Camino De Invierno- Political Moves- Sorry I Meant Create A New Association

[Ribeirasacra]

A report of some alcaldes (mayors) or a municipal representative in which this Camiño runs have had a meeting. This is to try an organize a collective promotion of the Invierno. It is hoped that funds to do this will come from the National government and the EU.
Two of the councils could not attend and apologized for that. One, notably the one I live in, was not mentioned in the report.
Read it here in the La Voz newspaper.
What this means is unclear. So time for some rhetorical questions.
Is to to add to the work already undertaken by the Asociación Amigos do Camiño.
Is this a new and distinctive plan which will only advertise the route?
Will they be able to add better and much need infrastructure?
Will they do anything at all or will it end up an idea which will never get off the ground?
I have read the thread about Growth on the Invierno -- finally! Maybe that news report got them thinking there is money to be made.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Hi, Riberasacra.
To my understanding and what I want is to leave the Camino in PEACE.
The experience tells me that every time an official body wants to do something it spoils it and only a few people who do not benefit from the perergrinos benefit. I put you for example what happens with the hostels of Galicia that manages the Xunta. How much money spent on facilities, great, and poor service they provide. By the way is run by a private company.
Dejar el Camino en invierno en PAZ .

 

[MinaKamina]

Promoting the Invierno is only one of the possible aims of the collective.
Other goals mentioned in the article are improvement of the route and the infrastructure.
For the moment, it seems that they are busy organizing themselves.

 

[Mark Francis Auchincloss]

Hi, Riberasacra.
To my understanding and what I want is to leave the Camino in PEACE.
The experience tells me that every time an official body wants to do something it spoils it and only a few people who do not benefit from the perergrinos benefit. I put you for example what happens with the hostels of Galicia that manages the Xunta. How much money spent on facilities, great, and poor service they provide. By the way is run by a private company.
Dejar el Camino en invierno en PAZ .

With all due respect the Camino needs the help of the Mayors as representatives of their local communities! This is to ensure that the Camino and its heritage is safeguarded and enhanced. The Councils have a responsibility to protect the Camino,maintain it and promote it not only to a wider audience but for the benefit of its own citizens.They are but one of a number of multi interacting and interlocking stakeholders/agencies involved in the Camino so they would be the first to admit that there influence is limited/constrained.

Your comments are a sweeping generalisation that may have some validity in relation to the general quality of the maintainence of public Albergues in Galicia but that is a debate for another thread on the forum.

We should view any interest by local stakeholders as a positive development. Public interest stimulates private interest as well which leads to imitatives to inprove services and facilities and increases scope for local funds to be made available which will be needed including for Camino access and long-term maintenance.

 

[VNwalking]

Uh oh. I'm not sure I like the sound of this. We better walk this way soon everyone, before they 'improve' it!

 

[Ribeirasacra]

Your comments are a sweeping generalisation that may have some validity in relation to the general quality of the maintainence of public Albergues in Galicia but that is a debate for another thread on the forum.

And have you look at this?
Living in Galicia and working in tourism I know and fully understand that when a project goes political it goes bottoms up. Another example of this is making the Ribeira Sacra a world heritage site. Two years with no action.
I would also bring to your attention the hard work that has been done already to promote the route to make it offical and provide markers obtan money for an English translation of the guide book etc etc. All of this and more with no interest from the local mayors. No the project has got though some of it's hardest stages to be revitalized we get "those" with some power looking for money.
Question; what sort of Private investment do you honestly see making money on this route? How much and what sort of return can be foreseen and when will the profits be made after opening?
I am going to say this now and for everyone to read : Boy, I personally hate the use of buzzwords like local stakeholders. Especially when they are non-Spanish and used in a Spanish context.

 

[Mikel Olivares]

Ribeirasacra, I tell you that I completely disagree with everything you say.
And of course that the last paragraph is left, do not belittle any comment by the mere fact of the place of birth.

 

[Ribeirasacra]

Me? it was not me who wrote post 4 which starts with a reply to you

With all due respect the Camino needs the help of the Mayors as representatives of their local communities! This is to ensure that the Camino and its heritage is safeguarded and enhanced........

 

[Mark Francis Auchincloss]

And have you look at this?
Living in Galicia and working in tourism I know and fully understand that when a project goes political it goes bottoms up. Another example of this is making the Ribeira Sacra a world heritage site. Two years with no action.
I would also bring to your attention the hard work that has been done already to promote the route to make it offical and provide markers obtan money for an English translation of the guide book etc etc. All of this and more with no interest from the local mayors. No the project has got though some of it's hardest stages to be revitalized we get "those" with some power looking for money.
Question; what sort of Private investment do you honestly see making money on this route? How much and what sort of return can be foreseen and when will the profits be made after opening?
I am going to say this now and for everyone to read : Boy, I personally hate the use of buzzwords like local stakeholders. Especially when they are non-Spanish and used in a Spanish context.

Three Caminos to Santiago already have UNESCO World Heritage status.....Ribeira Sacra is a candidate world heritage site...so what does mean for the Invierno in the future ? It means something ..time will tell....Sarria has over 50 Albergues alone...public investment will materialise including from outside..especially if the local community are involved....as I keep stressing the Invierno needs some help.In this case all publicity is good publicity. More pilgrims will come that's what we want to see...hopefully the local communities like our presence too !!

 

[Ribeirasacra]

Interesting reading this bit of news where it states

Aida Menéndez lamenta, por otra parte, que no se les tuviese en cuenta hasta ahora en ninguna de las reuniones celebradas por alcaldes y concejales de los ayuntamientos por los que discurre el Camino de Invierno.......Pero lamentamos, porque parece poco ético, que se ignore a los que trabajamos tantos años para que todo esto pudiese convertirse en realidad

Basically saying
Aida Menéndez regrets, on the other hand, that they were not taken into account until now in any of the meetings held by mayors and councillors of the town councils through which the Camino de Invierno is routed...... We regret, because it seems unethical, to ignore those who worked so many years so that all this could become a reality,"
Link to full article.

Other news in the same piece is that two graduates will be employed to staff the pilgrims office until September of 2017. It is hoped that the conversion of the building into a pilgrims centre. These graduates will be employed also to undertake the guided visits of the tower up at the Parador.
New granite way markers will also be erected. Maybe they are by now.

 

[peregrina2000]

Interesting reading this bit of news where it states

Basically saying
Aida Menéndez regrets, on the other hand, that they were not taken into account until now in any of the meetings held by mayors and councillors of the town councils through which the Camino de Invierno is routed...... We regret, because it seems unethical, to ignore those who worked so many years so that all this could become a reality,"
Link to full article.

Other news in the same piece is that two graduates will be employed to staff the pilgrims office until September of 2017. It is hoped that the conversion of the building into a pilgrims centre. These graduates will be employed also to undertake the guided visits of the tower up at the Parador.
New granite way markers will also be erected. Maybe they are by now.

Thanks for this link. It is probably not surprising that there is a lot of infighting and maybe even some back-stabbing. It is pretty sad that now that the mayors are jumping on the Invierno bandwagon, they have seen fit to ignore the two associations that are responsible for the Invierno's official status. The Via Lusitana somehow managed to avoid most of this when they began to promote the Caminho from Lisboa. They have very good relationships with the municipalities along the way and they rely on each other a lot. Maybe the same will happen with the Invierno as things progress. I understand that the mayors are probably dancing with glee at what the Invierno could mean for their towns' economies, but I don't understand why they have chosen to ignore the people who love that camino the most!