In 2018 he arrived in Santiago after travelling the Camino Primitivo. Before he had walked almost all the routes: twice the Portuguese Central Way from Valença, also the Camino de Fisterra-Muxía, the Camino Inglés, the Camino Francés from O Cebreiro,; the Vía de la Plata from Chaves and the North Road from Ribadeo.
He belonged to the Associação dos Escoteiros de Portugal (Boy Scouts). He defines himself as a scout and believes that being a scout and doing the Camino are very similar things and thus it is very easy for a scout to finish the Camino. In his case it happened in the year 2010. After having seen the movie “The Way” he realized that this was something he had to do. He said to himself he had to do it, so bought everything he needed-backpack, boots, etc.-and went on the Camino.
On his first Way he enjoyed above all the contact with nature, the moments of introspection and the way of life of the Way: its cosmopolitan character, the hostels. He liked everything. After so many ways and experiences, he continues to value the same things, those are the ones that have made him come back.
In all his ways he has gone accompanied. He started with his wife twice, with friends, small groups, with his son … But those who do the Camino with him are always people who know him and know that he also likes to walk alone, that he will often go a little further back or well ahead of them, they know that the possibility of introspection offered by the Way is important to him. Then, once in the hostel, in the villages, he likes to be with others, eat and chat with them.
He also made a pilgrimage to Fatima, walked 250 kilometers in 5 days, but the experience did not appeal him as much as the Camino de Santiago. He believes that it is something very different, it is more a procession than a pilgrimage, something to do in a group and with a strong religious component, but above all, the difference is that everything is very structured and that almost the whole route is by road .
The Camino de Santiago is another thing, because it offers everyone the chance to find their own way of pilgrimage, the one that is best: you choose if you want to walk alone and contemplate nature, or you prefer to go at a slower or faster pace.
Now you program your ways little. At the beginning he did, on his first and second Camino he programmed everything: the kilometers he would travel, the places he would sleep in … Now he feels freer, calmer, relaxed. All he asks is that in the place where he will sleep, there will be food available, that it is not an isolated shelter in a place where it would be impossible to find food, everything else is unimportant. Of course, it often tries to avoid the main towns, especially on the French Way, because they are too commercial.
Arlindo is also committed to the Camino from the association, belongs to a Portuguese association of pilgrims -Via Lusitana- with which participates in the maintenance, signaling and dissemination of the Portuguese Way. For what he knows of his companions, friends and, above all, by his own experience, he believes that whoever does the Camino once always returns.
