in santiago

[Eyskens]

Congratulations on your pilgrimage.  You sum it all up-your experience
mirrors mine in the summer of '01!

Jim Eyskens

-----Original Message-----
From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU] On
Behalf Of Kerrie Littlejohn
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 1:36 PM
To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
Subject: in santiago


hello,
i have arrived in santiago and as i said i will write about the
conditions in galicia. no matter what i write there will be someone who
disagrees with me and their experiences on the camino were different
than mine and they may tell you the opposite of anything i have to say.
i would not recommend bringing a tent unless you plan to sleep outside.
i walked the camino from roncesvalles to santiago the entire month of
july and never was without a place to sleep if i wanted one. some people
did have to sleep on the floor in the albergue, but they did have a
place to sleep. there are also hostals or pensions or other places you
can stay. and i even arrived many days well after 2 or 3 sometimes even
at 7.30 or 8pm. you could say i was lucky, but i think that stressing
about finding a place to stay will ruin your camino. on a few occasions
when i walked shorter distances and got to the albergue i did notice
that there was a line pilgrims had formed. i think it is sad to say that
there were lines to get into the albergue, but that was the way it was.
if you are thinking of doing only a short section of the camino, like a
few hundred km then i would recommend walking the early stages of the
camino frances. i will not say the beginning because there is no real
beginning. the closer you get to galicia the more the camino changes and
not just the nature. in galicia there are many more pilgrims many in
large groups or families. i think it is wonderful everyone gets to walk
the camino who wants to, but it felt like there was much less of a
community between the pilgrims. as opposed to walking from the pyrennes
when everyone is alone and needs to reach out and rely on other people,
the community experience is much stronger. i had no problem with water
from fountains and never bought bottled water. i never heard from any
other pilgrims that they had drunk bad water neither. if you are
concerned about the water ask a local or buy some bottled water, even
fill up your bottle in a bar. i would recommend having something like a
platypus with a drinking tube or a camelbak. i had one and it was
wonderful. so many people said they wished they had one too. a platypus
is very light and strong and was wonderful. i never had any problems
with dogs, however i was smart and stayed away from them. i did hear of
one woman who was bitten by a dog, but that was all. as for men i did
have one experience, you could say a flasher, but he did a bit more than
just flash. i did talk with many other young females and they had
similar stories of men driving up to them in cars and the men were half
naked (the bottom half) and i also talked to a girl who on two occasions
had a man run up to her on the camino and grab her and grope her. both
times she was walking with another girl. i love walking by myself and
was not afraid to. there was almost always another pilgrim not too far
away either in front or behind me. however, walking with at least one
other person is safer. i don´t want to make anyone concerned, my first
time walking the camino i never saw nor heard of anything like this, but
this time the variables were different. there are perverts everywhere
you just have to be careful. i also recommend that you be very careful
with your valuables. in the albergues and in the cities. i have meet
people who have had their backpacks stolen and just their wallets and
cameras from the backpacks. in the middle of the day in the albergue
while they were eating and from the luggage area on the buses, or from
the albergue when they were sleeping at night.  just keep your valuables
with you at all times or have  a friend watch them. i never had any
problems, but it happens and you decide whether or not you want to take
the chance of getting something stolen. i would also recommend walking
to finisterre and visiting the lighthouse. i did not have time to walk
there but i went on the bus and some friends of mine who i met there
said the walk was one of the most beautiful of the entire camino. many
people also walked in sandals like tevas or chacos or a similar sport
sandal. i did not, but is seemed to work well for many. i´m not sure
what else i can tell you. whether or not you read this i hope it was of
some help to some people and that you have a wonderful camino. i am
already planning my next camino. or actually i just know that i want to
go again, but will end up buying a ticket a month or two before i am
ready and just leave on the spur of the moment which i think is a great
way to do it for some people. if you have anymore questions i will try
to answer them the best i can. buen camino, kerrie

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