Tracker
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances, July (2014); Salkantay Trek (Peru), July 2016; Camino Portugues, June 2017
Greetings fellow peregrinos!
First and foremost, thanks to EVERYONE on this forum that took the time and effort to contribute their advice to newcomers such as myself. Reading your posts and detailed descriptions made planning our trip seem like looking into a crystal ball. It was truly invaluable and we appreciate everyone’s contributions – knowing and unknowing – to our success. In that spirit, and having just completed our first Camino, my wife and I thought to pay it forward and compile a brief list of things we learned along the way (or, Way…). My caveat here is that these observations are based on our own experiences and are not being represented as universal truth. This is merely a summation of some interesting tidbits we thought might be helpful. While the advice is serious, I also want the tone to be lighthearted. My humor is often sometimes…umm…misunderstood, so please trust me, any offense taken by the reader is purely unintentionally delivered on the part of the writer (who, in the spirit of full disclosure, is American).
So, here we go….
1) Train, and train lots. And start way in advance of your Camino. This piece of advice is probably the most frequently cited across this forum, and it seems like common sense, but we were surprised at how many people we met along the way (or, Way…) who were seriously unprepared for the rigors of daily long-distance walking. To that point, train with ALL of your gear (especially packs, footwear, socks, etc) before you leave. We found MANY long sections of the Camino to be covered kilometer after kilometer with jagged gravel embedded in dense clay. Walk on this for a good, long while and it will feel like the gravel is piercing the bottoms of your boots (or whatever) and going straight through the bottoms of your feet. On the other hand, there are also beautifully smooth sections of packed dirt that you might enjoy by wearing a pair of light trail running shoes. Experiment with your footwear in as varied terrain and surfaces as possible to see what works best for you. If you’re prone to blisters, have good tape handy. If you suffer from Plantar Fasciitis as my wife does, KT Tape saved her Camino.
2) Learn Spanish. No, you don’t have to be native fluent, but even basic tourist Spanish will be useful. Fortunately, I do speak Spanish but many Americans like to believe that most Europeans speak at least SOME English. As we found – at least in Spain - this is simply not true, particularly in the more rural areas through which the Camino traverses. We met far too many peregrinos who couldn’t speak a word of Spanish who related the inevitable stories of becoming seriously ill or injured during their Camino, and being utterly unable to communicate with doctors, and being unable to understand what the doctors were telling them. So, if your command of the Spanish language is limited to “Buen Camino”, you might consider putting off your trip a while longer and maybe getting Rosetta Stone, or download the Duolingo app for free on your tablet or smartphone. In addition to enriching your overall experience while traveling through Spain, it might just save your life as well.
3) As non-smokers, maybe we’re a bit more sensitive to this than most, but we didn’t stop in a café EVER where the majority of people weren’t smoking. It seemed that all of Spain smokes and smokes a LOT. So for the benefit of American non-smokers who’ve never been to Europe, get ready to hold your breath….
4) Be keenly aware of the currency conversion rate. For Americans, this means that your dollar is only worth 74 cents (as of August 2014), so plan your travel finances accordingly. Always keep a minimum of 50 Euros set aside in your pocket for emergencies since not all ATMs universally accept all cards. That should at least get you a bed and a meal. The Law of the Jungle says that ATMs will always fail you when you need them the most.
5) Most places we stopped to eat will bring a basket of bread with your meal. In most places in the States, this is always free, but in Spain they’ll charge you around a Euro for it but won’t tell you up front. If you tell them in advance you don’t want bread, there are never any hard feelings. But take my advice…spend the Euro and get the bread. It’s sensational and always fresh.
6) Unlike the States, where restaurants provide glasses of water at your table for free, in café’s/restaurants in Spain you have to ask for water. But be prepared - they’re going to bring it to you in a bottle and charge you for it. Be specific and ask for tap water if you don’t want to pay for a bottle. No one will think less of you for it. (We always opted for the bottled water, almost always Cabreiroa (excellent!), and we also developed a real fondness for Nestea in a can!!)
7) Two words: Tortilla Espanola. Two more words: Get it.
8) One unpaid endorsement: In addition to enjoying the local cuisine, our nutrition and recovery strategy along the way (or, Way…) included using a selection of products from Hammer Nutrition. As a result, our energy was always good, and our recovery for the next day meant we had no (or at least very little) soreness. Check it out.
9) Scams perpetrated against peregrinos on the Camino were fortunately, in our experience, rare. But they do occur, so common sense is in order. Two young girls approached us at Kilometer 101 (in the middle of the forest of all places) with a crudely drawn petition seeking signatures in support of a school for the deaf. Naturally, contributions were expected and rather aggressively solicited. Non-citizen signatures on a Spanish petition are legally meaningless (other than a show of moral support, I suppose). The petition was filled with signatures – ironically in the same handwriting – where it showed that alleged “contributions” of previous peregrinos averaged around 50 Euros. Yes, 50 EUROS!! Not 50 cents! While we don’t doubt the obvious generosity of our fellow peregrinos, my bulls**t radar went into overdrive. We politely declined, wished them well in their endeavors, and went on our way.
10) For the ladies out there: My wife tells me that she rarely found a toilet along the way (or, Way…) that came with a seat or lid. Just a porcelain bowl in all its glory. She also reports that said toilets almost universally were without soap or toilet paper. One female peregrina that she met also acknowledged this dilemma, and suggested that one just needs to “wiggle a bit more” at the end. I’ll just leave that one to your imaginations and will move on….
Again, these are simply some small tidbits based on our recent experiences on the Camino. The generosity of the Camino started for us well in advance of our trip through the advice of other more experienced and well-travelled peregrinos on this forum, so this is our way of gratefully adding to the discussion as well. We truly had the time of our lives and are eagerly looking forward to our next Camino, this time perhaps adding the Finisterre/Muxia extension. Thanks for reading, and most especially, thanks again to all those travelers before us for your advice and encouragement! Buen Camino to all!
First and foremost, thanks to EVERYONE on this forum that took the time and effort to contribute their advice to newcomers such as myself. Reading your posts and detailed descriptions made planning our trip seem like looking into a crystal ball. It was truly invaluable and we appreciate everyone’s contributions – knowing and unknowing – to our success. In that spirit, and having just completed our first Camino, my wife and I thought to pay it forward and compile a brief list of things we learned along the way (or, Way…). My caveat here is that these observations are based on our own experiences and are not being represented as universal truth. This is merely a summation of some interesting tidbits we thought might be helpful. While the advice is serious, I also want the tone to be lighthearted. My humor is often sometimes…umm…misunderstood, so please trust me, any offense taken by the reader is purely unintentionally delivered on the part of the writer (who, in the spirit of full disclosure, is American).
So, here we go….
1) Train, and train lots. And start way in advance of your Camino. This piece of advice is probably the most frequently cited across this forum, and it seems like common sense, but we were surprised at how many people we met along the way (or, Way…) who were seriously unprepared for the rigors of daily long-distance walking. To that point, train with ALL of your gear (especially packs, footwear, socks, etc) before you leave. We found MANY long sections of the Camino to be covered kilometer after kilometer with jagged gravel embedded in dense clay. Walk on this for a good, long while and it will feel like the gravel is piercing the bottoms of your boots (or whatever) and going straight through the bottoms of your feet. On the other hand, there are also beautifully smooth sections of packed dirt that you might enjoy by wearing a pair of light trail running shoes. Experiment with your footwear in as varied terrain and surfaces as possible to see what works best for you. If you’re prone to blisters, have good tape handy. If you suffer from Plantar Fasciitis as my wife does, KT Tape saved her Camino.
2) Learn Spanish. No, you don’t have to be native fluent, but even basic tourist Spanish will be useful. Fortunately, I do speak Spanish but many Americans like to believe that most Europeans speak at least SOME English. As we found – at least in Spain - this is simply not true, particularly in the more rural areas through which the Camino traverses. We met far too many peregrinos who couldn’t speak a word of Spanish who related the inevitable stories of becoming seriously ill or injured during their Camino, and being utterly unable to communicate with doctors, and being unable to understand what the doctors were telling them. So, if your command of the Spanish language is limited to “Buen Camino”, you might consider putting off your trip a while longer and maybe getting Rosetta Stone, or download the Duolingo app for free on your tablet or smartphone. In addition to enriching your overall experience while traveling through Spain, it might just save your life as well.
3) As non-smokers, maybe we’re a bit more sensitive to this than most, but we didn’t stop in a café EVER where the majority of people weren’t smoking. It seemed that all of Spain smokes and smokes a LOT. So for the benefit of American non-smokers who’ve never been to Europe, get ready to hold your breath….
4) Be keenly aware of the currency conversion rate. For Americans, this means that your dollar is only worth 74 cents (as of August 2014), so plan your travel finances accordingly. Always keep a minimum of 50 Euros set aside in your pocket for emergencies since not all ATMs universally accept all cards. That should at least get you a bed and a meal. The Law of the Jungle says that ATMs will always fail you when you need them the most.
5) Most places we stopped to eat will bring a basket of bread with your meal. In most places in the States, this is always free, but in Spain they’ll charge you around a Euro for it but won’t tell you up front. If you tell them in advance you don’t want bread, there are never any hard feelings. But take my advice…spend the Euro and get the bread. It’s sensational and always fresh.
6) Unlike the States, where restaurants provide glasses of water at your table for free, in café’s/restaurants in Spain you have to ask for water. But be prepared - they’re going to bring it to you in a bottle and charge you for it. Be specific and ask for tap water if you don’t want to pay for a bottle. No one will think less of you for it. (We always opted for the bottled water, almost always Cabreiroa (excellent!), and we also developed a real fondness for Nestea in a can!!)
7) Two words: Tortilla Espanola. Two more words: Get it.
8) One unpaid endorsement: In addition to enjoying the local cuisine, our nutrition and recovery strategy along the way (or, Way…) included using a selection of products from Hammer Nutrition. As a result, our energy was always good, and our recovery for the next day meant we had no (or at least very little) soreness. Check it out.
9) Scams perpetrated against peregrinos on the Camino were fortunately, in our experience, rare. But they do occur, so common sense is in order. Two young girls approached us at Kilometer 101 (in the middle of the forest of all places) with a crudely drawn petition seeking signatures in support of a school for the deaf. Naturally, contributions were expected and rather aggressively solicited. Non-citizen signatures on a Spanish petition are legally meaningless (other than a show of moral support, I suppose). The petition was filled with signatures – ironically in the same handwriting – where it showed that alleged “contributions” of previous peregrinos averaged around 50 Euros. Yes, 50 EUROS!! Not 50 cents! While we don’t doubt the obvious generosity of our fellow peregrinos, my bulls**t radar went into overdrive. We politely declined, wished them well in their endeavors, and went on our way.
10) For the ladies out there: My wife tells me that she rarely found a toilet along the way (or, Way…) that came with a seat or lid. Just a porcelain bowl in all its glory. She also reports that said toilets almost universally were without soap or toilet paper. One female peregrina that she met also acknowledged this dilemma, and suggested that one just needs to “wiggle a bit more” at the end. I’ll just leave that one to your imaginations and will move on….
Again, these are simply some small tidbits based on our recent experiences on the Camino. The generosity of the Camino started for us well in advance of our trip through the advice of other more experienced and well-travelled peregrinos on this forum, so this is our way of gratefully adding to the discussion as well. We truly had the time of our lives and are eagerly looking forward to our next Camino, this time perhaps adding the Finisterre/Muxia extension. Thanks for reading, and most especially, thanks again to all those travelers before us for your advice and encouragement! Buen Camino to all!
.
. I guess I'll have to walk another Camino to pay for my sins 
.
