Beth Jusino - Walking to the End of the World: A Thousand Miles on the Camino De Santiago

Beth Jusino doesnt pull any punches in her vivid and engaging account of the pilgrimage she and her husband made, but happily she also shares with us her small victories and the many lessons she learns about herself, her marriage, and just plain life. Perhaps most universal of those lessons is contained in her Santiago Moment near the end of the book: gratitude!

Kevin A. Codd, author of To the Field of Stars

Sprinkled with self-deprecating humor and life insights, Walking to the End of World recounts a host of colorful characters, drawing readers into the daily trials and triumphs of a challenging yet meaningful journey and break from ordinary life.

Anna Dintaman Landis, author of Camino Francs: Village to Village Guide

An enchanting tale of faith, friendship, and pushing your own limits. Im probably never going to hike the Camino (who am I kidding? Im definitely not), but Jusinos book had me looking up flights. She may be a novice pilgrim, but she is a master storyteller.

Geraldine DeRuiter, author of All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft

Beth Jusino has captured the essence of this ancient pilgrimage, which inspires the reader with detail, wit, and spot-on accounts of what its really like to walk the Camino de Santiago.

Gabriel Schirm, author of Sunrises to Santiago: Searching for Purpose on the Camino de Santiago

This wholly fresh story enchanted me with the cultures, people, chapels, and landscape. Despite the rigors of the Way, Jusino invites us to relish the rhythm of walking and delight in convivial evenings with other pilgrims over free-flowing wine and local food. With the depth of hard-won wisdom, she asks at the end Who had I become?

Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail

This charming tale is infused with wry, self-deprecating humor and vivid descriptions of people and places that carry you along the 1000-mile trek as though you are there too.

Wendy Hinman, author of Sea Trials and Tightwads on the Loose

Walking to the End of the World keeps us turning its pagesan elegant story woven in the seasoned voice of writer Beth Jusino, who shares great insight into her own strengths and weaknesses, relationships of all sorts, and a world view wed all do well to consider. Among Camino memoirs this book takes its place in the top tier.

Steve Watkins, Author of Pilgrim Strong: Rewriting My Story on the Way of St. James

A THOUSAND MILES ON
THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

MOUNTAINEERS BOOKS is the publishing division of The Mountaineers, an organization founded in 1906 and dedicated to the exploration, preservation, and enjoyment of outdoor and wilderness areas.

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201 Seattle, WA 98134

800.553.4453 www.mountaineersbooks.org

Copyright 2018 by Beth Jusino

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Distributed in the United Kingdom by Cordee, www.cordee.co.uk

21 20 19 181 2 3 4 5

Copyeditor: Amy Smith Bell

Design and layout: Heidi Smets Graphic Design

Cartographer: Lohnes+Wright

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jusino, Beth, author.

Title: Walking to the end of the world : a thousand miles on the Camino de Santiago / by Beth Jusino.

Description: Seattle, WA : Mountaineers Books, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018007474| ISBN 9781680512038 (trade paper) | ISBN 9781680512045 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Jusino, BethTravelCamino de Santiago de Compostela. | Camino de Santiago de Compostela. | Spain, NorthernDescription and travel. | France, SouthernDescription and travel. | Christian pilgrims and pilgrimagesSpainSantiago de Compostela.

Classification: LCC DP285 .J87 2018 | DDC 914.4/8048412dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007474

Mountaineers Books titles may be purchased for corporate, educational, or other promotional sales, and our authors are available for a wide range of events. For information on special discounts or booking an author, contact our customer service at 800-553-4453 or .

Printed on recycled paper

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-68051-203-8

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-68051-204-5

For Eric, of course

I climbed the narrow stairs to the upper level of the train, my backpack strapped over my shoulders, a bag of sandwiches clutched in my hand, and my husband a few steps behind me. The car was empty as I settled into a forward-facing seat, feeling smug. Everything was going exactly as planned.

Eric and I had flown from Seattle to Paris the day before, breezing through a predawn customs interview during a layover in Iceland. We easily found the high-speed train that took our jet-lagged bodies directly from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Lyon, bypassing the confusion of downtown Paris. Following a map Id printed at home, we navigated a few blocks to our Airbnb room in a private apartment, chatted with our English-speaking host, and found an open restaurant for dinner even though it was a holiday. (I didnt know that the Monday after Easter is considered a holiday in Francebut then, as far as I can tell, so are most Mondays and quite a few Tuesdays.)

The next morning Eric and I wandered through Lyons famous Les Halles market and indulged in our first cafs and pain au chocolat. We strolled along the Rhne River and were back at the station with an hour to spare before our local train departed for the two-hour ride southwest to Le Puy. So far, so good.

The monitors said that the train was on time, so I gathered my courage and stood in a food stand line to acquire, through pointing and a helpless look, jambon and Brie sandwiches for the road.

When the train doors opened, we were on the platform and ready to board. A man climbed into the train car right behind us. He was tall, almost gaunt, all angles and with what Eric would later describe as an epic French nose. He, too, was carrying a backpack. Eyeing our practical shoes and bulging packs, the man rattled off a string of syllables that sounded like a question.

My stomach tightened, and I responded with the sentence Id practiced all morning: Je ne parle pas franais (I do not speak French).

After months of sporadic online lessons, the only other sentence I felt confident with was