[Gocamino] Pilgrims; rthe office, Via de la Plata

[Blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
the pilgrims' office in Santiago has been overwhelmed by a combination of the 
cutting of the staff in half and the surge in the number of pilgrims during 
July and August.
While some Confraternities have provided volunteers to help out in the 
office, and several individual pilgrims have chipped in, such volunteers lack the 
knowledge of the record systems and the familiarity with the procedures to make 
them run smoothly
As a result, the pilgrims have waited for up to four hours in line to get a 
Compostela, or a pilgrims' certificate, either in the blazing sun out in the 
street or in the humid  stairway.  Nevertheless, few, if any, have chosen to 
give up the wait.
While the pilgrims' statistics for June, July and August are available in 
hard copy, they haven't yet been compiled and sorted out in the computer system. 
Edu, Mari and Susana (from the Archiconfraternity office), have commendably 
been working up to twelve hours a day, but their efforts have not sufficed to 
meet the needs of the tide of pilgrims.
I suppose that, sooner or later (preferably sooner) arrangements will have to 
be made to add permanent workers in the office.  Some of the pilgrims here in 
New York City have floated the idea of endowing the office with the salary of 
one full time worker.  It really doesn't amount to much since, by our 
standards, they are paid a pittance.  Nevertheless, it is a good and practical idea.  
The U.S. Tax laws, however, do not allow donations to qualified institutions 
outside of the United States to be deductible from one's taxable income; 
consequently, a legal manner to do so, such as U.S.  based  Confraternity or 
association  would need to be procured.  We'll see.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that, as of last month,  nearly 21,000 
pilgrims had availed themselves of the public albergues in the City of Leon; more 
than 6,000 in the municipal albergue and the rest in the two albergues run by 
the Benedictine nuns, familiarly knows as the "Carbajales".  Those of us who 
have visited their albergues have come away impressed  by their very friendly 
ambiance.
While I personally am very fond of Pamplona and beautiful Burgos,   if urged 
to do so I would have to admit that Leon is my favorite city in the French 
Camino.  The Cathedral alone, with its more-than-a-mile of colored glass windows 
takes one's breath away.  It has been called by artists and poets a "symphony 
of light and color".  The only other church that may rival it a little is the 
famous Duomo in Milan, but even that other-wordly masterpiece does not capture 
the glories of light and colors that the Leon Cathedral does. And then, there 
is the Cathedral's superlative museum (I never tire of it), the lay out of 
the town, its pedestrian avenues, the jewels of the Casco, San Isidro, and on, 
and on and on. 
Further, it has been reported that the number of pilgrims in the Northern 
Route has been such that the albergues in Lugo have actually had more pilgrims 
this year than in 2004,  which was a Xacobean Holy Year.
.....And quite a few new albergues have been established in the Via de la 
Plata.-
By the way, while it is accepted that the Camino may be said to begin 
wherever a pilgrim commences walking, the Via de la Plata friends have established 
that, officially, the Camino begins in  the majestic Seville Cathedral (second 
in size only to Saint Peter's in Rome), and precisely at the Saint Michael 
door, wherefor 1,000 kilometers can be measured to the Santiago Cathedral. 
There are two different ways to go at the end of the Via: through Astorga, 
where it merges with  the French Camino, or through Ourense (which I much, much 
prefer); the latter route saves about 100 kms. or so and is much prettier and 
interesting.
At any rate,  I'll let you know as soon as I get some statistics, or 
information.

For myself, I had a pretty difficult  summer, which included a very painful 
death in the family and a couple of operations.  And, of course, no Camino.  To 
cap it off, we now have the heart-wrenching tragedies in Louisiana and 
Mississipi. 
But grin and bear we must.... and will,... while affixing our sore shoulders 
to the wheel. (A priest at Mass said yesterday that this is the time  to 
extend our hands to our suffering co-nationals instead of  merely using them to 
wipe our tears).  

Big hug!
Rosina