My friend Mariluz went to do the pilgrimage at Santiago de Compostela several years ago and came back absolutely transformed. Her husband had died a few years prior to that and she had been walking around half-dead herself. The light had really gone out of her life, and she felt no hope, just a terrible emptiness. The kids grew and left the house and she was all alone. She went to the pilgrimage, and the person who came back was full of life, hope, spirituality, happiness. I have read accounts of other people who have been transformed like this as well, but to actually see it happening was incredible.