Camino de Santiago | Day 14

Hornillos del Camino – Castrojeriz

12.68 | 211.14 miles

+1,005 |-1,046 feet

“Would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you?” – Nayyirah Waheed

This is a poem by Nayyirah Waheed. I often think about it when I travel. The context wasn’t about not taking pictures or using your phone. Rather, it is a question of how we view others. Are they simply the object of our gaze? When we travel as tourists, do we allow a new culture and people to change us? Do we seek to learn or check a box? Do we assume we can go or are we invited?

I like to take pictures because they help me remember. I also take them because they allow me to share another place, culture, people with others that might not be able to experience it. However, I especially am careful when including people in my photographs.

As I reflect on Waheed’s poetry, and this poem in particular, it confronts my privilege and how I view the full humanity of others. I share these pictures of my day as an invitation to make our community a little bigger than our own neighborhood. May we see God’s love and presence of all people in all lands.

Buen Camino