first of two

[M'Lou Zahner]

This was sent to me by a friend. This is the NPR piece that was on in
July. Enjoy but do not forward please

BOB EDWARDS, host:

Today is the feast day of St. James, a fisherman Jesus called on to be
one
of his 12 disciples. When he died, tradition says
the apostle's bones were carried to Spain, to what is now the city of
Santiago de Compostela. Since medieval times,
pilgrims have made the journey to pay their respects to the apostle's
tomb,
often by foot, walking hundreds of miles. In the
past decade, there's been a revival of the pilgrimage. Maria Martin of
NPR's
Latino USA talked to some of the thousands
who are walking the pilgrimage road to Santiago this year.

SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS

MARIA MARTIN reporting:

Most people walk what's called the Camino Frances to Santiago, the
French
Road. The Camino winds some 500 miles
from the French-Spanish border, from St. Jean Pied de Port on the French

side or from Roncesvalles on the Spanish side.
This is the starting point for most people planning to walk the entire
pilgrimage.

SOUNDBITE OF MASS; MUSIC

MARTIN: The night before they begin walking, the pilgrims attend a
special
Mass and receive a blessing to continue.

SOUNDBITE OF MASS; MUSIC

MARTIN: They're going to need blessings to make it through the hundreds
of
miles from the Pyrenees to the high
Castilian plateau to the forests of Carlicia(ph). Sharon Meddy(ph)
walked
the Camino four years ago. She came to
Roncesvalles to drop off two other pilgrims, making sure they knew that
the
pilgrimage road to Santiago wouldn't be easy.

Ms. SHARON MEDDY: There was not one single day on that pilgrimage where
we
didn't end the day by saying, `OK.
We give up. Tomorrow--this is it. This is the last day. We are not
putting
ourselves through this one more day. Tomorrow
we're going home.' And then tomorrow would come and somehow we'd feel a
little better and so we'd go another day.
And it was like that for six weeks, one day at a time.

SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS

MARTIN: A pilgrim's day starts early. Some leave the pilgrim refuge
before
the crack of dawn. On the road, each pilgrim
keeps his or her own pace. Some might walk just five or six miles a day.

Others, hoping to finish the entire Camino in a
month's time, walk 15 or even 20 miles daily before resting at a pilgrim

refugio at the end of the day. Taking refuge from
the sun before continuing on, 23-year-old Sylvia Barnett(ph) from
Seattle
says walking the Camino has given her the time
to think and reflect that she's never had before.

Ms. SYLVIA BARNETT: The walking is a total--it's a meditation. It's a
total--you're walking, you're moving and it's very
rhythmic. I mean, all you have is time when it's just you and your feet
and
the speed that you're going, you know, to the
place that you're going to.

MARTIN: Feet take a lot of beating on the Camino. Still, despite the
blisters, which are the pilgrims' occupational hazard,
people of all ages come from all over the world, each with his or her
own
reason for being on pilgrimage.

ERLIQUE(ph): My name is Erlique and I'm 58 years old and I am working
with
children who have problems in their
families. I knew that I have to do something for me because it's so much

work that I thought if I don't do anything for me,
I would be burned out and then I can't work anymore.

MARTIN: The Camino de Santiago is a moving museum, taking its writers
back
centuries past places where
Charlemagne battles the Moors and El Cid fought to glory. And then there

are
the cathedrals, museums and churches, a
cultural treasure trove on the pilgrimage road.

SOUNDBITE OF SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

MARTIN: These attractions, on top of a growing number of books about the

Camino by Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho
and actress Shirley MacLaine, for instance, are some of the reasons the
number of pilgrims is increasing every year. More
pilgrims have been coming since the late '80s when the Camino de
Santiago
was named Europe's premier cultural itinerary
and later designated a world heritage site by UNESCO. And it isn't
uncommon
to find clutters of pilgrims on the road
taking pictures and exchanging greetings.

Unidentified Woman #1: Pilgrim traffic jam.

Unidentified Woman #2: Pilgrim traffic jam.

MARTIN: Some people fear a more crowded Camino might destroy some of the

traditional pilgrim spirit, but others see a
benefit in its growing popularity. Don Manuel Rendon(ph) is a retired
farmer
in the Galatian village of Ahrca(ph).

Mr. DON MANUEL RENDON: (Through Translator) Well, the pilgrims, they
give
life to this place. Most are
well-educated. Once in a while, someone gets out of hand. But most are
very
well-behaved. And though they don't spend
much, they do spend.

MARTIN: July and August are the height of pilgrim season. Every day,
more
and more pilgrims arrive at their final
destination, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. They stand in long

lines to give the ritual hug to the gold and silver
statue of St. James, the Apostle Santiago. They visit his elaborate
crypt
and attend a pilgrim Mass. From the altar, the
priest will announce the number of pilgrims who receive their
Compostela, a
certificate of completion, today. And as they
leave their walking sticks and pilgrim identities behind, they'll
reflect on
what it all means and what it will mean. Patrick
Helger(ph) is from Dublin.

Mr. PATRICK HELGER: Yeah, I mean, spiritually, I think I'm improved.
I've
learned a lot on the Camino about
patience, about tolerance and that's partly what I wanted to get out of
it.
It hasn't been totally a life-changing experience,
but has been a changing experience. I have changed.

MARTIN: And as the priest says from the pulpit in Santiago, `The Camino
really begins when the pilgrimage ends.' From
NPR News, I'm Maria Martin.