2026 Ida B Wells Spain Cultural Journey

Blog 9

June 29th

Day 3 of the Camino

Today marked the final day of our journey on El Camino Santiago Primitivo. Like yesterday, we had a 12-mile hike ahead of us with heat and heavy sun rays on the forecast later in the afternoon. After a filling breakfast, we headed out to hopefully reach our destination of the Cathedral de Santiago before the heat fried us. I walked with Mia, and together, through blisters, back pain, and hip pain, we climbed hills and hiked those 12 miles holding hands to the finish.

Whether I was behind or she was struggling on a hill, we supported each other through the entire journey. Seeing the Cathedral in person was a different experience. All of us were sweaty and ready for an afternoon nap, but the accomplishment of such a goal kept us all standing and happy until we could take our couple of hours break in the hotel. My roommates and I were so grateful for the hotel room being ready and the several-hour break that followed.

Once well rested, we went back to the cathedral, where some stayed for Mass, and others went to see the Portico of Glory. Afterwards, we had an amazing dinner in a restaurant close by (thank god). There were many great dishes, but the highlight was a giant steak brought out near the end. Me and I ended the night with happy smiles and 1 and a half steaks devoured.

The night ended with Gelato and a nice night walk back to the hotel, where we could see the beautiful full moon congratulating us for finishing the day.

– Emma Lopez

Blog 8

June 28th
Day 2 of the Camino

Today we started our second day on the Camino. We woke up bright and early in the morning, meeting at our breakfast spot where we drank hot chocolate, coffee, and ate cake, bread, ham, and cheese. After breakfast, we had a little meeting about our goals for the hike, and we got our lunches as well. Right after we left and started our 20km hike, leaving the little town of Arzúa behind. The hike started off strong with lots of confidence. The trail at first was flat with some little hills, which were rough but not too bad since the day before we had more hills.

Around 12, most of us chose to stop and have lunch, but then one person got up to continue walking, and then the rest all decided to keep walking as well. That was quite rough because it meant we got a short little break, and I think that short little break caught up to some people later in the trail (at least it caught up to me). Sometimes I had to stop because my feet and my knee were killing me, but I had to suck it up and continue.

A couple of miles later, it started to drizzle, and that’s when we got some motivation to keep going and finish our second part of the hike so we could rest and have a relaxing afternoon. When we arrived in our little town, Operduoso, everything was closed, so it meant we couldn’t get anything to cure our wounds, so we had no choice but to go straight to our hostel.

Lots of us took showers and naps. But my group seemed to be very tired after our hike because we ended up waking up 10 minutes before we had to meet everyone else at the park. Somehow we managed to get there only three minutes late. After we had our little meeting, we got to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The Mexican food was different; it wasn’t like my parents’ food from their restaurant, and that made me realize how much I missed them and their cooking. Lots of people got burgers and burritos, but like I said, very different, more like Tex-Mex style.

After dinner, we all met up by our hostel, and our amazing guide Hilary had a kit to cure our blisters. She pulled out a needle, and we each took turns with what we called the community needle to pop our blisters. After that, we all went to bed and enjoyed a night’s rest for the next day.

– Catalina Tapia

Blog 7

June 27th

Day 1 of the Camino

Today marks the official start of our journey along the well-known Camino de Santiago. We started in the town of Melide, in Northwestern Spain. We started our walk at around 10 am and walked about 9 miles to eventually arrive in Arzúa. Today’s walk was mainly shaded, with the exception of some open areas, which will be expecting more of as the walk goes on. Throughout the walk, we quickly learned and exchanged the phrase “Buen Camino” with other travelers along the route.

Along the way, we passed through little villages, traveling through eucalyptus forests, walking along farmland, and seeing all kinds of farm animals. Each person went at their own pace, which made it convenient, as many wanted to have the individual freedom to enjoy it the way they wanted.

This section of the trip has been long-awaited and, for me, what I’ve been most excited for. It’s a very remarkable journey. For many, it’s a journey that is meant to help you find yourself and your life’s purpose. For that reason, it excites me the most. This first section had very beautiful scenery and was a great way to start and get the first taste of what we will be doing for the next 2 days. We all arrived around 2 pm here in Arúza, and we all took it easy for an hour or two before we headed to dinner.

We walked to a nearby restaurant where we enjoyed another typical Spanish dinner. Afterwards, a few people walked up the street to witness a town festival before heading to bed to get some much-needed rest for Day 2 the next day.

– Sam Stevens

Blog 6

June 26th

We started the day off strong with a trip to a beautiful little fisherman’s town. We walked the streets exploring colorful houses, and I finally found some of the jellies I’ve been looking for. Then we took a trip to a beautiful beach with a fast-approaching high tide. My two friends and I spent our time jumping the waves that were usually as tall as I am, while I ran towards them as fast as I could to try and jump before they crashed onto me. (They both had a lot of fun laughing at my running. Later that day, still slightly moist from the salty sea water, we came to the town of Lugo. We explored an ancient Roman wall and went shopping for dresses and trinkets.

Finally, we ended the day with apprehension for tomorrow, the very first day of our three-day pilgrimage on the El Camino.

– Mia Bierschank

Blog 5

June 25th

Our last day in Gijón was so much fun; we started the day with a walk to the local surf shop. We (eventually) got into our wetsuits (soooo comfortable:) and walked down to the beach with our boards. The waves were a bit small, but everyone still had a lot of fun. Particularly Olsen, he enjoyed “watching us fall”. After that, we had some free time to explore more of the city; it’s beautiful and right by the beach with a castle on the waterfront. I appreciate how they let us go to a free lunch to see the different areas.

That evening. We had the best meal of the trip, in my opinion. The fish tacos were amazing, and the salad and calamari were bomb! After dinner, the sunset over the Bay of Biscay was beautiful, and the temperature was perfect for exploring the city.

This was our last day in Gijón, and it was very well spent.

– Sidney Carson

Blog 4

June 24th

Today we woke up in Cangas de Onís in Hotel Granda.  There was the option to sleep in because this hotel had a later breakfast than the others, but no one did.  A few groups slept in, but some went and shopped around the town, and others walked down to the river and had a morning swim while jumping off the Roman bridge above the water. I had never jumped off of something big like that before, so getting to do that was exciting and something I won’t forget. We took a bus ride to our new hotel in Gijon and got sent off by ourselves for lunch out in the city. Allowing us to go out on our own is fun because it feels like we are there alone and get to hunt down good spots for food.

After lunch, we still had time to walk around.  We looked up these vintage shops to go and get some new clothes. We gathered the group back up and made our way down to the beach.  We spent the afternoon at a beautiful beach that was packed with people. It felt nice to experience a beach so different from the coast we are used to at home.

The Cantabrian Sea was super warm and salty enough to float without trying. While there, we experienced a few cultural differences, but had a great day in the sun, water, and digging in the sand. We then finished off the day with a delicious dinner in the new city and went to bed ready to get back out on the water to surf in the morning.

– Cash Janssen

Blog 3

June 23rd

We arrived in Cangas de Onís at midday. It was a small town, only around an hour and a half from the nearest city. The town was amazing, and the Rio Sella traversed through the outskirts of the town. We quickly got to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and went straight to hike the Picos de Europa. The scenery/view was amazing.  The mountains looked as if they were on top of other mountains. Two lakes resided where we were hiking, and we hiked around one of them, Lago La Ercina. It was beautiful. While walking around the path that went around the lake were these very old huts or houses built of stone, and I thought that was very cool to see.

Also, while walking around, there were multiple cows, which was cool. After the hike, we went to the river located in Cangas de Onís. The water was cold, yet it was really nice to cool down since it was around 90ish degrees. At the river, we saw locals jumping off 15-20ish ft rocks/bridge ledge. Personally, I thought it was slightly terrifying since I had never jumped off something that high, but I had the help of a friend who explained how I should land in the water, and I was able to jump off 3-4 times. Those few times jumping gave me an adrenaline pump that I loved, and when I went back up to jump, I had some fear, but did it anyway, and was extremely happy I did it.

Later that night, we went to dinner, and the food was something new that I hadn’t experienced before. They brought out different types of Asturian cheeses, and each tasted different. Some were really good, and others were okay or odd-tasting. We received bread, and it tasted way better, probably because of how fresh it was. Other foods we had were meatballs (I liked that quite a bit, so I ate some of those), octopus (first time eating octopus cooked the way it was, it was definitely different and was somewhat thrown off, not in a bad way), these sort of fried cheese balls (2nd best thing I had eaten there, so I ate a few of those).

At the end of the night, we got some ice cream, definitely way more delicious and flavorful than back in the States. Walking around that town was very nice at the end of the night. To me I felt like if I were to live there, I wouldn’t even need a car. Everything was walkable, with cafes and restaurants around every corner. Houses were close together, and I liked that sense of community. This was one of the best days for me, and I definitely won’t forget the heat here.

– Ivan Tapia

Blog 2

June 22nd

Today we got to sleep in a little bit and have a very nice breakfast at the hotel in Oviedo. We drove about 35 minutes, I’d say, to Arriondas where we went kayaking on the Sella River for about 17 km, and it was very fun and pretty tiring. We got to take a nice lunch break and swim in the river. There were a bunch of bottom-feeding whitefish that were 10-24 inches, I would say. The trip took us about 5 hours, and we got on the bus to go back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.

The dinner was pretty good, and the vibe of the restaurant and layout was nice. The servers took us through a traditional Asturias (nonalcoholic) sidra pouring. The drink was actually really enjoyable; it tasted like a citrusy white wine.

After dinner, we walked around the city for a while, enjoyed the nightlife of the city, had some gelato, then went to bed for a good night’s sleep.

– Charlie

Blog 1

June 21st

Hello Everyone!

We have officially made it to España! Yesterday was a BIG travel day—we did not arrive until 3 pm Saturday and we were pretty jetlagged. We met our lovely in-country guide, Hilary, who is a total travel expert, and dropped our luggage at the hotel in Madrid. Despite the fatigue, we rallied and explored La Plaza del Sol, which was a central shopping and dining area of Madrid. After this, we had an amazing dinner at a local Spanish restaurant.

After many hours of airplane food, most of us described this dinner as “The best we’ve ever had.” We had our first tastes of true Spanish Paella, along with Garlic Shrimp, Burrata Salad, an amazing spread of cheese and meats, and to finish it off, the best chocolate cake and blueberry cheesecake ever. It was truly spectacular. Here in Madrid, the temperature is hitting 100, so we are spending as much time in the shade as possible.

This morning we visited a super cool museum called El Museo de Reina Sofía where we saw the famous Picasso painting “Guernica,” along with hundreds of other beautiful works of art. After our time in the museum, we went out to lunch for some more traditional Spanish tapas. After lunch, we spent many hours at a local pool, which was the perfect way to cool off. Around 5, we left the pool and headed towards the airport, where we are ready to catch our flight to Oviedo! Our group is quickly starting to feel like a travel family, and we are all looking forward to kayaking tomorrow!

– Mia