Camino tips for first timers

[Jack Christensen]

I'd certainly echo Richard's point about setting realistic daily goals.  I
recall spending a night in Leon with a macho hiker who was trying for 30+ kM
per day.  He was young and strong, but was still blubbering in pain on the
bunk below me with leg and foot problems from not listening to his body.  He
left the camino and headed for the beach.
Jack

-----Original Message-----
From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU]On
Behalf Of Richard Ferguson
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 7:21 AM
To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
Subject: Camino tips for first timers


In response to Erika and others planning their first trip.

A Camino Retrospective

This is my two cents worth, intended for people planning to do the Camino to
Santiago for the first time.  I will be talking about distance per day,
planning your trip, Castillian Spanish, and miscelaneous topics.

Background:  I walked solo 311 km, (200 miles), from Leon to Santiago, in
March and April, 2002.  I am about 50 years old, with extensive experience
with mountain climbing, backpacking, and international travel.  I speak good
Spanish, of the latin-american variety.

Distance per day

When I started reading about the camino, I was amazed to read about people
going 30 km or more per day.  Note that 32 km is 20 miles, and very few
people that I know would consider walking 20 miles in a day, let alone day
after day after day.  My experiences supported my first impression.  I found
that a comfortable pace for me was 20 to 25 km per day (12 to 15 miles).
When I went further than 25 km in a day, I paid for it, usually the next
day.

Everyone has their own natural pace.  I did talk to some people who were
able to sustain a 30 km per day pace, usually tall and thin men.  I talked
to at least one guy who found 20 km/day to be more than he could really do.
Most people found that the 30 km/day pace to be grueling and very hard on
their body.  Unfortunately, it is easy to get carried along by groupthink,
that your friends are going 30 km/day, so you should also.  Or you don't
want to be left behind by your new friends.

Planning your trip

Planning is something that I take very seriously.  I have a business card
that describes me as a planning engineer.  As a mountaineer, I have planned
several international climbing expeditions, mostly successful.  I have also
heard many stories from groups that have failed.  One key to success is
having realistic goals, having a generous schedule instead of a tight
schedule.

I would urge people to set moderate goals for themselves, rather than
ambitious ones.  Pushing your body beyond it's natural limits is exhausting
and destructive.  I saw several people whose feet had been destroyed to the
point that a doctor told them to stop walking.  Another guy who liked to
walk long distances per day admitted that on a previous trip he arrived in
Santiago by ambulance, after his knee gave out.  It is just not good to push
your body beyond it's limits, especially day after day.  Adjust your
distance to fit the time available, or allow adequate time if the distance
is fixed.

I believe that an average of 20 km/day is a pace that most people can
achieve.  The people that I spoke to who completed the pilgrimage generally
walked 20 km/day or more.

Before you plan a trip based on 30 km/day or more, take this simple quiz:
Have you ever walked more than 30 km (19 miles) in one day?  Have you ever
done this carrying a backpack with more than 7 kg (15 pounds)?  Have you
done this with the pair of boots that you are planning to take on the trip?
Have you ever done this for more than three days in a row?  If you are going
with anyone else, ask them the same questions.  Unless every person can
answer yes to every question, you are pushing your luck to plan on 30 km or
more per day.  In other words, you are planning to fail.

There are other advantages to planning a trip with shorter distances per
day.  You can then consider taking a day off if you need to or want to.  One
of my best days on the camino was the day that I did not walk at all, the
day I stayed put and watched the Palm Sunday processions in Astorga.  If you
have an aggressive trip plan you may miss something worthwhile, that you
will feel that you need to keep walking, no matter what.  You won't really
have the opportunity to relax.  The Camino is not a race.

If your trip plan is conservative, and you finish early, you can always walk
to Finisterre, spend more days in Santiago, do some other tourism, or go
home early.  It is good to have a backup plan in case you travel more slowly
or more quickly than you expected.

Miscelaneous comments

Asking directions:  If you think that you are off route, ask where the
camino is.  I always received good directions on the camino, sometimes
without asking.

Easter season has it's advantages and disadvantages.  The biggest advantage
is the opportunity to see processions and other special events in the week
before Easter.  One disadvantage is that the hotels and hostals will be
full, especially right before Easter.  Also, there will be many student
groups on the camino during this time, filling the refugios, although I
always got a bed in a refugio when I wanted one.

I carefully considered my options in terms of what boots to take on the
trip, and ended up taking a very heavy pair of leather mountaineering boots.
I selected them not because they were ideal, but because I had confidence in
them, that my feet never hurt when I wore them.  I walked for a week before
I started to get a blister, and finished the trip with my feet in good
shape, so it was a good decision for me.  I probably had the heaviest pair
of boots on the camino, 6 pounds per pair (almost 3 kg).  I also carried a
pair of walking shoes for use in town.

Washing clothes is kind of a problem, you can wash them by hand in the sink
and then hang them out to dry, but they will probably come out looking
dirty.  I probably need to take a lesson in hand washing clothes from the
Mexican women who are able to wash beautiful white clothes without washing
machines.  The larger cities will have laundries, but are only open 5.5 days
per week.  What they call "Autoservicio" is not like self-service laundries
in the US.  They actually load the washer, transfer the load from the washer
to the centrifuge to the drier, and then pull them out of the drier and put
them in a cart.  The only thing they do not do is fold them.  Some of the
refugios have washers and driers, especially in Galicia, but you will need
to provide the soap.

Everybody will have a different experience on the camino.  I noticed that
many of the Americans that I met were hungry to speak English when they
found another native English speaker.  Since I speak good Spanish, I never
felt that way, never felt alone on the camino.  Obviously, walking the
camino alone is different than doing it with another person, or with a
group.  I spent several days mostly walking with other folks, and several
days basically walking alone, different experiences.  What you get out of
the camino will also be unique to you.  You don't know what you will learn
on the camino, and you may not figure out what you learned until long after
you get home.

Note that most Spaniards do not speak English.  They may not even speak
Spanish.  In Galicia, when I asked a question in Spanish, the answer
sometimes came back in Gallego!  I saw a study that said that Spaniards have
the lowest rate of speaking multiple languages in Europe.

Spaniards are very attached to their region of Spain, "pegada a su tierra".
They do not tend to move from one part of Spain to another.  I was amazed to
hear how consistently Spaniards spoke ill of their neighbors from other
parts of Spain, that Catalans were stingy and moneygrubbing, Gallegos were
backwards, people from the south of Spain were lazy, etc.

Castillian Spanish

For those of us that learned to speak Latin American Spanish, such as that
spoken in Mexico, you will notice many differences.  One of them is the use
of the vosotros form of the verbs, the plural of tu, which is not used in
Latin America.  The words for food are local, as you would expect, so you
will need to ask the waiter to describe the dishes on the menu.  I have
listed a few of the interesting or different words below.

Buff! - Oh my gosh!  (This is really a sound, not a word, but a favorite of
mine).
majo - Good, agreeable, handsome (popular slang)
hola - Hi, the most common greeting
buenas dias - good morning, common creeting, sometimes heard in PM also
Vale - Good, OK, right  (you will hear this word twenty times a day)
Venga - Let's go, OK
Caña - a draft beer (literally a cane, like the tall skinny glasses they
serve beers in).
zumo - fruit juice
bocadillo - sandwich
Adios - usually goodby, but sometimes a more literal "Go with God", (A
Dios),



Buen Camino, y Vaya con Dios.
Richard