Smallest_Sparrow
Life is rarely what you expect or believe it to be
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2012: most of some, all of a few, a bit of others
Since the forum seems to be lacking controversy at the moment, I thought I'd offer my take on some of the Caminos and those who love them. All in fun, I hope I won't offend...and please add or correct, I only wrote about the ones I visited...
A Quick Guide to the Caminos de Santiago
1. Camino Frances: This is THE ONE. The 800-pound gorilla in the room. The one from, you know, from the movie. Unless you are too old to have seen the movie, then you read the book by that crazy actress no one remembers. This is a non-stop, 24/7 walking party from SJPdP (OK, maybe from Zubiri, once everyone is over the shock from climbing over the Pyrenees) until you reach SdC. Making friends with new BFFs, it’s like summer camp all over again—but you know, with middle-aged Koreans, naked Italian bicyclists, lapsed Catholics, and a complete assortment of New Age crazies. Otherwise, totally like summer camp. Frances fans were always voted ‘most popular’ in high school.
2. Camino del Norte: admit it, all you Norte fans, you came for the food, the sand, and because you are afraid of competing for beds and babes on the Frances. You want to send home pictures of your feet in the water, instead of someone walking ahead of you with their underwear pinned to their back packs. Norte fans from the US drive Priuses, and cut class to surf in high school. Bicigrinos love the Norte because there are fewer walking pilgrims to yell “use your bell,” and more spots to camp. They also take joy in the fact that there aren’t as many albergues for walking pilgrims, who must instead pay for pensions and hostals, while they –the bicigrinios--are are wild-camping and burying their poop in the woods. On the Norte, “I’m on a spiritual quest” is code for “want to hook up?” In high school Norte fans threw the epic parties.
3. Camino Primitivo: Primitivo enthusiasts chuckle and high-five each other when Norte lovers complain about the first step on their route. They trade bear stories, and post pictures of skeletal remains. They may consider themselves the best company they’ve ever had. When they hit the Frances at Melide, they are the ones everyone hates because they say things like “hey, only 40km to the next albergue.” In high school, Primitivo fans were the ones who stole the rival mascot and climbed to the top of the local water tower with it, not out of school spirit but well, just because.
4. Camino Finisterre/Muxia: Pilgrims who claim this as their own wore flowers in their hair to college, and changed their name to Cricket, or Sunbeam, or Thor. Don’t ask them about space aliens, the pyramids, or their current medication.
N.b. below this point I only walked one step, so admit I might be a bit off….
5. Camino Ingles: If you are ever in a jam, you want to call on someone who loves this Camino. In college, they rowed 6*. Happy to leave the party to the Frances, and the macho to the Primitivo, they walk their own way and hope no one notices how cool it is up there. Reliable, resourceful, even-tempered. These fans are the men and women your parents wish you would marry.
6. Cami St. Jaume: even the name says it—the brooding art major that gave your mother a heart attack when you brought him or her home for the holidays. They wear avant-garde clothing, and have unpronounceable names…you’d follow them to the end of the earth, but not on some camino that doesn’t even have an adequate number of albergues.
7. Via de la Plata: You can spot one of these pilgrims from a mile away; they have sun burns under their noses and a stiff neck from looking for some stupid frog in the sun for like a thousand hours. They will then insist you look at the picture they took once they found it. You will not see it, but will agree to make them happy. They are like this because they spent a fair amount of time walking by themselves in brutal heat, and overpaying for lodging. In high school they won National Merit scholarships. These pilgrims offer to translate all of the Latin inscriptions they see; they also argue with each other over the proper declension.
8. Camino de Levante: I don’t know if it’s the mystics who lived along this route, or the long periods pilgrims go without seeing others, but hanging out with these pilgrims is kind of like a visit to another dimension …in high school you would bring home a Levante pilgrim to make your mother stop complaining about the guy from the Cami St. Jaume, and urging you to give that Ingles guy another try.
9. Camino Portugues: these pilgrims are the ones who always fell into the right teachers and classes in high school and college: you got the guy who assigned a 40-page paper, and their professor in the same subject held class outside on nice days, and graded on how pleasant your smile was. Portugues pilgrims buy one lottery ticket and win five million dollars. They also share it with the sick and poor, which makes you really mad somehow.
10. Le Puy: These are the types who hang out at the opening of art galleries, wearing black skivvies and boho jewellery, pretending to be culture vultures but really there for the free wine and cheese. They smatter their conversation with bon mots and insider jokes, making clear their superior status to those not in the know. Prepared to do serious time at the gym, as long as there are luxury showers, good conversation and decent coffee afterwards.[thanks @Kanga]
11. Camino de Madrid: If one word describes the fans of this camino, it is "insistent." First, they will insist that theirs 'is too' a real camino. Several times. Just agree, even if you suspect they chose it just to hang out at the Puerta del Sol and drink hot chocolate at 4 in the morning. You can find them studying something really weird and esotheric, insisting on telling everyone about it at parties, and insisting that really, it's the subject that makes sense of the Universe? [thanks @HeidiL, with a few additions of my own, don't blame her]
*for those wondering, I rowed 7 in a light-weight eight, bow in a varsity four…says it all I think.
A Quick Guide to the Caminos de Santiago
1. Camino Frances: This is THE ONE. The 800-pound gorilla in the room. The one from, you know, from the movie. Unless you are too old to have seen the movie, then you read the book by that crazy actress no one remembers. This is a non-stop, 24/7 walking party from SJPdP (OK, maybe from Zubiri, once everyone is over the shock from climbing over the Pyrenees) until you reach SdC. Making friends with new BFFs, it’s like summer camp all over again—but you know, with middle-aged Koreans, naked Italian bicyclists, lapsed Catholics, and a complete assortment of New Age crazies. Otherwise, totally like summer camp. Frances fans were always voted ‘most popular’ in high school.
2. Camino del Norte: admit it, all you Norte fans, you came for the food, the sand, and because you are afraid of competing for beds and babes on the Frances. You want to send home pictures of your feet in the water, instead of someone walking ahead of you with their underwear pinned to their back packs. Norte fans from the US drive Priuses, and cut class to surf in high school. Bicigrinos love the Norte because there are fewer walking pilgrims to yell “use your bell,” and more spots to camp. They also take joy in the fact that there aren’t as many albergues for walking pilgrims, who must instead pay for pensions and hostals, while they –the bicigrinios--are are wild-camping and burying their poop in the woods. On the Norte, “I’m on a spiritual quest” is code for “want to hook up?” In high school Norte fans threw the epic parties.
3. Camino Primitivo: Primitivo enthusiasts chuckle and high-five each other when Norte lovers complain about the first step on their route. They trade bear stories, and post pictures of skeletal remains. They may consider themselves the best company they’ve ever had. When they hit the Frances at Melide, they are the ones everyone hates because they say things like “hey, only 40km to the next albergue.” In high school, Primitivo fans were the ones who stole the rival mascot and climbed to the top of the local water tower with it, not out of school spirit but well, just because.
4. Camino Finisterre/Muxia: Pilgrims who claim this as their own wore flowers in their hair to college, and changed their name to Cricket, or Sunbeam, or Thor. Don’t ask them about space aliens, the pyramids, or their current medication.
N.b. below this point I only walked one step, so admit I might be a bit off….
5. Camino Ingles: If you are ever in a jam, you want to call on someone who loves this Camino. In college, they rowed 6*. Happy to leave the party to the Frances, and the macho to the Primitivo, they walk their own way and hope no one notices how cool it is up there. Reliable, resourceful, even-tempered. These fans are the men and women your parents wish you would marry.
6. Cami St. Jaume: even the name says it—the brooding art major that gave your mother a heart attack when you brought him or her home for the holidays. They wear avant-garde clothing, and have unpronounceable names…you’d follow them to the end of the earth, but not on some camino that doesn’t even have an adequate number of albergues.
7. Via de la Plata: You can spot one of these pilgrims from a mile away; they have sun burns under their noses and a stiff neck from looking for some stupid frog in the sun for like a thousand hours. They will then insist you look at the picture they took once they found it. You will not see it, but will agree to make them happy. They are like this because they spent a fair amount of time walking by themselves in brutal heat, and overpaying for lodging. In high school they won National Merit scholarships. These pilgrims offer to translate all of the Latin inscriptions they see; they also argue with each other over the proper declension.
8. Camino de Levante: I don’t know if it’s the mystics who lived along this route, or the long periods pilgrims go without seeing others, but hanging out with these pilgrims is kind of like a visit to another dimension …in high school you would bring home a Levante pilgrim to make your mother stop complaining about the guy from the Cami St. Jaume, and urging you to give that Ingles guy another try.
9. Camino Portugues: these pilgrims are the ones who always fell into the right teachers and classes in high school and college: you got the guy who assigned a 40-page paper, and their professor in the same subject held class outside on nice days, and graded on how pleasant your smile was. Portugues pilgrims buy one lottery ticket and win five million dollars. They also share it with the sick and poor, which makes you really mad somehow.
10. Le Puy: These are the types who hang out at the opening of art galleries, wearing black skivvies and boho jewellery, pretending to be culture vultures but really there for the free wine and cheese. They smatter their conversation with bon mots and insider jokes, making clear their superior status to those not in the know. Prepared to do serious time at the gym, as long as there are luxury showers, good conversation and decent coffee afterwards.[thanks @Kanga]
11. Camino de Madrid: If one word describes the fans of this camino, it is "insistent." First, they will insist that theirs 'is too' a real camino. Several times. Just agree, even if you suspect they chose it just to hang out at the Puerta del Sol and drink hot chocolate at 4 in the morning. You can find them studying something really weird and esotheric, insisting on telling everyone about it at parties, and insisting that really, it's the subject that makes sense of the Universe? [thanks @HeidiL, with a few additions of my own, don't blame her]
*for those wondering, I rowed 7 in a light-weight eight, bow in a varsity four…says it all I think.
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Especially the Ingles : I began to read about reliable ( check ) and resourceful ( check ) and then even -tempered...Moi? 
