<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Franklin Gothic Medium" LANG="0">Hello you all,<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Last month 679 pilgrims received the Compostela in Santiago. This is a significant increase from the 131 pilgrims that received the Compostela in January of the last Xacobean year, 1999.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 203 of the January pilgrims were women and 476 were men. One pilgrim rode a horse, 47 rode bicycles and 631 walked.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 58 of the pilgrims were over 60 years old, 401 were between 30 and 60 years of age, and the rest, 220, were under 30 years old.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 95.5% of the pilgrims, 648, declared a religious reason for making the pilgrimage; the rest, 31, stated an educational/cultural motive.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Most of the pilgrims, 615, followed the French Way, 28 the Northern Way, 24 the Portuguese Way, 7 the Silver Way and 5 the English Way.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 159 of these winter pilgrims started out in Sarria; 78 in O Cebreiro; 55 in Madrid (?); 52 in Ponferrada; 48 in Villafranca and the rest, in descending numbers, began their pilgrimage in Astorga, Pamplona, Roncesvalles, SJPP and Leon.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 572 of the pilgrims were from Spain and the rest, 107, came from other countries.&nbsp; Of the foreign pilgrims 14 came from Germany, 13 from Italy, 12 from Australia, 12 from the U.S.A, , 6 from Switzerland, 5 from Japan, 5 from Holland, 4 from France, 4 from Portugal, and the rest came from Brasil, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Mexico and other countries forming a total of 18 foreign countries.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You will remember that the Galician Council reported yesterday that 3,276 pilgrims had been in the albergues during last month, yet only about one fifth that number received the Compostela during the month.&nbsp; This is pretty much par for the course; on the average the number of pilgrims on the Camino at any one time is about 5 or 6. times the number of those receiving the Compostela, except during the Summer when the figures are much higher.<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also:&nbsp; do notice that the 3,276 that used the albergues last month do not include those who may have stayed in other facilities like hotels,&nbsp; private homes, etc. Pilgrims who do not use the albergues are estimated to be about 20-25% of those who do so.<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>