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<DIV>Before trekking from Saint Jean to Santiago in May and June of last year, I
read CAMINO by S.M. Along the route I spoke with hospitaleros about
her. Their accounts are summarized here: she received sellos at the
refugios but stayed in hotels; her pack was so small as to be
risible; she was accompanied by body-guards; she was invariably well
dressed, occasionally with ostentation, clean, and not trail-ridden. In
the town of Acebo I spoke with the only hospitalero that supported her claim
that she had traversed the entire Camino. He adamantly affirmed that she
had spent seven days in mediation there and he had witnessed this. If I
remember correctly her book stated that she had done the entire walk in thirty
days. If we allow seven days for meditation one must conclude that she
accomplished the entire trek in 23 days. Unbelievable! Similar
reports were shared with me about Cohelo whose work, according to the many
Brasileros on the trail, sold about forty million copies. Based on my
conversations, then, I must allege that both authors are long on
imagination and short on practice and veracity. I walk my own trail so the
actions of most others in no ways impinges on the integrity of my being but I
find the inconsistencies inherent in the two accounts aforementioned interesting
and rather representative of the "new age." The respect I feel for the
experience I perceived while on the Camino prohibits my profanation of the
experience by hyperbole or fabrication. Apparently, my attitude and
reaction are unique. </DIV></BODY></HTML>