Speaker:discovered the benefits of walking and
Speaker:how our body adapts to
Speaker:everything. Carrying a heavy backpack.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, I have my laptop, clothes,
Speaker:water, water is the heaviest thing, a lot
Speaker:of snacks sometimes. But even no matter
Speaker:like how much I would eat, and I'm
Speaker:saying like I would stuff myself, and I
Speaker:still started losing weight, getting to
Speaker:more like an actual, what I would
Speaker:consider like for myself, like a healthy
Speaker:weight for me. That I would feel
Speaker:comfortable in. My clothes started
Speaker:feeling a little bit looser, a little bit
Speaker:better. Also, the exposure to the sun
Speaker:just made the skin a really interesting
Speaker:cut, like an interesting color. I didn't
Speaker:know I could get more brown, but like it
Speaker:was like a like a cinnamony. I don't
Speaker:know, it's a weird color, but like you're
Speaker:like, see how sometimes people say like,
Speaker:oh wow, you're glowing. It's not
Speaker:necessarily like you look great, but like
Speaker:as in your body is doing something like,
Speaker:hey, you're sweating all day, you're
Speaker:drinking a bunch of water, you're eating
Speaker:fruits from trees that. Are you're
Speaker:passing by and by the way, this is not
Speaker:stealing because these things are like
Speaker:all fall on the ground like people, I'm
Speaker:pretty sure they want you to take them
Speaker:because they're like, yeah, they start
Speaker:rotting on the ground. So like you take
Speaker:them apples or whatever. But yeah, like
Speaker:with all those things, I started
Speaker:realizing that there's a huge, huge, huge
Speaker:benefit and I know we hear it all the
Speaker:time, but like that gets true and I feel
Speaker:like we need to get reminded all the time
Speaker:of how much we need to walk because
Speaker:that's what we're made for. And if we can
Speaker:go, I used to tell, you know, we just. It
Speaker:me, my girlfriend, I used to now we have
Speaker:a thing where we're like, well, nothing's
Speaker:far now. Like we can walk anywhere. It's
Speaker:like, that's true. Like we need to get to
Speaker:downtown. We'll walk and it's
Speaker:like that, OK, to go down the hill, we'll
Speaker:go walk down the hill. Like it's not that
Speaker:big of a deal anymore to walk and you
Speaker:just adjust, you know, if it's too hot,
Speaker:wear lighter clothes. If it's cold, wear
Speaker:a jacket and little things like that that
Speaker:I'm like, this is a thing that everybody
Speaker:should be doing and I feel like we don't
Speaker:walk. A lot. I at least I don't
Speaker:at all. Like maybe from here to the
Speaker:driveway and then get on the car and get
Speaker:somewhere else and get off and then walk
Speaker:a little bit and then come back to the
Speaker:car, right. So yeah, but yeah, little
Speaker:things like that that I've picked up. And
Speaker:then there's other things to skin care,
Speaker:which I think I never, ever did. I think
Speaker:as a guy was very difficult for me to
Speaker:like say I need this also, but like
Speaker:sunblock, just sunblock, I guess. But
Speaker:also like not just any kind, but like a
Speaker:good kind that's not gonna do more harm
Speaker:than good. Yeah, terms of bug spray,
Speaker:there's things that are natural that you
Speaker:can use. And I'm not like in the whole
Speaker:like all natural organic thing. I
Speaker:mean, I know that some people are and
Speaker:it's good that they do that. But for me,
Speaker:I'm just like, I think I'll about
Speaker:convenience a lot. And there's little
Speaker:changes that you can do here and there
Speaker:that I know have made that for me at
Speaker:least they make a huge, huge difference.
Speaker:I've gained a bunch of weight since I
Speaker:finished and that's because of I sit
Speaker:around all day working. But I know that
Speaker:once I start moving again, the body
Speaker:adapts to what you're doing and you see
Speaker:it, you feel it and it works, you know
Speaker:for whatever a person's goals may be.
Speaker:Yeah I always find that I think I walk a
Speaker:whole lot more when I travel.
Speaker:Like you said, you don't think twice
Speaker:about it. Like if I needed to walk around
Speaker:my neighborhood, I would set aside some
Speaker:time and hope that I agree to that.
Speaker:Versus when you're traveling, you're
Speaker:like, oh yeah, this is a 30 minute walk,
Speaker:sure, whatever. One way, right. You don't
Speaker:think about it. But if you do that at
Speaker:home, you'd feel like, why would I walk?
Speaker:Why would I walk?Absolutely. Yeah. You
Speaker:know, I've been seeing a lot of reels
Speaker:about that where like, I guess this also
Speaker:the the places where I walk around here,
Speaker:they're not, they're not very pretty
Speaker:places. Like they're just like the same
Speaker:sidewalks across the street. It's like
Speaker:very, I don't know. I always tell my
Speaker:friends that I don't think that these
Speaker:streets are meant for walkers, like for
Speaker:walking, because I rarely see people
Speaker:walking. And like when you're crossing a
Speaker:street, like people look at you like,
Speaker:what's this guy?Like he does. Poor guy.
Speaker:Like we should give him some bus money or
Speaker:something. Like it's just it feels that
Speaker:way, even though it might not be real.
Speaker:True, you knowBut yeah, definitely. When
Speaker:you're traveling, you walk a lot without
Speaker:even realizing that you're doing it. Even
Speaker:activities that you end up doing, right?
Speaker:Hiking, going up the stairs for a picture
Speaker:or swimming or whatever. So you just do
Speaker:it. Yeah. Like, I need to get up to this
Speaker:little rooftop restaurant. I'm not
Speaker:thinking about the stairs, but let me try
Speaker:to do that here. I'm like, where is the
Speaker:elevator?So.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah you adapt. I like that body
Speaker:always adapts. It's cool to
Speaker:see how because I mean, I remember
Speaker:thinking like we used to practice walking
Speaker:before getting to the Camino used to be
Speaker:like, oh, we're gonna walk for, you know,
Speaker:we're gonna do 10,000 steps, 15,000
Speaker:steps. And it's like, cool. And if we're
Speaker:getting used to that, next thing you
Speaker:know, you're at the Camino, you're going
Speaker:up a hill in the Pyrenees, the the
Speaker:mountains right off the bat, like the
Speaker:first day and you're doing 30,000
Speaker:steps and you're like, oh Dang, like I
Speaker:should have. I should have practiced
Speaker:more. Yeah,
Speaker:because you don't practice with the
Speaker:backpack fully loaded on. Like you just,
Speaker:I'm getting my 15,000. It seems like a
Speaker:lot, but then you do it and you're like,
Speaker:oh no, this is.
Speaker:And also the shoes that you choose, like
Speaker:you don't pay attention to the shoes that
Speaker:you're using every day. And now, for
Speaker:example, I I know that I can't use the
Speaker:same boots that I used to use. Like it's
Speaker:impossible for me to use the same things
Speaker:just because I'm going to feel pain after
Speaker:just a day of walking in those and. I
Speaker:realized that for me, for example, just
Speaker:in my case, it's the flat shoes, like as
Speaker:in not a lot of, I don't know what you
Speaker:call it, but like the shoes that don't
Speaker:have a lot of cushion and like the
Speaker:barefoot feeling shoes. Yeah, but it's
Speaker:not really. Yeah, it's like a very, yeah,
Speaker:yeah, like barefoot shoes, but not really
Speaker:because I've seen those. Those are very
Speaker:extreme and really weird looking, but I
Speaker:get them now. I understand. I haven't
Speaker:used them, but like, I understand the
Speaker:whole, the purpose of even just like Vans
Speaker:or chucks, you know, like Converse that
Speaker:don't have any padding or whatever. Those
Speaker:feel better for me now than shoes that,
Speaker:you know, put pressure on your feet, like
Speaker:in different areas. Yeah. But I mean
Speaker:that's after walking. And also I think
Speaker:like and and my girlfriend always says is
Speaker:that she feels like she went up a shoe
Speaker:size. And for me, I think it's the same
Speaker:thing. I didn't know this could happen. I
Speaker:don't know if it's true. I think it might
Speaker:just be that I feel more comfortable with
Speaker:a slightly bigger size.
Speaker:There's something to be said about that
Speaker:though, because I think when you, I don't
Speaker:know what the actual science is behind
Speaker:it, but when you're wearing like certain
Speaker:types of shoes, your toes are so
Speaker:compressed. And if you start to wear the
Speaker:right shoes, like the, I think it's
Speaker:called like zero drop. sole or something
Speaker:like that where you're you're able to
Speaker:kind of spread your toes out and actually
Speaker:spread your foot maybe and after walking
Speaker:that's true distance probably yeah you
Speaker:know that I think about it I think the
Speaker:shoes that I wear now are wide I don't
Speaker:know they call it wide box or just wide
Speaker:but yeah yeah that's I think that's the
Speaker:thing yeah yeah I think that's what
Speaker:bothers me about shoes that the boots now
Speaker:it's like I feel like I'm squeezed yeah
Speaker:yeah I bought those type of
Speaker:shoes for Portugal becauseI read
Speaker:something about their cobblestone. I was
Speaker:like, I don't, yeah I don't want to be
Speaker:hurting. Going up and down
Speaker:on my travels. Yeah. You know, now that
Speaker:you mentioned Portugal, they also have
Speaker:the Camino that starts from, they start
Speaker:from a bunch of different areas. Portugal
Speaker:has one, the Portuguese way, they call
Speaker:it. And you go up to the same spot, but
Speaker:from the coastline. Okay. So,
Speaker:and there's a lot of different ways to to
Speaker:get it done. But yeah, those are
Speaker:comments, so. You might see some people
Speaker:walking, depending on if you're traveling
Speaker:there soon, or if you already went there,
Speaker:you might have seen them already walking
Speaker:with their backpacks and their sticks.
Speaker:They're doing the Camino. And I feel like
Speaker:now I'm in the shell, like an identifier.
Speaker:Yeah. YeahIt's
Speaker:cool. It's cool. It's a cool, cool thing.
Speaker:That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker:Well, before we go, what advice do you
Speaker:have for someone who
Speaker:is traveling and they're trying to add a
Speaker:little bit more?Gratitude and acceptance.
Speaker:How do you help someone find a good
Speaker:perspective when they travel?I feel like
Speaker:a lot of the people that travel when
Speaker:they're basing it off of like Instagram
Speaker:posts or things that they see online or
Speaker:things that their friends are telling
Speaker:them to do or things that they saw like
Speaker:that, we miss out on a lot. And
Speaker:I feel like we get a whole, like a
Speaker:diluted thing of what the place really
Speaker:means when you see what everyone else,
Speaker:everyone else has seen. But even if you
Speaker:let's just say you're forced to do that,
Speaker:you're with a group and they want to hit
Speaker:all the Instagrammable spots and like
Speaker:this is the way that you like to travel.
Speaker:So let's just say that there's always
Speaker:those stories everywhere that, for
Speaker:example, the person you meet, the person
Speaker:at the hotel front desk, the person
Speaker:that's helping you with the luggage in
Speaker:case you have a lot that you carry.
Speaker:There's all these stories everywhere. And
Speaker:I think that when we pay attention to
Speaker:those, we start, we get this tendency to
Speaker:like search for more of of a story.
Speaker:You might get some resistance from people
Speaker:like, oh, why are you going there?Or why
Speaker:do you want to see that or what?You kind
Speaker:of have that pressure to stay on track on
Speaker:the same thing. But I suggest you try it
Speaker:and you go where you feel like it's
Speaker:where you want to go. Like it's not,
Speaker:again, not anything magical. You just
Speaker:kind of know, like when something doesn't
Speaker:feel right, you're just like, this has to
Speaker:be something else or like maybe I should
Speaker:have gotten some other type of food or I
Speaker:don't want to eat here at this spot or
Speaker:whatever. It was try it out. I feel like
Speaker:feeling scared or feared when you're
Speaker:traveling or afraid of getting off track
Speaker:a little bit really slows down like that
Speaker:aspect that like finding out a new story,
Speaker:a new adventure, a new thing. So I would
Speaker:say like try it out, do a thing that you
Speaker:haven't, you know, done. And as far as
Speaker:that gratitude goes, I think that that
Speaker:comes to me at least it came as a side
Speaker:effect of things. Like I don't feel like
Speaker:intentionally I wanted to be grateful. I
Speaker:feel like I just had to be grateful
Speaker:because. Heck, last night my feet were
Speaker:burning and this morning I can at least
Speaker:walk three steps without feeling like
Speaker:pain. Because as soon as you it's a weird
Speaker:thing because you start warming up and
Speaker:you kind of feel it less. So there was a
Speaker:side effect. I had to be grateful because
Speaker:hey, now I can walk. Thank like thank
Speaker:goodness like it went over the pain went
Speaker:away. So but yeah, there's a lot for me.
Speaker:I get it changes for me. Some people do
Speaker:it with intention, like they're just
Speaker:intentionally trying to be grateful and
Speaker:they find it that way. For me, it was
Speaker:definitely a side effect. Like I was
Speaker:forced to. It's like, you see, you
Speaker:see where you were yesterday. And I'm
Speaker:telling you, by the way, Grace, like,
Speaker:there was a day when I couldn't get off
Speaker:the bed. I think I told you about this.
Speaker:Like, I couldn't get off the bed. The
Speaker:lights stayed on, the window stayed open,
Speaker:the door was unlocked. Neither of us
Speaker:could move. Like going to the bathroom
Speaker:was like, oh, I have to go. No. Like, I
Speaker:cried that day. Like, I cried for not
Speaker:being able to get my clothes down off of
Speaker:a hanger thing that I had. I'm like, I
Speaker:need to get on this chair and I can't get
Speaker:on the chair. I can't do anything. And
Speaker:like, I literally felt like I'm a loser.
Speaker:I can't do this. And I cried. And I was
Speaker:like, after that moment, I'm like, you
Speaker:know what?Now that I can get up and do
Speaker:something or I can walk, I can step, I
Speaker:can anything that you can do. It's just
Speaker:natural for me to be grateful about it.
Speaker:Like, it's I can't help it because I
Speaker:already went through a bunch of things
Speaker:like that, obviously very. Not
Speaker:that I guess dramatic, you know, nothing
Speaker:like really terrible has happened to me
Speaker:there, but definitely little signs that
Speaker:tells you, hey, you remember where you
Speaker:were, look at where you are now and
Speaker:be grateful for it. So once you finish
Speaker:the Camino, it's, I think that's all you
Speaker:feel. You feel grateful, you feel
Speaker:accomplished, you feel like, wow, I did
Speaker:something and you're grateful for
Speaker:everything. Like even for yourself to not
Speaker:let go, like to not give up on yourself
Speaker:because really it's just you fighting
Speaker:against you, so. But yeah, like for
Speaker:people, try out things and then do hard
Speaker:things, try them out, see how they go and
Speaker:you won't regret it. You know They're
Speaker:there to to help you power up and level
Speaker:up into whatever you're doing. Nice.
Speaker:Well, Adam, thank you so much. Before we
Speaker:go, please tell everyone what's
Speaker:next for you and where we can find you.
Speaker:I do a lot of, for anybody who might be
Speaker:interested in like scary stories, for
Speaker:example, this is all the things that I do
Speaker:and Halloween's coming up around this
Speaker:time of the year. And this is what I do
Speaker:all the time. So for me, my username on
Speaker:Instagram is Edwin Cove. That's
Speaker:E-D-W-I-N-C-O-V, as in
Speaker:Victor. People can find me there. I
Speaker:update about just little random things
Speaker:here and there, and I'm always moving.
Speaker:I'm actually planning a trip and I'm
Speaker:leaving Sunday, Sunday morning, going to
Speaker:Ecuador. That's where my girlfriend's
Speaker:from. Nice. And we're actually planning
Speaker:on finally tying the knot, so. Yay!
Speaker:It's a It's a thing, hopefully, by the
Speaker:time this thing's up,I should be married.
Speaker:Dang it. Like we've been talking about
Speaker:this for years. But you can find me
Speaker:there. Yeah. And if you're interested in
Speaker:anything scary, scary stories by networks
Speaker:called Scary FM for anybody who might be
Speaker:interested. Oh, that
Speaker:could not have been timed better.
Speaker:But yeah, Grace, thank you so much. It
Speaker:was really cool to talk about this. I
Speaker:know I don't get the chance to talk about
Speaker:it often, so I really talked a ton, but I
Speaker:had a great time. Thank you so much. I
Speaker:appreciate it. I appreciate you sharing
Speaker:everything that you have. Thank you so
Speaker:much. Hey there, Grace here.
Speaker:I hope you enjoyed today's episode and
Speaker:gained some useful takeaways. Thank you
Speaker:so much for listening and staying until
Speaker:the end. Don't forget to rate the show or
Speaker:share it with some friends. Have a
Speaker:wonderful week. Take care and remember,
Speaker:be bold, be curious, be ready to tell
Speaker:your story. You never know who needs it.
Speaker:Bye bye.
