[Gocamino] [saintjames] Re: July 25th, 2009

Sat Aug 1 19:31:42 PDT 2009

Suggestions for "three female pilgrims" should be sent privately to them alone to avoid misinforming everyone else on Listserve, especially those who are preparing for their first trip.?Finding alternatives to refugios like hotels and guest houses may not always be possible along the way. ?Realistically, one should be prepared to carry a light weight backpack.?

Exaggerating ones' personal quirks and hang-ups like "severe insomnia", getting up several times to read in the middle of the night, sensitivity to noises, need for privacy, sleep deprivation from snoring, difficulty in carrying a backpack, fear of overcrowded refugios, etc. are not helpful for advising novice peregrinos. ?Get real!

Try to arrange your trip before or after the peak summer months if you are concerned about possible "overcrowding". ?Even then, try to avoid the afternoon sun as much as possible as many experienced peregrinos will attest.

My advice for those who would have difficulty coping with a modicum of inconvenience and an aversion to dormitory style sleeping and shared bathrooms is to stay home or go on a packaged de luxe tour! ?Even Shirley MacLaine had to give up some creature comforts when she did the Camino.

Howard Mendes, NYC

-----Original Message-----
From: Rosina <blaroli at aol.com>
To: saintjames at yahoogroups.com; GoCamino at oakapple.net
Sent: Sat, Aug 1, 2009 7:37 pm
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] [saintjames] Re:  July 25th, 2009

I should have made it clear that the?suggestions in my earlier message?were 
meant for three female pilgrims in my age group who plan a pilgrimage in the 
autumn.
What I advised has worked very well, indeed, for me and other pilgrims around my 
age.? Those of you who have been on the Camino in the late afternoon may have 
noticed that generally the pilgrims walking at that time of the day tend to be 
older and to carry light backpacks.? 
It isn't always feasible?for some of us to partake of the facilities of an 
albergue; I, for one, suffer from severe insomnia which compels me to get up and 
read for a while several times throughout the night.? Others may be over 
sensitive to noises.?Others revere their privacy. ?Some pilgrims that I know 
liked the albergues a lot and didn't mind the lack of privacy, but couldn't cope 
with the surrounding noises, particularly the snoring.
It would appear that falling?asleep for some people becomes harder with age, and 
noisy surroundings certainly would aggravate the difficulties And, as we all 
know, walking becomes a painful burden when sleep-deprived.
As to the backpacks, my own have never weighed more than 12-14 pounds (5 
kilograms), but even that modest weight is too much for my 100 pound frame. 
There may also be considerations of health. Some of us have been ordered by our 
doctors never to lift anything that weighs more than 1/20th of our body weight, 
and certainly never to carry?such "weighty" ?items for long.
It is good, then, to know that there are viable and inexpensive?options.
Of course the albergues can, and should,?be enjoyed. I love to visit them and 
have dinner there or just hang out with the hospitaleros and other pilgrims, and 
I never cease to encourage young people to go to the Camino and stay in the 
albergues, emphasizing that besides the lofty purposes of the pilgrimage they 
can have a lot of fun at the albergues?and meet guys and gals.
Finally, If you can read Spanish you can bring up the newspapers around the 
Camino, like "El Correo" and "La Voz" and you will see they they are full of 
reports of, and complaints about,?overcrowded albergues and long waiting lines, 
with, as they point out, "the worse yet to come". By their nature newspapers are 
sensationalistic and most of their dire predictions can be taken with a grain of 
salt, but the overcrowding of the albergues is also being bemoaned by municipal 
authorities and pilgrims.
So far this year the number of Compostela-receiving pilgrims is quite larger 
than any other previous non-Holy Year.
Hugs!

Rosina

.

?

.

-----Original Message-----
From: Verena Maringer <verena.ma at gmx.at>
To: saintjames at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, Aug 1, 2009 2:00 pm
Subject: Re: [saintjames] Re: [Gocamino] July 25th, 2009

from my own experience i don't agree 
with quite a few things you wrote rosina. 

the albergues are fine.

usually no problem also arriving later in the afternoon, 
sometimes then i slept on the floor or in the garden, so what, most of the time 
i got a bed and it isnt that crowded even in july or august.

all the ideas you've obviously got about the albergues lack a certain
foundation of reality-experience. it's not that "packed", there's no " rush", 
you can just walk and sleep relaxed :-)
and the albergues are fun most of the
times, you meet the guys there!

the camino can be done quite pleasantly in a simple way: just walking. 

no booking and planning or sending lugage ahead needed, 
because no need for lot of things! 

all equipment we really might need fits easily in a 30l pack 
and there is no point bringing stuff we dont need, is it? 
it's really nice to keep it simple and walk with a 6 kg rucksack, 
this is enough for spanish summer conditions and almost everyone can carry this 
easily and can afford this way of pilgrimage.

especially young people from eastern europe countries who more and more come to 
the camino couldn't afford hotels and taxis and i can't see the point 
discouraging people...?

and finally the camino frances is best in infrastructure of course and hightly 
recommended for "beginners"

buean camino :-)

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:20:48 -0400
> Von: Rosina <Blaroli at aol.com>
> An: GOCAMINO at oakapple.net, saintjames at yahoogroups.com
> Betreff: [saintjames] Re: [Gocamino] July 25th, 2009

> Hi Janan, 
> With my own youth way behind me I can understand your concerns.
> To begin with, I would not recommend staying in the albergues? because the
> rush to get there limits walking to the morning since the albergues tend
> to fill up by one p.m. and, I found, walking is easier, and more pleasant,
> in the afternoon.? Walking 3 or 4 hours in the morning, then stopping for
> lunch and a rest, and walking another three or four hours in the afternoon is
> less tiring and more enjoyable, and it can be done if?one isn't in a rush
> to get to an albergue on time to secure a bunk..
> It is easier to book rooms in an inn, or a small hotel, ahead of time from
> town to town; usually the proprietor?of an inn will make arrangements for
> the next one, etc. The cost of such accommodations is not much more
> than?what a private albergue would cost, and there is the?added bonus of 
privacy
> and bathroom availability.
> Also, by this method, one can send the heavy backpack ahead (it costs
> about 3-4 dlls. to do so and there are taxis, etc., that?do this) and carry
> only the indispensable items for a day or so. Logically, this makes walking
> much, much easier and effective without the weight, and discomfort, of a
> heavy burden.
> The news are that this year, as most recent years, the Camino is
> chock-full, and the albergues are so overloaded that the municipal authorities 
of
> the various towns?are fitting up sports arenas and parks with tents for
> pilgrims. I really don't think that deferring the pilgrimage from 2010 to 2011
> would make that much difference insofar as crowds and places to spend the
> night are concerned.?And then, doing so you three would miss the
> extraordinary?opportunity of experiencing the?wondrous and special 
celebrations of a
> Holy Year, which will not come around for another eleven years.
> What I would counsel the three of you, strongly, would be to avoid the
> French Camino and opt for one of the other several routes which often are, in
> my view, more beautiful, more significant and more inspirational. The
> Camino del Norte and the Primiivo are quite?lovely and very welcoming; As you
> surely know, one need only walk the last 100 kms. to Santiago to earn a
> Compostela, and while the entire Via de la Plata maybe too much of an
> undertaking, the last 100-150 ms. through Orense are hauntingly?beautiful, and
> certainly free of?the frantic activity and crowds of the French Camino's 
segment
> from Sarria to Santiago which at times can be likened to Grand Central
> Station in New York City at rush hour.?
> Some pilgrims may disapprove of sending the backpack ahead, yet, in the
> first of my four caminos, ten years ago, I asked a priest?in Roncesvalles
> about it. He told me that?the church strongly disapproves of self-inflicted
> corporal suffering, and reminded me that when Saint Francis made his
> pilgrimage to Santiago he carried nothing but his walking stick and a bundle 
made
> of a handkerchief containing a Missal and some bread and fruit.?
> In fact, my very favorite Camino-related?work of art is precisely a
> painting of Saint Francis descending the Pyrenees on his way to Santiago 
wearing
> just such a garb.
> I can send you a copy of the painting, if you wish.
> Hugs!
> Rosina
> ?
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 

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