first of two

[Ida Cote-Persson]

M'Lou Zahner,

Below is an incredibly long URL but if you double click on it or paste it
into your browser address window, it will take you to the NPR page that has
the audio clip of the transcript your friend sent. Once at the link, choose
"Listen to Segment" amd you'll hear the broadcast as it was aired on the
Feast of St. James. (You'll need a media player) Listening to the audio clip
almost seems to whisk one away to Camino.

http://search1.npr.org/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=%2Fopt%2Fco
llections%2Ftorched%2Fme%2Fdata%5Fme%2Fseg%5F126403%2Ehtm&DocOffset=6&DocsFo
und=73&QueryZip=santiago&Collection=zeus&Collection=C1&Collection=WEB&SortSp
ec=Modified+Desc+Score+Desc&ViewTemplate=docview%2Ehts&SearchUrl=http%3A%2F%
2Fsearch1%2Enpr%2Eorg%2Fsearch97cgi%2Fs97%5Fcgi%3Faction%3DSearch%26QueryZip
%3Dsantiago%26ResultTemplate%3Dsimplesearch2%252Ehts%26QueryText%3Dsantiago%
26Collection%3Dzeus%26Collection%3DC1%26Collection%3DWEB%26SortSpec%3DModifi
ed%2BDesc%2BScore%2BDesc%26ViewTemplate%3Ddocview%252Ehts%26ResultStart%3D1%
26ResultCount%3D10&


----- Original Message -----
From: "M'Lou Zahner" <mlouzaMEDIAONE.NET>
To: <GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 3:02 PM
Subject: first of two


> 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.
>