questions on return from Santiago

[Rebekah Scott]

Via de la Plata without Spanish skills?
I've done both, and I would NOT recommend the Via de la Plata without competant Spanish. You could make it, but you'd miss out on the really good stuff -- the farmers' families offering dinner, the shepherds dying to talk to another human, and most important, the ability to follow directions back to the proper trail!...all those things that once made the Camino Frances so appealing a few years ago, before the Great Waves of Humanity!

I am fascinated at the ebb and flow of popularity on the Camino, and how mixed are my feelings about it. I fully understand its fascinating and utterly compelling nature, how it draws people to itself. I also feel a little miffed that so many people are doing it now, or as one person said, "ruining its rural serenity and turning it into another adventure tourist destination." (I hold myself responsible in a minor way; I was one of those travel writers who splashed it across the newswires in the early 90's.)

Any comment?


Rebekah Scott, journalista
'The more I learn, the less I know.'

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