On my last day in the blue city I woke up early to head into the Medina with my film camera. While capturing a photo, a group of 3 teenage boys approached me asking for a photo. One of them spoke to me in English, but the language barrier was evident. They asked me where I was from and if I spoke Arabic or French. Unfortunately I do not, so I was not able to communicate as much as I would have liked. At first I was a bit hesitant to take a photo when they had asked for one. When traveling, you’re often told not to talk to strangers, to be careful with people ask you for things, and to always have your guard up. This advice should not be completely ignored, it is important to always be prudent, but I have found that at times this has stopped me from connecting with others when I travel. After a few seconds of adjusting my camera settings and capturing a portrait of two of the boys, they asked to see the photo. The photo was captured on my Canon AE-1 film camera, so there was no way I could show it to them, and explaining this through the language barrier proved to be quite a challenge. While I do not think they completely understood, I got a phone number to send the photo to once it got developed. As I said goodbye and was walking away, they shouted over to get my attention before I left. As I walked back towards them, they kept saying sorry trying to apologize and shook my hand. “An apology?” I thought to myself, really I should have been thanking them for this experience. This interaction helped teach me that even where language barriers are present, it is worth taking the time to talk to strangers.
Hassan
When I first met Hassan in Chefchaouen, he introduced himself as artist. Hassan runs a store in The Blue City, named Hassan’s Shop, where he sells handmade bracelets and wool products such as blankets and scarves. Hassan speaks 9 languages which has helped him connect with people from all over the world. Throughout our conversation, Hassan repeatedly used the famous phrase:
“Don’t worry, be happy.”
Abdou
Abdou was my tour guide during my visit to Aït Ben Haddou. The ancient city has had a long history in film and television, hosting titles such as Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Game Of Thrones, and Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, The Odyssey. Abdou was featured as an extra in Game Of Thrones and said it is common for residents of the village to be featured in the content being shot in the city. He told us that cinema makes up roughly 30% of the city’s economy, with the other 60% being tourism and the last 10% being agriculture with crops such as beans, olives, pomegranates, dates, and olives. I asked Abdou what his favorite part of his job was and he replied saying “everything.” When exploring a little further, he opened up saying he enjoys meeting new people and exchanging information and cultural practices, as well as learning languages, which he knows 7 of. Abdou had a clear passion for his home city and was a phenomenal guide during my visit, I am thankful I had the chances to learn more about Moroccan culture from him.
Drago
The name Drago means "precious" in Slovenian, and my interaction with Drago was certainly precious to me. Born and raised in Slovenia, Drago made sure to note that his country's best and most notable export is Luka Doncic. Our conversation took place right around the start of the 2023 NBA Finals, and Drago was happy that Luka was representing his country well. He is from the city Ljubljana, the hometown of Goran Dragic, who I am quite familiar with as a Miami Heat fan. This was Drago's fifth time walking El Camino de Santiago. His first time on the pilgrimage he was looking for understanding in his life, but Drago now compares the walk to Thanksgiving, using it as an opportunity to reflect on all that he is thankful for in life. His goal is to promote El Camino de Santiago by sharing his story to allow others to share the same benefit he has gotten from the pilgrimage.
Ivan
Although he did not speak much English, I really appreciated my brief interaction with Ivan. Through his 82 years of life, Ivan has walked El Camino de Santiago over 10 times across various different routes. He was drying some clothing by hanging it off his backpack, but he made sure to lift the long cape formed by this jacket to reveal a map of the route he is most proud of. Ivan walked El Camino from Split, Croatia all the way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Drago posted this video to his Youtube channel about his friend Ivan's journey. Ivan also wrote a bookon his journey titled Camino de Santiago: the pilgrimage of Saint James - Lecevica - Santiago de Compostela by Ivan Kapetanovic.
Michael Jackson
When I met Michael Jackson on El Camino I asked him what he wanted to be known for. After a minute or two of thinking, he said "a homesteader." He is a sustainable farmer from Australia that lives off the land. I could imagine he gets excited when people ask for his name.
Joe
New Zealand. I met Joe as she was stopped resting on the side of the Camino trail with Juraj (featured down below) and she volunteered to have her portrait captured. Joe encouraged me to not be shy when asking for portraits, which was both comforting and motivating. We talked about how that day was my last day on El Camino, as I was starting an internship with the NFL back in LA in just a few days. Joe said she had recently started following the NFL and is a fan of Travis Kelce.
Joe
Meet Joe from New Zealand, who was doing El Camino with her friend, Joe from New Zealand (featured above). She is a photographer and we shared some nice moments talking about our cameras, exchanging portraits, and talking about our experience capturing photos on El Camino. It was a nice bonding experience talking about our shared love for photography.
Juraj
A few days before I met Juraj, I saw him and his beer bucket hat through a restaurant window. It caught my eye, so when I saw him hiking in front of me a few days later, I knew I had to capture a portrait of him. He decided to take off the hat for the first portrait but later put it back on and wanted to capture a silly photo. This was Juraj's 2nd time doing this route of El Camino and his favorite moment of the pilgrimage was singing with a few nuns one night after dinner.
