<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" LANG="0">Hello you all,<BR>
The Santiago Archdiocese has employed 50 new workers to assist pilgrims. Sixteen will work directly in the Rua del Vilar Pilgrims' Office, three will assist pilgrims arriving at the Cathedral and thirty-one will be posted through the various Camino routes keeping churches and facilities open for longer hours.<BR>
The Archdiocese has informed that 10,504 pilgrims made use of the public albergues during the last two months; this figure is double that of the last Xacobean year, 1999. Of the 7,228 pilgrims that used the public albergues during February 5,727 were on the French Way, 770 on the Portuguese Way, 281 on the Fisterre-Muxia route, 207 on the Via de la Plata, 191 on the English Way and 52 on the Northern Way.<BR>
By request of the Archdiocese, the 23 yrs.old Brasilian soccer player, Ronaldinho Gaucho, whose complete name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, (not to be confused with his countryman the international gaga-mega super star Ronaldo, the elder, who is 27), filmed a Xacobeo 2004 promotional video. Unlike the older Ronaldo who is shy and somewhat serious, Ronaldinho is an absolute charmer, and in the one year that he has been playing in Europe his winning ways, his long hair, his guitar playing and dancing and his remarkable athletic abilities have made him incredibly popular among European young people. The video was filmed on Obradeiro Square and has Ronaldinho keeping the ball in the air with his feet, chest, knees and head, and running up and down the stairs bouncing the ball with his head. At one point the producer of the video asked him to execute a "bicycle kick", which the British call a "scissors kick", during which the player does a backwards somersault and kicks the ball while his feet are above his head. Ronaldinho executed the kick and the ball went right through one of the glass windows in front of the Cathedral right by the Portico of Gloria. <BR>
(In case you are wondering, the young player is from the southernmost state in Brasil, and just as Brazilians from Rio are called "Cariocas", Brasilians from the South are called "gauchos", with the stress accent on the "u", as different from Argentinian gauchos who place the stress accent on the "a".)<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina <BR>
</FONT></HTML>