Back to Santiago, this time on the 800km Portuguese pilgrimage route from Lisbon to Santiago.
How to travel the world deeply, reflecting on yourself and life through the vivid experience of walking tours.

In this contactless era, people who can't leave their homes find joy in walking and traveling through books.
Author Jaehee Park, who introduced the Camino de Santiago in “40 Days of Comfort in Santiago,” walked the 675km Camino de Santiago from Lisbon to Santiago and the 120km Camino de Santiago to Muxia this time.
In particular, the coastal path along Portugal overlooking the Atlantic Ocean is so beautiful that you can't help but exclaim in awe.
"Santiago Again" contains vivid stories of the landscapes, people, wine, and food gleaned from walking the 800km Portuguese pilgrimage route.
This journey is enough to satisfy the interest and romance of the Portuguese Way, which has recently emerged as a popular route among the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela that many people wish to walk at least once.
Through this fun, humorous, and sometimes touching story of the road, where a drama unfolds with twists and turns every day, readers will feel empathy and comfort as if they are walking the pilgrimage together.
Moreover, it will provide readers who seriously contemplate the question, “Who am I?” with the fun of travel and depth of thought.

I said I would live my life true to myself, but as I grew older and became an adult, I became more confused about what kind of person I wanted to be.
I was running in a group of runners who didn't know when or who started, and I was always out of breath.
No matter how much I ran, there were always people faster than me.
On a day when the sky was dwindling and yellow, why was I running when I didn't want to run faster or be at the front? To answer that question, instead of pushing myself harder that day, I stopped.


I needed to take a moment in my life to face myself head on, without avoiding or turning away.
I believed that in order to meet and know me, I had to first go to a dimension where my mind was completely free, a dimension where I was literally naked.
I thought that even if I walked hundreds or thousands of kilometers, I wouldn't be able to change the essence of a person, but I thought that I might be able to meet myself at the deepest level and literally live a life with a completely different meaning than before.


Kindness is powerful.
Even one small act of kindness can make a world of difference.


“Don’t cry.
It's not like it was burned to ashes.
“I’m sure someone else will use it well.”
Those words have become my words of comfort and a spell to shake things off from my heart.

“Child, please use that money wisely.
I hope you and your family are doing well and not going hungry.
I sincerely hope that you will become a person who does not take what belongs to others by force, and who does not need to do so.
I'll pray for you sometimes while you walk through Portugal.
“I hope you become a good adult who doesn’t steal or take other people’s things.”

Fate disguises itself as coincidence and intrudes into our lives.
A line from the book that sparked a yearning I hadn't known existed: "When we return to a specific place in life we ​​left behind, our journey toward ourselves begins." That line called me to Lisbon.

Grandma suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me to her apron.
It's a surprise.
There were many wrinkles around my grandmother's mouth as she looked at me, flustered, as I grabbed her hand in an instant.
The grandmother gave me a deep, affectionate greeting, then gave me a peach.
Grandma's eyes and hands were warm, and at that moment, a cool breeze blew from somewhere.

As I was crossing the incredibly boring industrial area under the boiling sky, I thought I might collapse from heatstroke, but then Henk appeared.
He had a cool smile even under the blazing sun, and as if it were a lie, he handed me some ice water in his cooler.
I had forgotten.
The fact that there are angels on the Camino!

Tourists need many things, but pilgrims only need the ability to be unconditionally grateful.

After spending my first week walking around Portugal, I realized that the three most abundant things in this land are dogs, poop, and flowers.
It will appear and be engraved in your memory without you having to try, but you can choose what to focus on.
I decided to focus on flowers.
Because if you keep it in your mind, you will see it.
There is no other way to see flowers than to hold them in your heart, and there is no other way to walk on a flower path than to see flowers.

“Elka, you don’t have to walk.
This is your path.
“It’s your choice whether to walk or not.”
Telling someone who is having a hard time to cheer up may not be comforting, but rather violence.
When Elena took her side, saying that there was no need to cheer up instead of telling her to cheer up, Elka burst into tears and let her heart out.

The sunset that day was like a picture of fire setting the wet sky on fire.
Maybe it was the beautiful sunset or the wine we shared, but I think it's a gift from the pilgrimage.
I can't explain how it comes about, but as people walk this path, they find the softness of their hearts that they had lost.
It's the feeling of getting wet together with a friend who is getting wet, the feeling of willingly going into the rain and getting wet together instead of holding an umbrella.


A heart that can pray for others, for loved ones.
Isn't this the miracle the Virgin Mary wanted to bestow upon humanity? The greatest and most beautiful miracle would be the heart of people kneeling, praying, and lighting candles for others, for greater love.


I was glad to meet people who believed that searching for a lost cat was more important than going to school.
As Jean-Pierre said, Coimbra was just there.
I must not forget that it doesn't have to be today.
It was a really good day, with plans going awry, getting lost, and getting lost.

"Did I save you today? Then, someday, please save someone too."

The road tells us that there are good days and hard days, and that even when things seem hopeless, there will come a day when we become incredibly happy.
Even those who say the world has become too cruel and harsh, as they continually meet people who are kind without calculation or ulterior motives, begin to believe in things they never expected from the world.
We walk through and encounter miracles and mysteries unfolding through people.

Of all the blessings I have received from walking hundreds of kilometers as a pilgrim, the one I am most grateful for is the ability to discover the beauty in the small and insignificant things in the world.
It could not be said that the corn or autumn peppers growing in the unclaimed fields by the roadside were less beautiful than the gorgeous roses.
The tiny lives that barely managed to bloom in the cracks between the pavement blocks, blooming with all their might, are greater and more magnificent than any other being.
Even though it is a life called a weed, I received the heart of walking on tiptoe, holding my breath so as not to step on the grass, as a gift on the road.


'Why do you walk this path?' 'What meaning do you seek?'
'I walk this path because walking makes me happy.'

Moments like this, where I feel 'complete here and now,' often come to me on my pilgrimage.
Why do so many who have walked the Camino de Santiago want to revisit it, endure the hardships of life, carry heavy loads, and live as shabby, semi-homeless people? There are many reasons, but these moments are a prime example.
To exist in the vivid, ever-present present moment, completely free from the need to consider anything else, unaware of anyone else.
Immersion allows you to feel the complete moment.


Predicting the future, which has not yet been determined, is not only impossible, but also unnecessary and meaningless.
We're already overflowing with the wonder and joy right before our eyes, so why bother anticipating what hasn't even arrived yet? Life will flow in an unpredictable direction, and it's already filled with mystery.


“I realized that I didn’t need to be so conscious of what other people thought.
Living like this here is all a matter of personal choice.
I won't blame myself if something goes wrong.
I decided to just do what I wanted to do without worrying about the outcome.
“I think life is something where you can’t even know what’s going to happen a day ahead.”

I believe that enlightenment is like a callus that develops from countless mistakes and repetitions of trivialities.

If the suffering experienced during a pilgrimage can be praised, it is because it allows us to understand the pain of those who suffer.
Pain was not something to be overcome, but rather endured.
A pilgrim who must go through suffering.
In fact, we who live in this world are all pilgrims.

“I felt like if I put it off, I would never be able to come.
Right? If not now, there's no later."

Now, wherever I walk, whether I walk or not, I know that pilgrimage is simply living.
Living each day to its fullest, enjoying the joys of each moment, I know that such trivial and sometimes tiring daily life is no different from a pilgrimage.

There are countless clues hidden in the world that cannot be seen with the eyes.
I've learned that all things beautiful and truly important take time to achieve, and that precious things are never found on the fast track.

--- From the text