Welcome to La Concha!
Here you can find the latest and past issues of La Concha, a publication of American Pilgrims on the Camino. We plan each issue around a specific theme and invite our members to share their stories, reflections, poetry, photography, artwork, or other original creative works that intersect with that theme. Content is organized into regular sections including American Pilgrims News, Camino News, Hospitalero Corner, Pilgrims Way (reflections on the issue theme), Poetry, and Book & Film Reviews.
We notify our members via email when a new issue is released. If you are not yet a member and would like to receive La Concha updates, you can join here today.
Explore the Latest Issue of La Concha:
Winter 2026: Support & Solidarity
The Winter 2026 issue of La Concha, a magazine published by American Pilgrims on the Camino with news, pilgrim stories, poetry, and more on the theme of “Support & Solidarity.”
Find past themed issues of La Concha here.
Explore the Latest From La Concha
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Letter from the Chair – Winter 2026
Winter 2026 letter from American Pilgrims on the Camino Board Chair Rachel Ganzon plus a summary of the October 2025 meeting of the American Pilgrims Board of Directors. -
Chapter Happenings – Winter 2026
A Winter 2026 compilation of American Pilgrims on the Camino chapter happenings. -
Deepening Camino Knowledge & Connection at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Participants share their experiences in an inaugural program offered by the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela to American Pilgrims members. -
Letter From the Chair – Autumn 2025
Autumn 2025 letter from American Pilgrims on the Camino Board Chair Joe Curro plus a summary of the July 2025 meeting of the American Pilgrims Board of Directors.
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Exploring Changing Meanings of Pilgrimage at 2025 Annual Symposium for Pilgrimage Studies
A pilgrim reports on her experience attending the 2025 Annual Symposium for Pilgrimage Studies hosted by the Institute of Pilgrimage Studies on the William & Mary campus in Williamsburg, VA. Symposium sessions over a packed two days explored the changing meaning of pilgrimage, while also providing a chance to connect with fellow Camino and pilgrimage enthusiasts. She left the experience feeling well fed physically, mentally, and spiritually. -
When in Paris, Consider a Stop at La Tour Saint-Jacques
Whether you are starting a pilgrimage in Paris or just find yourself in the City of Light, consider a stop at the Tour Saint-Jacques, a stunning Camino-related monument now recognized as a starting point for the Camino de Santiago in France. -
Lay Your Burdens at the Camino de California Cruz de Ferro
As part of its mission to promote spiritual pilgrimage along California’s Mission Trail, the nonprofit Camino de California organization has dedicated a Cruz de Ferro at the historic Mission San Miguel Arcángel in San Luis Obispo County. This replica of the iconic iron cross, located at the highest point on the Camino Francés, offers a symbolic place for reflection and unburdening to those traversing the re-established Camino Real route. -
Camino de las Américas: Start Your Camino de Santiago in St. Augustine, FL
Pilgrims can officially start the Camino de Santiago in Florida. With their documented completion of the Camino de las Américas, they can receive 30 kilometers credit toward the minimum required 100 kilometers walked to qualify for a Compostela.
More Camino News here.
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New Spanish Federation Hospitalero Age Limits, Many Ways to Serve on Camino
The Federación Española de Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino (FEAACS) recently announced age limits for hospitalero volunteers in the albergues that FEAACS oversees. While these age restrictions will impact some volunteers, it doesn’t change who may register for the American Pilgrims hospitalero training program, and there are many other service opportunities on the Camino to also consider. -
A Fond Farewell to Two Hospitalero Trainers
American Pilgrims on the Camino bids a fond farewell to two dedicated hospitalero trainers. -
Support & Solidarity Two Ways
As a Ribadiso Welcome Service volunteer and as an hospitalera, a woman discovers that she gains as much as she gives by listening to pilgrims’ personal stories. -
Service Scrapbook – Winter 2026
A Winter 2026 compilation of highlights from those who have recently given their time in service on the Camino.
More stories from Hospitalero Corner here.
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What Makes a Pilgrim
A woman berates herself for not living up to the idea she had about what constitutes a “real” pilgrim. When she finally allows herself to accept help, she comes to understand what it means to be a pilgrim. -
The Vision to See Everyday Small Miracles
A husband and wife discover that the Camino fosters openness and generosity along with the space and pace to notice and appreciate simple, everyday acts of kindness as small miracles. -
The “Miracle” of Agés
A man develops a crippling limp on one side of his body that he believes has ended his Camino. Talking with fellow pilgrims over dinner, he learns the cause of and remedy for his affliction, giving him courage and hope to complete his Camino. -
The Last Deployment
As an F-14 pilot flying a mission over Lebanon in 1983 prays for courage, he promises to walk the Camino when his deployment ends. Still haunted by that promise four decades later, he finally makes the journey to Santiago de Compostela, carrying with him the weight of the 241 U.S servicemen killed in Beirut all those years before.
More stories from Pilgrims Way here.
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I Am Not Throwin‘ Away My Pack
In these song lyrics set to the rap rhythm of “My Shot” from Broadway’s Hamilton, Evan Massaro playfully highlights quintessential details—blisters, snoring, café con leche, tortilla española, cows, sideways rain, and more—that are a shorthand language of the Camino experience, fostering an “if you know, you know” sense of solidarity among fellow pilgrims. -
Confianza
Poet Suzanne Doerge writes of a pilgrim who begins her journey walled-off, distrusting. Injured along the way, she believes her journey would end there, returning home a failure. And then to her surprise, she meets angels who help restore her trust in others and herself. -
Camino de Despedida
A toast offered by one pilgrim to his Camino companions at a farewell dinner in Santiago de Compostela. -
Walking My Way Through Divorce
When her marriage unravels, Katherine January steps out on Camino, tucking into her backpack a small bundle of nylon cord her ex-husband kept stashed around the house. As she walks, she considers the ways she might use that string to solve problems on Camino, just as she, no longer tethered, must now improvise a new life.
More Poetry here.
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Film Review – Camino de Santiago: The Pilgrims Speak
A review of Camino de Santiago: The Pilgrims Speak, a documentary short film by Rich Henkels. Every pilgrim has a story to tell of their reasons for making a pilgrimage, and Henkels helps several pilgrims tell theirs, which range from spiritual and religious to recreation and personal growth. -
Book Review: Walking the Caminos
A distinctive Camino guide by Scottish husband-and-wife duo David and Debbie Mercer. Reviewer Jerald Stroebele, who has walked several lesser-traveled Camino routes himself, considers this book especially noteworthy for the 144 pages the authors dedicate to sharing practical information and personal insights on the 17 different Caminos routes they have walked. -
Book Review: The Way of the Wind
A review of The Way of the Wind, a memoir by John W. Pearson, a man walking the Camino Francés after suffering profound personal and physical loss. A geologist by profession, Pearson lends a scientist’s observant eye to his detailed descriptions of the human, natural, religious, cultural, and historical encounters of his journey, while managing to deliver them with humility and a touch of humor. Reviewer Jerald Stroebele regards Pearson’s story as “easy to read and hard to stop reading.” -
Book Review: A Rising Sun on the Scallop Shell
A review of A Rising Sun on the Scallop Shell, a memoir by Mike Guest, a Canadian-born, Japanese-enculturated man. This account of his interactions with his fellow pilgrims on the Camino Francés offers his unique perspective on intersecting cultural identities, modern Japan, and the experience of pilgrimage itself.
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Adding to Your Pack: A Photo & Video Collection
A collection of photos and a video that consider this issue’s theme, “Adding to Your Pack,” from various perspectives. -
Lightening Your Load: A Photo Collection
A collection of photos that consider this issue’s theme, “Lightening Your Load,” from various perspectives. -
Castles, Climate & Creative Alchemy
Ancient castles, fortresses, and churches spark Martin Peña’s creativity in this photo essay exploring the meanings he has drawn from his Camino experiences. -
Art as a Personal Journey
Pamela Paine shares how engaging in the arts allowed her to better process her feelings from the Camino.
More in Gallery here.
For our La Concha archives from 2023 (and earlier), please visit our archive page.
2026 La Concha Themes
The Annual Gathering of Pilgrims marks an unofficial start to a new pilgrimage year. The theme for the 2026 Gathering of Pilgrims planned for April 9-12 seeks to listen for “Echoes from the Camino: The Gifts We Carry. The Gifts We Share.”
The 2026 Gathering theme considers elements of the Hero’s Journey-the archetypal story structure famously identified by mythologist Joseph Campbell and told in countless works across literature, film, and song. This theme invites us to reflect on the gifts that summon us to journey, the gifts that serve as waymarkers, and the gifts that continue to shape us and reach others long after we return home.
We have drawn on the Gathering’s overarching and supporting themes to form a cohesive set of quarterly topics to guide a year of shared reflections, poetry, and imagery in La Concha. We invite you to think about how your pilgrim experiences, creative works, scholarship, and insights intersect with these themes La Concha will explore in upcoming seasons:
- Parting Gifts (Spring 2026) – When your call to the Camino came, did it tickle like a feather or strike like a sledgehammer? Did the germ of your journey take root with a changing season of life, or did it sprout suddenly from the ashes of a metaphorical wildfire? In a moment of fear or doubt, did someone offer you a token of encouragement to send you off on your quest? In this issue, we unpack not the necessities we carried, but the gifts-tangible or intangible, delightful or surprising-that helped us step over the threshold from our everyday into the foreign territory of pilgrimage.
- Hidden Arrows (Summer 2026) – What trials did you face or obstacles did you navigate along the way that were blessings in disguise? Did they offer vital lessons in adaptability, resourcefulness, assertiveness, surrender, compassion, or humility? Was there a friend or foe, a place that felt dark or dangerous, or specific ordeal that provided a moment of clarity, sudden insight, or sense of direction? In this issue, we’ll map the unexpected yellow arrows-the people, places, and points in time-that guided us and became defining features of our journey.
- Buried Treasures (Autumn 2026) – As you trod your path, what seed of potential did you unearth? What inner resource did you tap into, what latent gift did you rediscover, or what forgotten part of yourself did you remember? Did you find it in a creative act-journaling or writing poetry; sketching or painting; singing or playing music? Did you discover it through an act of service-providing aid to a fellow pilgrim, preparing a communal meal, experiencing traditional Camino hospitality? Or did you receive joy, feel a sense of deep peace, and experience oneness through the act of walking and living simply? This issue celebrates the ways we listened to our hearts, followed our truths, and found our bliss.
- Enduring Gifts (Winter 2027) – At journey’s end, the hero returns to their ordinary world carrying the “elixir,” a magic potion of wisdom and power gained through their odyssey. They return with something they didn’t start with and share it with their community. The story of getting the treasure is the treasure. This issue explores the ways we bring the magical elixir of our pilgrimage back to our lives and communities, each offering an echo of the Camino-an outward ripple that touches others far beyond the trail.
We invite American Pilgrims members to share their pilgrim experiences and insights on these themes over the coming year. Watch your email for our call for submissions and associated deadlines for each La Concha issue. If you would like to submit materials and are not yet an American Pilgrims member, learn more at americanpilgrims.org/membership.
Your original creative contributions may take the form of:
- Personal accounts, reflections, and essays
- Poetry
- Artwork
- Photography
Please limit written works to 400 words maximum.
Submissions to the Spring 2026 issue close March 28.
Access the LA CONCHA SUBMISSION FORM for complete submission guidelines and to submit your creative work. We include as many submissions as possible in each issue. We may defer some items to future issues.