[Gocamino] Numbers.......

[Rosina]

Hello you all,
Last Saturday alone the pilgrims office dispensed 1,495 compostelas, a number only equaled on July 25 of 2004 (the Apostle's feast day in the last Holy year).
As of June 30, 2010, the office had awarded 90,776 Compostelas, or roughly 33,000 more than during the same period in the last Holy Year (57,998).  The proportion of non-Spaniard pilgrims was also larger.  Of these, German pilgrims are the largest group.... again.
Unless you are taking a cool rest in Saturn, Mars or some other planet, you know that both Germany and Spain are poised to be finalists in the contest for the World Cup. Santiago being in Spain, and Germans being so pilgrimage-bound, it is not surprising that enormous numbers of people in Spain and Germany have made solemn promises to walk the Camino if their country wins the coveted trophy next Sunday.
I haven't heard of similar promises being made by citizens of the other two countries still in the running: Uruguay and Holland, but being that the presence of citizens of the Netherlands has always been felt in the Camino, a surge of pilgrims from Holland wouldn't surprise me in the least if their country were to win the Cup.
Among recent pilgrims arriving in Santiago were twenty four-legged ones: dogs from an animal shelter in the canary islands; accompanied by 5o volunteers they walked from Astoria to publicize the plight of abandoned or mistreated pets and the needs of the Bando and other pet shelters. 

The Archdiocese is beginning to prepare for the Pope's visit on November 6th.  There is an invitation for those who wish to do so to accompany the Pontiff from Lavacolla to the Cathedral.  I don't really understand this. His Holiness is supposed to spend only eight hours in Santiago, with two of them dedicated to officiating a solemn Mass.  But doesn't the walk from Lavacolla itself take quite a few hours? 
Well, I expect they'll arrange it somehow. They always do.

Hugs!

Rosina