Santiago in the Canary Islands? Yes, really!

There are over 140 places named after Santiago all over the world. A few of them are located on the Canary Islands, so this week on the podcast I welcom back Marina Rodríguez, who you might remember from episode 25, when she told us all about the Camino de Gran Canaria.

We talk about places in the Canary Islands that are named Santiago... and something else that connects Galicia and the Canary Islands.

Playa de Santiago

The first place Marina tells me about is Playa de Santiago on the small island of La Gomera:  a quiet fishing village with black sand beaches, tucked at the mouth of the Barranco de Santiago. It started out as a fishing spot, then grew into a hub for canning fish, exporting tomatoes and bananas, and welcoming ships. Today, it’s still authentic and peaceful—definitely not the kind of place overrun by tourists.

Santiago en Tenerife

Then we jumped over to Tenerife to explore Santiago del Teide. This mountain village sits near Spain’s highest peak, Mount Teide, which is actually a volcano. It’s not the only volcano in the area. The nearby  Chinyero last erupted in 1909.

Fun fact: the town was once just “Santiago,” but constant postal mix-ups with Playa de Santiago in La Gomera (letters ending up on the wrong island!) forced the locals to rename it Santiago del Teide. That solved the problem, and the name stuck. Nearby you’ll also find Puerto de Santiago and the dramatic cliffs of Los Gigantes, plus whale and dolphin watching.

More links between the Canaries and Galicia

Of course, since Marina is from the Canaries, we couldn’t resist diving into local culture and language. We discovered more interesting links between Canary Spanish and Galician, like similar vocabulary. c

And we talked about the Canarian version of Galicia’s furanchos: guachinches (in Tenerife) or bochinches (in Gran Canaria). These started as homes where families sold their extra wine alongside homemade food. Today, they’ve evolved into more conventional restaurants serving traditional dishes, though the most authentic ones still only open in winter, when the new wine is ready.

Marina shared two theories about the name guachinche. One is that it comes from buche (sip) > bochinche / guachinche.

The other? A popular legend that it comes from locals teasing English visitors with “I’m watching you” as they drank! And that became bochinche /guachinche. No one knows for sure and there’s no evidence that that’s the real origin of the word, but it’s a great story.

If you’re curious about language, culture, and hidden corners of the Canary Islands linked to Santiago, this episode is for you. And if you want to learn more from Marina, check out her website Lengua Babel.

I started this series on places named after Santiago a few weeks ago with an episode on Santiago de Chile. You read/listen here.

Brand-new season of the Spanish for the Camino podcast.

I couldn’t think of a better way to do it than with a guest with ample Camino experience.

Meet Rebecca Weston: originally from the U.S., now living in Villaviciosa, Asturias, right on the Camino del Norte. Rebecca has walked many routes over the years and even helps others plan their own pilgrimages.

Discovering the Camino

In our chat, Rebecca shared how she first discovered the Camino back in 2000 through a book by actress Shirley MacLaine. That piqued her interest but she didn’t actually walk until 2012.

Back then, she had no idea there were other routes or even that you could continue to Finisterre, so for her first pilgrimage she walked the Camino Francés all the way from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago. 

Things have changed a lot since 2012. Rebecca described how the Camino Francés has become much busier, with more albergues, cafés, and international pilgrims every year. That’s one reason she now prefers the quieter routes, like the Camino Inglés and especially the Camino de Invierno, where she once met only a handful of fellow pilgrims over two weeks.

Feeling nervous about walking the Camino?

When I asked Rebecca what advice she’d give to someone considering the Camino but feeling nervous, her answer was simple: if the Camino is calling you, listen to that feeling and go for it. Don’t overthink it. And instead of drowning in online information, try to talk to someone who’s walked it in real life over a coffee or even on a video call.

Rebecca herself felt called to walk the Camino all those years ago. At the time, she didn’t know why. She just knew she had to walk. So she did. And the rest is history, as they say.

Do you need Spanish on the Camino?

We also talked about language. Rebecca didn’t speak Spanish at all on her first Camino. She knew French, and that was helpful. But when she decided to go back to the Camino she started learning a few key phrases, to help her with basic daily interactions like finding a bed. That was enough for her to notice a huge difference in how people responded to her.

One of her favorite memories is from an albergue where the hospitalera was thrilled that Rebecca tried to speak Spanish and helped translate for other pilgrims who couldn’t speak a word of Spanish. Thanks to that, she and her father were treated to coffee before setting out very early the next morning, before coffee was normally available, something that probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

By 2021, she began studying seriously, and now, after four and a half years living in Spain, she can give her first interview entirely in Spanish! 

To wrap up, Rebecca reminded us that there’s no single “right way” to do the Camino. Each pilgrim’s journey is unique, and that’s the beauty of it.

If you’d like to connect with Rebecca, you can find her at thecaminocalls.com where she shares resources and interviews about the Camino.

(Get this episode’s transcript for free here)

How will you do the Camino – updated May 2025

How will you do the Camino?

Once you decide you want to go on the Camino, you need to start making other decisions.

The first one:

¿Cómo vas a hacer el Camino? (How are you going to do the Camino?)

Before we go on, let me remind you what I said in the intro post about travel vocabulary guides: I don’t like them because they don’t tell how to pronounce the words. And I don’t want to be like them, so keep reading till the end of this post if you want to learn how to pronounce the Camino vocabulary you’ll find in this article.

Going back to the question “how will you do the Camino?”, most people do it a pie (on foot, walking). But that’s not the only way that is allowed if you want to get a Compostela when you reach Santiago.

According to the pilgrim’s office website, you can also do it en bici (cycling), a caballo (on horseback) or you could even sail part of it and walk from the port where you disembark. 

What is a Compostela and how to get it

A Compostela is a certificate issued by the Santiago cathedral saying that you have completed the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James on one of the recognized routes.

At the end of 2024, the cathedral announced changes to the requirements to get a Compostela. 

You’ll find all the info on their website, but here’s a summary:

(Get this episode’s transcript for free here)

According to the pilgrim’s office website, in order to obtain a Compostela, you must walk “at least 100 continuous kilometers on the same route to Santiago recognized by the International Pilgrim’s Reception Office system. The final stage must include at least, the last one leading into Santiago’s Cathedral”.

“If a pilgrim has already started a route on foot outside Spain along one of the routes recognized by the International Pilgrim’s Reception Office system, the required distance in Spain shall be no less than 70 kilometers”.

There has been some speculation about the meaning of the “last stage”, and whether that last stage must have a specific distance, but it doesn’t seem to be so.

So, you could walk 100 continuous km anywhere along the Camino Francés, or Portugués, or any other route, and  then take a train or bus to the outskirts of Santiago (the airport on the Camino Francés or Milladoiro on the Portugués, for instance) and walk those last couple of kilometres into Santiago.

Same distance applies if you’re horse riding, but if you decide to do the Camino on a bike, then you must cycle at least 200 km in order to qualify for a Compostela. For sailors, the required distance is 100 nautical miles.

The credencial

You’ll need proof that you’ve done all of that.

That’s what the credencial is for. A credencial is like a Camino passport, that’s why many people refer to it as the pilgrim’s passport.You’ll need to get sellos (stamps) on it along the way.

You can get stamps from many places such as bars and cafés, accommodations, churches, town halls or post offices.

You’ll also need a credencial if you’re planning to stay in pilgrim-only hostels, to show that you’re on the way to Santiago.

Have you decided already? ¿Cómo vas a hacer el Camino?

Write your answer, in Spanish, in the comments: Voy a hacer el Camino…

Basic Spanish Camino vocabulary

¡Buen Camino!