Is there anything you miss on your Camino?

[Ajda]

Maybe is funny question, but is there anything you miss on your Camino?

I was surprised when I realize that I really miss books and reading. :shock: At home i read a lot.
And i missed that.
Offten i was looking for books in english (i knew it is too optimistic to looking for books in my language), but ther has been no book in english, only in spanish, german, dutch. And i don't speak this languages.

In Ligonde hospitaliero was from USA, and I ask him for book in english. He answered that he left english books at home, because he wanted to practis spanish language. :? At that point I was so desperate, so i sat down and read my own diary of Camino.(I did not do than ever before) :lol:

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Lots of pilgrims really miss hearing music. When they come to our house and hear music, they are so happy!

Plenty of other pilgrims bring their music along, and listen via headphones as they walk or ride. IMHO they´re missing out on a lot of other things... and sometimes they don´t hear the cars or bikes coming up from behind them.

When I walked, I missed speaking English. Until, of course, I met a gang of English speakers who wouldn´t stop talking!

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I missed having a 'proper' towel. One of the biggest treasures in Rebekah's house was a 'proper' towel!!!!
Margaret

 

[BrendaC]

Where is Rebekah's house? That sounds good! I still have 6 weeks of normal towel usage, then it's the little microfibre thing for a while.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Moratinos...... mid-way along the Meseta
Margaret

 

[Ajda]

Moratinos...... mid-way along the Meseta
Margaret

I wrote in my diary: "Morations - village of birds".
And i was in the village just for 5 minutes (erly in the morning).

 

[nellpilgrim]

Girly days and perfume .
I didn't realise just how much I missed perfume until three of us were in a Farmacia in Ponferrada getting yet more compeed and each looking like the wreck of the Hesperus- roots showing, nails wrecked & eyebrows fulsome etc.
I was smelling the perfume samples longingly when the pharmacist, a stern but elegant older woman, swept her eagle eye over us, then marched off returning with one of those enormous display bottles of scent and instructed us with graceful hand gestures to 'twirl' in the middle of the pharmacy as she sprayed us head to foot with perfume!
Oh it was gorgeous to smell so good again. This gracious lady also gave us little perfume samples telling us they were 'light light' and, having heard my friend had filled her journal and was looking for another one, ran after us (in high heels) and gave her a lovely little notebook that she found after we left her premises...all for free out of the goodness of her heart.

We took this to be a sign to have an official 'Girly Day' so instead of pushing straight on to Villafranca we had delicious cakes and coffee at a very plush cafe (we smelt so good they had to let us in despite packs and dusty gear), went window shopping, browsed in the market, had a riverside lunch, lingered in the Castello etc. This little break was actually 'camino critical' for one of us who was getting a bit wobbly about completing. I really think every camino, even male ones, should have a least one 'Girly Day'!
By the way the perfume used was Clarins 'Eau Ressourcante' or 'Rebalancing Fragrance' and that it did. Don't Camino Angels come in the least expected of guises?
Bonne Route
Nell

 

[chinacat]

Don't Camino Angels come in the least expected of guises?

Brilliant, Nell !

Whatever the 'gift', it was a gift of love.

Your day sounded great -

chinacat

 

[nellpilgrim]

Brilliant, Nell !

Whatever the 'gift', it was a gift of love.

Your day sounded great -

chinacat[/quote]

You are right chinacat and it was a gift that from a less than auspicious start made an ordinary day extraordinary.
I forgot to mention that we laughed,giggled and..... cried a little. I know that sounds uber girly but we allowed ourselves a special call to our partners and all got a bit weepy, not talking to our own partners, but when listening to each others one-sided conversations with theirs!
This experience somehow made us stronger and more committed to our journey. We were turbo charged pilgrims and 'wafted' into Villafranca on a cloud of.... well the usual slighty sweaty and dusty 'Eau de Pelerine' actually- but it was a scent we wore with pride all the way to Santiago.
Bonne route
Nell

 

[nellpilgrim]

Hey wouldn't it be a great idea to have a 'Girly Forum' I wonder what Ivar would think!....just joking! :wink:
Nell

 

[elzi]

Maybe is funny question, but is there anything you miss on your Camino?

I was surprised when I realize that I really miss books and reading. :shock: At home i read a lot.
And i missed that.
Offten i was looking for books in english (i knew it is too optimistic to looking for books in my language), but ther has been no book in english, only in spanish, german, dutch. And i don't speak this languages.

In Ligonde hospitaliero was from USA, and I ask him for book in english. He answered that he left english books at home, because he wanted to practis spanish language. :? At that point I was so desperate, so i sat down and read my own diary of Camino.(I did not do than ever before) :lol:

I too really missed reading the first time as I didn't take books cos of the weight issue!

I've found english books on sale in a bookshop in Santiago (it's the one on the same street as the pilgrim office on the same side of the street) so if you're desperate you can reward yourself with a book at the end of your camino!! They also have english books in the bookshop at Barcelona Sants Station that I often seem to pass through on my way in and out of Spain. My search for english books in central Burgos lately was fruitless though...

This year I've been very lucky, I took a book, finished it on the plane, bought a new one in barcelona station en-route to pamplona, finished it as I reached Los Arcos, found another brilliant book on the shelf in the main albergue there where people leave stuff they don't want, swapped it for the one I had just finished, read that until I swapped it for another english book my friend was reading and I was only short of reading material for the last two days! I think it would be great if there was more of a book exhange going on, like you sometimes get in backpacker hostels... of course, books can be heavy!

I take my ipod nano for music, it's incredibly light and thin and lives in my passport holder. I tend to only use it once or twice a camino but I find that on the days when things get really tough a little familiar music can really cheer you up!

Privacy is what I miss most. Some nights I would kill for my own space, and the chance to use my own bathroom and not sleep with a load of overweight snoring men walking around in too small g-strings.