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<P>As the question of how much to budget for the Camino has come up several times recently, I am taking the liberty of posting a response similar to ones I have sent directly to several subscribers to GoCamino.</P>
<P>At a dinner toward the end of our walk on the Camino last autumn, a number of us discussed costs and came up with an estimate of 3000 ptas as a comfortable amount per day for staying in refugios, eating one menu peregrino and a spanish breakfast (coffee or chocolate and a sweet roll) in a restaurante/bar, a mid-morning coffee, an afternoon soft drink or beer, lunch items purchased at a shop, and general sundries. That translates to about 18 Euros or about US$16/day, so US$20 per day should be more than adequate taking into acount the rounding up of prices in Spain following the introduction of the Euro. Of course luxuries like nights in hotels, non menu-peregrino meals, long distance calls, and cetera will add to the total, but prices in Spain are low (as long as the exchange rate for the US$ remains where it is). A decent hotel room can cost as little as US$20/per night, and an absolutely fantastic meal, including way too much fine wine, can cost less t!
han US$40. At the Parador across the Obradorio from the cathedral in Santiago, for example, a marvelous lunch with too much wine was US$35, and it is rated one the best restaurants in Europe by the New York Times. Phone calls are another matter, and I suggest rereading some recent postings on GoCamino for discussion of the cheapest ways to phone home.</P>
<P>Needless to say, one can travel more cheaply by cooking and not purchasing any restaurant meals as well as scrimping on the amounts given to albergues where "donativos" rather than fixed amounts are requested. Indeed, while walking the Camino in 1998 I ecountered a woman from Brasil who walked the Camino without any money, talking the hospitalera/os into letting her stay free and depending on other pilgrims for meals, often cooking for them in return for her meal.
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<DIV>E. O. Pederson</DIV>
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<DIV>Seattle, WA</DIV>
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