packing, sleeping, and storing things in St. Jean pdp

[Galen Wilkerson]

This is in response to someone's email to me.  I didn't post his email,
since it wasn't originally sent to the list, but maybe the response will be
useful to people, and it was a lot of typing :)
---

Hi Glenn!

Glad I can help!
Well, I was thinking 10 _kilos_, but aim low, since
there's a tendency to bloat :)

I will go ahead and make up an equipment list and send
it to you.  It's useful for me to have that anyway.  I
think that within the strategy of only carrying a
little there are several ways you can go: (by the way,
yes, I counted that weight.  You should count all
weight that you put on your back, including full water
bottles and food.  Aim for 10 kilograms (or less).  If
you go a little over, that's probably ok, but
seriously aim below 10, bloat will push you over
anyway.)  I heard a story about someone carrying only
3kg!!

- a thin sleeping bag, and plan on sleeping outside
only on emergencies.  This option is fine if you plan
to usually hustle to get to hostels.

- a slightly thicker (heavier), warmer bag, and a foam
mat for sleeping out a little more often (or all the
time).  If you really are into this option, you might
want to also bring a plastic tarp.  The only thing
about this is that the bag is a bit heavier, which you
will carry almost 500 miles.  The advantage is that
the countryside is beautiful, and you can wake up to
it and see the stars at night.  Also, the albergues
(hostels) are fun and nice etc. in the beginning, but
after weeks of walking, it is nice to be able to get
some peace by sleeping outside.  A word of caution:
if you sleep near the trail, beware that sleeping is
not the only thing people do behind bushes near the
trail!  Make sure you don't sleep in poop!

As far as the above, a lot of it comes down to your
comfort level.  I knew 2 guys on the camino who had
grown up on farms, in France and Austria.  They had no
problems just sleeping in a field behind a bush with
only a thin sleeping bag.  The main thing is to have a
little wind protection, but the wind is less near the
ground anyway.  I slept:  in a field where hay had
been mowed and there was still some on the ground to
pile up;  next to a graveyard (in Pereje); on the
grassy hillside next to the Hospital da Condesa; and
in the fields under the full moon after walking until
10:30 at night, just before entering Palencia.  It was
great!  You really feel one with the countryside, and
what it must have been like to be a pilgrim in the old
days, with really nothing some of the time.

Yeah, I think the room they had for your things in St. Jean pdp was
pretty secure.  Maybe best to just call them and find
out if they can take a suitcase, someone there should
speak English.  With a calling card you can probably
call france cheaply.  (You can get calling cards at
"tabac" shops for calling the US cheaply, by the way;
tabac = cigarette shops, they sell a lot of random
things there.  The word in Spanish is "estanco".)

I'll look up the "bureau d'accueil" in St. Jean...
(I use pagesjaunes.fr = yellow pages in france)

(Actually, I ended up just doing a google search)

Here's the welcome office where they have the room to
keep things, and where you register and start the
camino:

St JACQUES de COMPOSTELLE
Maison LABORDE :
39 rue de la Citadelle
 05 59 37 05 09
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  That's the phone number.  You
have to add the prefix to call france.


and here's the tourism office, just for your general
information:
OFFICE de TOURISME
14 Place Ch de Gaulle
64220 ST JEAN PIED DE PORT
05 59 37 03 57
FAX 05 59 37 34 91

Galen