juelaVIRGINIA.EDU

[Michael P. Barham]

Greetings pilgrim. . .

As for laundry, a couple of refugios have laundry service, several of the
cities have laundrarias, or whatever they are called.

In the mean time, it is the custom that you will arrive, get your credencial
stamped, throw out your sleeping bag on a bed to claim it, then go wash you
clothes and body.

I actually wouldn't wash my clothes every day, not so hygenic, but I was
trying to really rough it (and I hate doing laundry by hand). There are
always places to scrub your clothes and ring them out.  Take polyester, it
dries quickly!!!!!!!  You can by these great poly pants at outdoor stores (A
bit expensive but worth it).  They zip off to become shorts, so you have
basically four outfits for the cost of two!

You can also by polyester shirts to wear, long or short sleeve.  I took a
cotton shirt, a sweatshirt and two pair of pants, plus undies.  Took several
pair of socks, though  . ..  wanted my feet to be healthy.

For rain, if you can find a full length poncho, that would be great.  In a
hard rain, water will roll down your legs flooding your boots.

I didn't take a first aid kit, cause EVERYONE else does. . . and everyone is
willing to share.  Unless you are going a time when noone else is walking.
I bought some compeed and some mouscle cream and had tweezers in my knife .
.. also took a few individual handy wipes for cleaning things off.

I took a journal, a couple of books and a camera as well.  You can safely
ship film back home, or develop it if you take breaks.  I shiped all my film
home and nothing bad happened to it.


As for walking 15-20 a day, don't get to stuck on a schedule, then you start
to race and stop enjoying the rhythm that feels natural.  I think it is
important to set goals, but also be willing to recognize when your focus on
your goals are taking away from the experience which should be a goal in
itself.

As for bathroom, even women get quite competant at field and stream toilet
needs.  People can get quite creative in learning to balance themselves.  Be
careful in the meseta, because there are no so many places to hide :)

KEEP ONE ROLL OF TOILET PAPER ON YOU AT ALL TIMES>  as you get closer to
Santiago, ESPECIALLY at the time you will be walking, tp will be a luxury.
In the Galixian hostels, they almost ALWAYS ran out late at night or early
morning, so my regularity was not accomodated ... because once the
hospitalero leaves at night, they usually don't come back until everyone is
gone the next morning, if tp runs out, it just runs out.

Do drink lots of water . . . you might want to go practice using the woods.
Funny isn't it, but trust me, you will loose a lot of inhibitions while you
are walking.  I used to detest anyone that would spit in public, but now
every now and then I catch myself about to cough up a loogie and laugh at
myself.

In think the shells in the middle ages came from Fenistere and from the
tradition of baptism.
That walk is VERY beautiful.  Be careful walking alone as a woman -- it
seemed perfectly safe, but everyone says be careful, so I thought I would
too.  There is a REALLY GOOD guide book through the confraternity of st.
james (they have a website) in England.  I bought it and it was vital to
helping me get from Santiago to Fen., especially outside of the city of
Santiago, which can be a confusing beginning.

Pagan ritual of burning clothes has been picked up by Christians.  Buy a
votive candle in town before walking up to the lighthouse to burn clothes
(and of course take spare clothes) it is really windy, so the votive keeps
you from having to stand there thirty minutes striking matches to get the
clothes to light.  You can get a nice bottle of champaign and some bread and
cheese at Fen. too . .. and have a lovely little celebration.  Sitting under
the lighthouse on the rocks was the best part of my spiritual pilgrimage.
The complete opposite of the buys Cathedral in Santiago with its tourists.

I brought my walking stick with me . .. I had found it on one of my prep
walks and whiddled it down.  You can buy to metal polls (like ski pols) all
the Austrian Alps people used two of them, and recommended them.  I like
wood and medieval, but the polls seemed to be liked.  You could just earn
your stick by finding it along the way . . . God provides, I have found.

Same with shells.  You can buy them wherever you start, along with pins and
buttons and compasses with santiago printed on them and t-shirts and
anything else you care to buy.  I bought one and the string broke a day
later, so I decided to just give it away to a future pilgrim, tucking it
back inside my backpack to save for the right person.  Later on, someone
gave me one, and it was really nice to be given one.  It didn't not break.

Some people bought sea shell patches to sew on their backpack, or bought
pins - I bought a pendant in St. Jean Pied De Port, and it was tiny - few
people noticed it, but I liked it.

Good luck - sorry this has been so long an email.

peace,
Michael B


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