Home again (with observations about the Camino)

[Marcia Whitney-Schenck]

Many thanks to ListServe pilgrims. My sister-in-law and I started at Burgos
on June 3rd and finished on June 29th. I would like to offer the following
observations.

1. I'm a light sleeper. I simply could not sleep in the alberques. Since my
husband doesn't snore, I couldn't believe the noise that some men make at
night. I asked one peregrina how their wives/girlfriends put up with it. She
said, "They don't. They send them on the Camino." I thought I might be so
exhausted that I would fall asleep. No way. So my advice is this: If you are
a light sleeper, plan to spend some nights in a pension. Generally, two beds
in one room cost $30.

2. Before leaving, I had collected prayer requests. (Many of you responded.)
In the end, we had more than 70 requests which we laminated on a card. Almost
every day we named the people and their requests, and this ritual became part
of our spiritual life. We left the laminated cards at the tomb of St. James
as a way of saying these requests are in God's hands.

3. A competitive spirit has crept into the pilgrim experience. (I traveled XX
miles in XX days.) We took our time to marvel at the storks, poppies, a
snake, snails, etc. If you have limited time, don't try to cover great
distances. A sign in one church said the pilgrimage is not a race.

4. Lastly, many people on the ListServe mentioned that they chose to skip the
plains between Burgos and Leon. While I wouldn't want to do the meseta in
July or August, I thought this landscape was beautiful. In June we saw an
extraordinary number of wild flowers -- whole fields of poppies. And when the
weather was stormy, I got some stunning photographs of dark clouds rolling
over the plains. None of my photographs in the mountains equaled this
majesty. Flat terrain allows you "space" to memorize poetry, say the rosary,
work on your Spanish, or just marvel at the vastness of God.

Marcia from Chicago, Illinois (I know what you are thinking. Illinois is
nearly flat so no wonder she likes the meseta.)
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