Tour Supporters

In October 2011, 17 pilgrims embarked on a 10-day walking tour of the Camino, sponsored by Judy Colaneri and Spanish Steps. This fundraiser was quite a success! The new pilgrims, hailing from different parts of the globe from California to South Africa, enjoyed morning meditations and spiritual exercises to get the most out of their Camino and walked more than they thought they ever could!

A Special Thanks to our 10-day Camino Tour contributors. If you are planning a trip to Spain, please consider supporting these organizations that truly embody the spirit of The Camino.

Gold Shell Supporters

Judy & Spanish Steps

The time and leadership donated by Judy Colaneri of Spanish Steps made the tour a success. With years of experience taking groups along the Camino de Santiago, walking tours exploring Spain, France and Italy as well as customized yoga and hiking trips, Judy’s expertise along the walk provided the group with irreplaceable knowledge and guidance throughout the journey.

Judy also runs a wonderful B&B in Asturias, Fuentes de Lucia, that is gorgeous, has great food, a yoga studio and great hiking right out the front door.

Pedro & Gomserbus

With our safety and comfort always a priority, Pedro of Gomserbus ensured that everyone’s individual transportation needs were accommodated throughout the trip. With new buses and extensive knowledge of how to maneuver Spanish roads, Gomserbus is the perfect transportation partner for groups of all sizes, ages and nationalities.

Sienna Reynaga

With a background in marketing and event organization, Sienna served as a liaison between our Portland Office and Spain throughout the planning period. Based in Santiago de Compostela enabled Sienna to work with local restaurant and hotel partners to ensure each phase of the tour was perfectly planned and executed.

Sally Bentley

Back to Santiago for the first time since shooting the Documentary, Senior Producer Sally Bentley served as a tour leader and administrator ensuring that all business aspects of the trip were meticulously taken care of, each tour participant was perfectly cared for on and off the trail and each fundraising event went off without a hitch.

A Painza (Arzua)

Maria Jose at A Painza became our home away from home when we were in Galicia. She donated all the rooms for not just one but two nights for all our pilgrims and us guides as well! We were able to stay in five of her seven distinct houses each complete with a living room and kitchen. Most of the rooms had their own bathrooms an everyone loved spending a few days here.

Hotel Monumental San Francisco (Santiago)

We couldn’t imagine a better way to end our trip than to stay at the four-star Hotel Monumental located only steps away from the Cathedral. Originally a 18th century Franciscan Convent, this hotel brings modern luxury together with classic architecture of the period. The hotel that was also our home away from home during our shoot generously donated our final night. The beauty of the property was only outdone by the impeccable service.

Silver Shell Supporters

Hotel Spa Ciudad de Astorga

Located right in the middle of quaint Astoria, the Hotel Spa Ciudad de Astorga offers a luxurious stay moments from both the Cathedral and Gaudi museum. The management team generously donated both our rooms and event space for our stop there. We enjoyed exploring the town before being treated to an extensive Spanish dinner and our first fundraising/screening of the tour.

El Paraiso del Bierzo (Herrerias de Valcarce)

With one of our favorite views of the trip, we couldn’t resist exploring every inch of the four-star El Paraiso del Bierzo in order to catch a glimpse of each of their beautifully decorated double and single rooms. We split our group in two this night and all enjoyed intimate dinner conversation over a meal that was put together with love just for our participants to get a great sampling of what the region had to offer.

Hoteles Carris – Alfonso IX (Sarria)

Carris Hoteles, a name synonymous with quality in Galicia, generously donated rooms during our stay in Sarría and celebration of hitting the 100km mark. Alfonso IX also played host to our packed Sarria fundraising/screening that included many members of the local community with an interest in the film. Additionally, Carris donated a few more rooms in Santiago at their new property, Casa de la Troya, a modern delight in the middle of the Zona Vieja for some of our special guests who joined us at the conclusion of our trip.

Pazo de Sedor (Arzua)

The perfect stop a few steps off the Camino Frances is the quaint Pazo de Sedor that offers some of the comforts of home while on the trail and generously donated rooms to the tour. With meals and everything prepared in-house, once you step through the door of this Pazo you will be content throughout your stay here.

Casa Rectoral de Lestedo (Palas de Rei)

This house was designed to offer something different to its guests by blending the most traditional with a modern touch. Our tour participants were excited to be able to stop right on the Camino at this gorgeous renovated rural house near Palas de Rei.

Bronze Shell Supporters

Hotel Paris Leon (Leon)

Paris Leon offered a great start to what would evolve to be a trip of a lifetime for our participants. Located in the midst of bustling Leon, the hotel offered our group a great introduction to Spain as we adjusted to our hiking boots and got acquainted with each other.

Dinner at Casa Elisa (Santiago de Comopostela)

Our final night in Santiago was an 8-course masterpiece of literally some of the finest food found in Galicia. Chef and Owner, Pepe, generously donated this meal in order to ensure that our group was left with an unforgettable final impression of the best of the region. The night was topped off by a Quemada (recital of local spell) by Candlelight that created memories to last a lifetime.

Lunch at Hotel San Miguel Gastronomico (Santiago)

Our pilgrims were once again treated in our final lunch together in Santiago. The new Hotel San Miguel Gastronomico provided the perfect backdrop on our final rainy day in Galicia and donated a lunch that allowed us to bring together both our tour participants and local supporters as we celebrated the documentary and success of the trip.

Pousada de Portomarín (Portomarín)

A popular stop for groups, we were pleased that the Pousada de Portomarin donated a portion of our rooms during our Friday night in Portomarin. Our group enjoyed views of sunset over the ancient ruins of Portomarin from the sparkling terrace and comfortable accommodations.

Casa de Tepa (Astorga)

With only ten rooms, the Casa de Tepa wasn’t able to accommodate our complete group, but they generously donated rooms for a few pilgrims who were treated to a night in this literal oasis in the middle of Astorga. With Napoleon on their list of famous guests, Casa de Tepa is a true gem.

El Capricho de Josana (Herrerias de Valcarce)

Only a few steps away from the heart of Vega de Valcarce and literally on the Camino is this beautiful center of rural tourism. With a special rate just for our group, half of our pilgrims enjoyed a home-cooked meal inside this immaculately decorated little paradise.

Mirador Restaurant in Portomarin

We literally feasted at the Mirador as we tasted some of Galicia’s most well known meat and seafood options. Our vegetarians were even provided with some of the best culinary options of the trip that featured fruits and vegetables from the land.

We are grateful to the following organizations for their help with the screenings during the tour.

Screening hosted by Joan Alcala & Bar Café Mandala (Arzua)

We were overwhelmed by the support and press coverage that our Arzua event generated, most of which was thanks to Joan Alcala and his generous donation of space at the Bar Café Mandala.

Screening hosted by Hotel AC Palacio del Carmen (Santiago)

With one of the most beautiful screening spaces in Santiago, the Hotel AC Palacio del Carmen donated space and refreshments to our over 100 guests in attendance for our Santiago screening. Pilgrims, supporters of the film and our group mixed to celebrate a milestone achieved with the trip.

Sarria Association of Pilgrims

The success of the Sarria fundraiser was made possible by the enthusiastic support of the local pilgrim association (Jorge and Leña!) who made sure that both the local community and pilgrims in town for the night were in attendance at this full event.

Paloma y Leña Albergue

Paloma and Leña not only offered their generous support as we planned and put together the tour , but they also were critical in making sure the word got out about our event. Friends of the Documentary since our shoot, their Albergue is a must-see stop when in Sarria.

We are grateful to Carlos Mencos at who promoted the screenings and Walking the Camino every step of the way through his comprensive Camino website, www.jacobeo.net.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to both Juan Frisuelos and Malu Edigo who were our in-Spain publicity team. They worked tirelessly to promote the screenings and do everything they could to make the tour a success.

Special thanks to Maria Asunción Arias Arias and Tracy Saunders for their wonderful assistance along the way.
join our mailing list
* indicates required

Our fundraising trek to Santiago

With your help, we have made it to Santiago and have enough money to complete our feature length theatrical version. We will be submitting this 80-minute documentary to film festivals worldwide. We couldn't of done it without all the individual donations, whether they were $5 or a $1,000. Every donation helped us reach our goal and we can't thank you enough. Gracias. Having raised the 225k, means that we have covered all office expenses, editorial expenses and online costs for our theatrical version only. The 225k also represents three years of hard work by our Camino staff. One of the reasons we were able to achieve this incredible feat with such a tight budget, is because our director and all our producers continue to work without pay.

On to Finisterre...

Our next push to Finesterre, is to raise funds to edit our one hour TV version as well as create our DVD. During our international festival run, we plan on connecting with international television stations worldwide. This is an expensive process as all countries have different technical requirements. Additionally, we will have to provide all the translations ourselves. We plan on translating the film into Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Korean.

Concurrently, we will be making a DVD version for sale world wide via our website. On the DVD, we will include an expanded version with additional pilgrims and their stories, which did not make the final cut. Cutting pilgrims from the film was an inevitable part of our film making process due to making an 80 minute film out of 300 hours of footage. But they area all amazing stories and we plan to bring more of them to light on our expanded DVD. We will also include many deleted scenes of our main pilgrims, a behind-the-scenes featurette, hospitalero portraits and much more!

...and to the world

Our third and final push to reach the entire world is to fund a year of marketing/distribution and publicist fees. This means keeping two office staff and hiring a publicist to promote the film. The hiring of the publicist is easily the most expensive item we have, but it guarantees our film will reach a wider audience.