We craft beautiful and unique Camino experiences.
“You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.”
– Anne-Wilson Schaef
My name is...
My name is Rebecca (Becky) Martinez, PhD and I am the founder and CEO of Camino Scholars. I am a former professor and anthropologist, who brings my skills from academia and as a long-time backpacker and hiker, to lead people on the Camino de Santiago.
When I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain at the age of twenty, I learned about the pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago. The Camino is actually made up of many walking routes and has a 1000-year-old history. All Camino paths lead to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, where believers visit what is thought to be the burial place of apostle St. James The Great. From the moment I learned about the Camino, I knew that someday I’d walk it. Over thirty years later, I realized my dream of walking a Camino, literally the day after my youngest child set off to college.
Since then I have walked a Camino every year. I walked this very first Camino on my own with nervousness, curiosity, and excitement guiding me. My research has taken me to Latin America, where I traveled and lived alone, but this Camino thing was different…I questioned whether I’d be able to do it. At my age, my knees and back sometimes ache. Is my pack too heavy? Am I fit enough? Will I get blisters? Will this happen or that happen? Maybe is the only answer we have to all of these questions; we just don’t know until we try. And letting ourselves be vulnerable enough to try is one of the biggest challenges we must confront. With hugs and a loving symbolic push from family and friends, off I went! Little did I know that not only would my body be challenged, but so
would my mind and spirit. Because sometimes we forget that the body and mind are connected.
My experiences walking Camino led to deep reflection and self-discovery, a physical and emotional journey that I want to share with others, so you, too, can set off on your own journey. I started my company to do just that. Why Camino Scholars? The word “scholar” isn’t just about classroom learning, the Ancient Greek origin, skholḗ, surprisingly, means free time, leisure to engage the mind, and “conversations and the knowledge gained through them during free time” (wiki). I think of scholars as life-long learners in conversation with others and oneself. The Camino is a wonderful way to learn the history of places walked, learn about people from different cultures and, most importantly, to learn about yourself!
