Sleeping Arrangements in Refugios

[Joe English]

Rebekah,
Your by-line 'The more I learn, the less I know.' is certainly apt. You
should however not use it as a badge of honour.
You really should not generalise, making assumptions about people about
whom you know nothing.
Joe
On Wed, 7 May 2003 07:38:38 -0700, Rebekah Scott <rebritesaYAHOO.COM>
wrote:

>Bring on the flamethrowers!!  Ive been reading a copy of a new book on
pilgrimages, reviewed this week in NYT. The author did several trips in
different parts of the world, including the Camino.  She singled it out
for the fatuous bourgeouis trendy flavor it's taken, the Yuppies with
their cell phones and New Agers with their mystical crystal ley-line
dogmas. It seems, to her, the scruffy old pilgrimage has been sold out to
high-maintenance people worried about availability of sanitary pillows and
co-ed, hot-water bathrooms and vegan menus.  I believe if it's a
pilgrimage to you, a spiritual trip, you should go simply, and don't rely
on the refugios to meet your needs. Often, when you arrive, the refugios
are already filled with Polar-fleece-clad suburbanites with great
haircuts, chatting away on their satellite phones, "roughing it" in the
charming, low-cost wilds of Spain. (My parents called it "slumming.")
These are nice, friendly people. Just don't get in their way.  If!
>  it's just a charming, cultural hike to you, take enough money to stay
in pensions or hotels; there are lots of those. You can meet your refugio-
dwelling Pilgrim buds for dinner in town. Or if you're the Rough and Ready
type and can't/won't stay in pensions, bring a sleeping bag heavy enough
to withstand a few nights in hay barns or church porches or the floor of
the medical clinic.  It's easy to over-plan before you go. I did it
myself. But over time, you find your pace, how much weight you want to
carry, and just how easy it becomes to just trust there will be a warm,
dry place to sleep once you arrive. The first thing you have to lose is
your expectations.  Stepping down from the pulpit --Rebekah
>
>Rebekah Scott, journalista
>'The more I learn, the less I know.'
>
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