Kid Version -- Pilgrim

Hi guys!

I’d like to tell you about a trip I took a few weeks ago with a few of my friends. It was different from most of the other trips I’ve taken because it was a pilgrimage. You may have studied the Pilgrims in school. They were a group of people who wore funny hats and left England in the 1600s and came to what later became Massachusetts. The ship they sailed on became famous. Do you know what its name was?

Well, I didn’t sail to Massachusetts and I didn’t wear a funny hat, but on this trip, I became a pilgrim for a week. You’re a pilgrim when you go on a long journey to a place that is important to you. The journey is called a pilgrimage, and it is usually as exciting as actually getting to where you want to end up.

Four years ago, my friends Jasmine and Amanda and I went to a country in Europe called Spain. We spent a week walking on a trail called the Camino de Santiago. It’s very long and it ends in a city in western Spain called Santiago de Compostela. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have been traveling there to visit a cathedral that is important to lots of Christians. Jasmine, Amanda and I aren’t as interested in seeing the cathedral -- we’re more excited about all the places we get to see on the way there! The pilgrimage takes about two months if you walk the whole thing, and we had enough time to do only the first part, but we decided we’d come back and finish. A few weeks ago, Jasmine, Amanda and I all met in Spain where we’d stopped walking four years ago and we walked for another week or so along the Camino.

You might be thinking, Sarah Jackson, if you don’t care much about this city, why would you spend so much time walking toward it? Good question. There are lots of reasons why people make a pilgrimage, and the ending point, or destination, is only one of them. Here are some other reasons why we wanted to be pilgrims:

You get to meet new people: We weren’t the only pilgrims on the trail and along the way, we got to meet people of all different ages from places like Puerto Rico, Austria and Belgium. Do you know anyone from another country? Where is he or she from? We also got to meet Spanish people (and animals!) who lived in the towns we visited.

Some cows who said hello to us as we passed.

These horses (who have bangs!) posed when they realized I was taking their photo.


Some goats wanted to walk with us for a while.

Everyone we met was kind and wanted to help us if they could. They would show us how to get to the trail or would give us water. Can you remember a time when someone helped you?

We had to follow yellow arrows to know where the path was, but when we couldn't find any arrows, we got lost and had to ask people for help.

You get to see cool new things: Anytime you go somewhere, if you keep your eyes open, you will see something amazing that you’ve never seen before.

On this trip, I saw some flowers that looked kind of like bright red hedgehogs.

I also saw a thin line of light on the horizon.

What amazing things have you seen recently?


You get to see beautiful places: Northern Spain, where we were hiking, is one of the loveliest places I’ve ever seen. We were in big cities and tiny towns, in the mountains and along the beach.

A beautiful beach.

A beautiful valley.

A beautiful harbor.

A beautiful rock in a beautiful ocean.


A beautiful town.

A beautiful coastline.

Another beautiful town.

What is the most beautiful place you have seen (either in real life or in your imagination)?


You can spend time with friends: Most pilgrims travel with other people, at least for part of their journeys. I am lucky because I got to walk the Camino with two of my best friends.

Jasmine, Amanda and me.

As we walked, we had lots of time to talk and laugh and play. If you could spend a whole week with your closest friends, what would you want to do with them?

Our shadows as the sun rose.
That's right -- I got up VERY early and actually saw the sunrise.

You have time to think: I read a book about Albert Einstein recently. He was a very important thinker and he helped people understand the way the world works. The book said that Albert did his best thinking while he was taking long walks in the mountains. I’m the same way -- moving my body helps to shake up my thoughts. The great part about a long walk is that I can’t really do any of the other things like homework or chores that normally keep me from thinking my very best thoughts. Lots of the people who do the Camino are there because they need to make a big decision in their lives and they want time to think about it carefully. Where do you do your best thinking?


It was a great trip and I’m very thankful that I got to go. And the best part is that we didn’t finish the pilgrimage. This means that we’ll have to go back for more in another few years!

Have a good week!

Sarah Jackson