Why Do Adventure Snobs Hate The Camino De Santiago? By Tom Allen

[santaremhostel]

A must read...and discuss it
http://tomallen.info/adventure-snobs-hate-camino-de-santiago/
Bom Caminho
Mario

 

[Deleted member 3000]

To some people, a silver medal in the Olympics is losing! Imagine. Second best in the world; it makes you want to hand your head in shame...

 

[santaremhostel]

Agree Falcon269

 

[William Garza]

Nne
Numero Uno
Primer
Primus....

Mehh...
Just an affectation.
So yea been to the top o the Mountains Glory
And yea been to the bottoms deep

What happens after the roaring crowds crown yea with accolade and praise?
Why Tired of you they are and will be...

Shake the dust and distance off and what have you?

A man.. simply.
No more
No less.

But if some of that dust calls you in the deeps of your cup,
The deeps of the nite.
Footsteps in the stream they are!

But to start again?
The beginnings,sparkle and speckled with dew!
New chapters to write
Not for glory
Not for fame
For you..

 

[Urban Trekker]

A must read...and discuss it
http://tomallen.info/adventure-snobs-hate-camino-de-santiago/
Bom Caminho
Mario
View attachment 24790

They carry a much bigger pack than pilgrims that know better. They carry everything we carry plus food, water, and shelter. We have fountains, cafes/bars, and albergues. They live in the wild and far from civilization. We spend the night indoors in a bed in a village or town. They live rougher than pilgrims but I doubt they have ever walked the camino! Buen Camino

Happy Trails

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

It's a similar discussion to that of what/who is a real pilgrim and what distance constitutes a true pilgrimage.

Comparisons and labels.

William Garza gets to the essence of it - not for glory, not for fame, for you...

 

[KentuckyJay]

I've done Leon to Santiago and leave for Porto in about 6 weeks. I've also hiked/backed in Swiss Alps, Italian Alps, Julien Alps, Black Forest, Pyrenees and have completed 1800 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Everyone who simply enjoys the varied experiences found only in meandering throughout the out of doors doesn't need a label.

 

[peregrina2000]

I'm all in favor of a large worldwide advertising campaign by the "adventure snob" segment of the population. In fact, I would happily donate to any effort that seeks to tell people how awful the camino really is.

 

[koilife]

I'm all in favor of a large worldwide advertising campaign by the "adventure snob" segment of the population. In fact, I would happily donate to any effort that seeks to tell people how awful the camino really is.

Can I triple like this?! Ivar --- Let us vote on the best response of the month . . . @peregrina2000 just took the prize!

Long live Francis Tarpon and his vitriol!

 

[sabbott]

I stayed up way too late last night reading Francis Tarpon's well-known blog post "Ten Reasons El Camino Santiago Sucks" (not scenic, too crowded, too paved, the "bitch" in Finisterre that wouldn't let him stay in an albergue, etc.), and the hundreds of comments by folks who had walked the Camino that followed this post--most of them angry at Tarpon. There was one reaction to the blog post that was very moving, which I'll share here. I can't credit the writer, as it was an anonymous blog comment. But I thought it beautifully communicated the power that a pilgrimage can hold, and I hope to keep what the writer says in my heart when I start walking in a few weeks:

"You can find God in a mud puddle. Or in a diamond. Nowhere and everywhere. God is on the highway and on a dirt path. I was not a tourist on the Camino this last fall, I was a pilgrim with my hat in my hand all 500 miles. Grateful, heartbroken and heart-open.

I took a break from a year of supporting my daughter and her son, age 2, who had cancer (he died just before Christmas). It was a brutal year of horrific treatment and suffering for this beautiful child.

So I read with a kind of wry smile when you say the Camino sucked. Because some "bitch" didn't deliver, because it wasn't "wild" enough or hip enough. For me, walking the Way gave me exactly what I needed: I returned to my family with renewed strength and peace to face the unthinkable. I didn't know he was going to die when I was on the camino, in fact, I took the month off because he was doing so much better and was finished with the brutal therapies. A month after I returned from Camino he relapsed and the cancer returned with a vengeance unexpectedly, and he died a very painful, heartbreaking death under hospice care. we were all helpless.

But it was the Camino experience, and the deeper faith it brought me, that saw me through. I learned to accept what was in front of me, be it a delayed or non-existent shower, a yucky meal, a noisy albergue, or no room at the albergue and more kilometers to walk on aching feet. I learned to put one foot in front of the other and be grateful. I learned to tolerate others, which sometimes I did well, sometimes I sucked at that. I walked every mile with a prayer in my heart and tried to be kind to others. Sometimes I failed.

I returned a better person, which is why I went. I didn't look at How the Camino Sucked, I looked at how i sucked, which was illuminated in surprising ways by all the difficulties you speak of.

The Camino is like a dear, dear friend who gave me more than I could ever give back. You should understand that Mr. Tapon. When you throw insults around, my loyalty and sense of indebtedness kicks in, and I want to defend my friend. I only wish you could know the Camino like I do. As long as you "want" stuff, you never will.

All the reasons the Camino sucked for you were, for me, reasons to love it all the more. The point of life isn't always comfort, entertainment and thrills. In fact, it never is.

I'm glad you said what you wanted to say. I've said what I wanted to say. Vive free speech forever."

 

[Barbara06]

No need to compare 2 things so different...

 

[katief]

I've done Leon to Santiago and leave for Porto in about 6 weeks. I've also hiked/backed in Swiss Alps, Italian Alps, Julien Alps, Black Forest, Pyrenees and have completed 1800 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Everyone who simply enjoys the varied experiences found only in meandering throughout the out of doors doesn't need a label.

I labelled my Camino, all of it from St. Jean to Finisterre' A very long walk in Spain' ..I enjoyed every step.....whats not to like about putting the boots on...tying the laces ,which was a ritual, and walking through new tracks .............oh and it is something I never thought I would ever do...and I would be very pleased and honored to be in that Silver Medal place.......perspectives,perspectives, persectives.

 

[trecile]

I'm excited about walking the Camino because precisely because I like being around lots of people, in towns, cities and villages! The idea that I can walk from village to village is fantastic! Totally impossible in the western US where I live. And I have no desire to "rough it".

 

[Terri B]

Go your own way and don't judge others by the method they travel or where they travel!!

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Go your own way and don't judge others by the method they travel or where they travel!!

There's another song to add to the Camino playlist!

 

[Bradypus]

are there also "camino snobs", perhaps?

There certainly are. The example I remember most clearly was the young man I met in Santiago after I had just finished walking the Primitivo - the one who asked me if I had any plans to walk "the real Camino" next Only just managed to resist the temptation to switch into full grumpy-old-fart mode and tell the little piece of snot that I had walked the Camino Frances before he was born. Possibly because he was at least 6'2" of American college footballer and I have some sense of self-preservation

 

[Thornley]

There certainly are. The example I remember most clearly was the young man I met in Santiago after I had just finished walking the Primitivo - the one who asked me if I had any plans to walk "the real Camino" next Only just managed to resist the temptation to switch into full grumpy-old-fart mode and tell the little piece of snot that I had walked the Camino Frances before he was born. Possibly because he was at least 6'2" of American college footballer and I have some sense of self-preservation

I assume Brady he was 30 yrs

Son , when were you born ?
Answer .....blah blah blah
Well when you were 2 i walked the Camino Frances with no iPads , no phones , no reservations and compared with today not many people to talk or walk with.
The signs were not comparable to today and my only guide book was Shirley's telling me about the wild dogs.
Who's Shirley he might have asked.
Come with me son , i'll buy you a beer tell you a story.
He might then have woken up mate.
Many more healthy years Bradypus

 

[Bradypus]

Come with me son , i'll buy you a beer tell you a story.
He might then have woken up mate.

Quite the reverse, I suspect. When I get into old-fart mode I am an Olympic-standard bore and I would probably put everyone to sleep in a 50m radius

On my first Camino I used the big red guidebook by Fr Elias Valina. Some useful strip maps in there. Fortunately Shirley didn't come along for another few years.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

self-esteem issues, no doubt.

as for the article, just one comment: many people feel the same sense of accomplishment doing the required 100-km hike, there are a million factors, and all personal, that provide a sense of accomplishment; it is not the distance, in my opinion at least.

''For when you’ve completed any 800-kilometre hike, you really are entitled to feel a sense of accomplishment. You’ve put one foot in front of the other until the job is done. And you are ready for a well-earned rest.'' (extract from teh article)

 

[newfydog]

They have it all wrong We're heading out on a 20 day paddle trip through the Okefenokee swanp and down the Suwanee river during allegator mating season. We know we'll be safe because we have done our pilgrimages and St James will watch over us.

 

[lovingkindness]

They have it all wrong We're heading out on a 20 day paddle trip through the Okefenokee swanp and down the Suwanee river during allegator mating season. We know we'll be safe because we have done our pilgrimages and St James will watch over us.

...my, my... @newfydog you're going to suffer. If the alligators don't eat you the mozzies most surely will. 20 days in a swamp, St James and all the suffering saints will be laughing!... ...

 

[Bradypus]

St James will watch over us.

I'd play safe and pray for some expert help from St Theodore too. Must work - do you see many alligators in the Venice canals these days?

 

[zzotte]

consider the source, no comments

zzotte

 

[J F Gregory]

I am on the Camino presently and do not consider it adventure, though there are some aspects like traveling from SJPDP to Roncesvalles and down the mountain. That was a rough 2 days.
I am walking to fulfill something I haven't found yet. Just finished walking day 9. Haven't found it yet, I may or may not find the illusive IT. But l will keep.looking.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Trekking the Inca Trail; climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; walking the PCT or similar are "adventures". The Camino de Santiago is not now and I strongly doubt has never been defined as "an adventure" - it was inception was as a pilgrimage route - religious or spiritual (insert your definition here) trek. To close about the only adventure is from the joy of achievement (walking the 800 km) or meeting some wonderful people who may become your new, life-long friends. Cheers

 

[William Garza]

Do they see the road not taken as a challenge?
Or, a place marker for future reference?

There are roads
There are ways
There is moving
And in moving there is Joy.
Roads..are mere...suggestions
Ways, are metaphysical, mental,emotional....patterns
You follow ways

All are facilitators to movement..
Whether "A"...

Or existent to a means to an end
A circumstance of action.
Exigent circumstance

Migratory instinct, i follow a river of stars
West toward the illusory home
Must chase that gleaming sliver buried deep and festering so in my breast.

What a glorious and fatal flaw that i must suffer so
So that I ..I may find the lost...
The found
And the questions unanswered between them.

To slink home roughly
And touch the Eternal
To fade into nothing
Yet in combine with the Such-ness
Primal
Yet eternal
That City on the Hill.

Is it finding the Greater
By being the lesser as we step once close
One
Further from..
To...

Or is it merely a checked box
In a life of checked boxes

There is meaning..I am sure of it
There must be a meaning
Has to be....

We touch the Sacred
The Holy of Holys
And find...

Peace
Or another piece added.

 

[koilife]

I wonder whether many of the people who react angrily to Francis Tarpon's site actually read through his page or just read the title and see red.

I actually read it about five years ago, and I almost didn't go on my first camino because of it. I'm inclined to agree that much of the actual information he shares is accurate; it's his self-opinionated spin I find objectionable because, even as he advocates people hiking their own hike, he's being disingenuous. A fairer treatment (and more intellectually honest for one who wrote "Hike Your Own Hike," a book I have read) would have been simply to say, "10 reasons why I didn't like El Camino," but that wouldn't drive search hits or glorify his ego, which is what a review of his writings and overall responses to comments would suggest are his primary concerns. I am awed by the accomplishments of the man, but underwhelmed by the man himself. But, if his critique turns away other "adventure snobs," then there's lemonade to be made from the lemons after all.

As to the Tom Allen piece. What are "adventure snobs" and are there also "camino snobs", perhaps?

Yes, and neither justifies the arrogance of the other.

 

[mspath]

Do they see the road not taken as a challenge?
Or, a place marker for future reference?

There are roads
There are ways
There is moving
And in moving there is Joy.
Roads..are mere...suggestions
Ways, are metaphysical, mental,emotional....patterns
You follow ways

All are facilitators to movement..
Whether "A"...

Or existent to a means to an end
A circumstance of action.
Exigent circumstance

Migratory instinct, i follow a river of stars
West toward the illusory home
Must chase that gleaming sliver buried deep and festering so in my breast.

What a glorious and fatal flaw that i must suffer so
So that I ..I may find the lost...
The found
And the questions unanswered between them.

To slink home roughly
And touch the Eternal
To fade into nothing
Yet in combine with the Such-ness
Primal
Yet eternal
That City on the Hill.

Is it finding the Greater
By being the lesser as we step once close
One
Further from..
To...

Or is it merely a checked box
In a life of checked boxes

There is meaning..I am sure of it
There must be a meaning
Has to be....

We touch the Sacred
The Holy of Holys
And find...

Peace
Or another piece added.

"...But to have been,
This once, completely, even if only once:
To have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing."

Rainer Maria Rilke, 9th Duino Elegy

 

[rometimed]

Good article. I would like a bigger stress that the Camino is so individual that it's certainly a personal adventure. I did the Lycian way which was waaaaaaaaay more "adventurous" but the Camino held just as much, if not more, meaning.

 

[William Garza]

"...But to have been,
This once, completely, even if only once:
To have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing."

Rainer Maria Rilke, 9th Duino Elegy

Thank you for posting that..I never knew of this poet!

 

[Texas Walker]

It's a similar discussion to that of what/who is a real pilgrim and what distance constitutes a true pilgrimage.

Comparisons and labels.

William Garza gets to the essence of it - not for glory, not for fame, for you...

Comparisons, labels, and the desire not to be annoyed by anything they didn't want (order up) in their experience. I think some of them don't really like to be around people. When they go out hiking, they don't want to see any sign that anyone else even exists, much less lives in villages along the trail or is on a shorter trip that shares part of the route.

When we were on that last 100 km of the Frances, with the grannies walking and chatting in their kaffeeklatsches and the school trips jumping on the fallen logs and whatnot, it was more tiring because of the changed sounds--but I kept reminding myself: I don't own the Camino. And when DH muttered about the "children's brigade" I said it to him too. As we went along, we matured and became able to keep our cool.

It is true that the Camino is not the same experience as the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. The Camino isn't even trying to be that experience. It is it's own experience.

Probably someday those same kids that ran and posed for pictures and were full of energy in 2014 will come back, older and ready for a different kind of growing, and they, too, will be challenged by the tumult of the next generation.

 

[newfydog]

...my, my... @newfydog you're going to suffer. If the alligators don't eat you the mozzies most surely will. 20 days in a swamp, St James and all the suffering saints will be laughing!... ...

Nah, we love swamps, and my Saints never laugh at us, they show up on a white horse and help. We just finished a four day paddle in preparation. Remote area, hardly saw anyone. I forgot extra toilet paper, but the first night we camped on a scruffy small island with no sign of any previous campers. The only sign of anyone was a willow grove where someone forgot a sealed plastic container with five rolls of wrapped toilet paper. St James is great with details

 

[Icacos]

Comparisons, labels, and the desire not to be annoyed by anything they didn't want (order up) in their experience. I think some of them don't really like to be around people. When they go out hiking, they don't want to see any sign that anyone else even exists, much less lives in villages along the trail or is on a shorter trip that shares part of the route.

When we were on that last 100 km of the Frances, with the grannies walking and chatting in their kaffeeklatsches and the school trips jumping on the fallen logs and whatnot, it was more tiring because of the changed sounds--but I kept reminding myself: I don't own the Camino. And when DH muttered about the "children's brigade" I said it to him too. As we went along, we matured and became able to keep our cool.

It is true that the Camino is not the same experience as the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. The Camino isn't even trying to be that experience. It is it's own experience.

Probably someday those same kids that ran and posed for pictures and were full of energy in 2014 will come back, older and ready for a different kind of growing, and they, too, will be challenged by the tumult of the next generation.

I was hoping another member would comment on something in this post, but no one has, so here goes.....

@Texas Walker, I take issue with your mention of "grannies walking and chatting in their kaffeeklatsches" in the last 100 km of the Frances. There are a great number of 'grannies' walking the various routes to Santiago - I was one of them - and a lot of us start way further back than the 'last 100 km.' And I mean way further back - for instance Le Puy - not that I was one of those. Is there something wrong with stopping and chatting over a cup of coffee? Should we bring our knitting too? And what about all the grandpas? Do they not stop for coffee, during the last 100 km? Or is it only beer, or vino tinto?

I feel better now. Thank you.

 

[Kanga]

I love it @newfydog. A very human miracle.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

the Camino is not the same experience as the Appalachian Trail

And it is a LOT older! The AT is a construct that is just being completed. It became possible after the mountains had been logged to bare earth and no one wanted the mountain crest anymore. Second growth trees finally provide some shade these days, but the vista viewpoints are becoming fewer as the trees grow. If you think you can find hubris in the "entire thing" pilgrims, chat with thruhikers!!

 

[Gary94123]

I've done Leon to Santiago and leave for Porto in about 6 weeks. I've also hiked/backed in Swiss Alps, Italian Alps, Julien Alps, Black Forest, Pyrenees and have completed 1800 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Everyone who simply enjoys the varied experiences found only in meandering throughout the out of doors doesn't need a label.

Are you doing the Coastal or Interior route? We leave from Porto on May 10.

 

[Mariel]

My first writing in this site. I don't really like to write on the net but once in a while I do it. Here it goes. A couple of weeks ago I was sadly surprised ,even shocked by the harsh comments of quite some people on this site about a couple of people who had been rescued on the Camino Frances. While the comments on the Spanish newspaper were of relief that the people had be spared a dreadful death and thankfulness to the rescue brigade.
Now I read this thread about "adventurous snobs "who "hate" the Camino .
And I wonder : why discuss about this? Why judge people? Aren't we all diferent?
For sure we are. Can any of us say he or she is better than the other? We might think so now and then but we need to resist that thought and let people be who they are in their own right with their own choices. If people don't walk , if they walk as walkers, if they walk as pilgrims, if they are out of faith or find their faith on the way, all of it is ok and none of it matters.
At the end judging others seems like vanity disguised as righteousness . None of it is good for the soul so maybe restrain is a better exercise.
A good day to all.

 

[Sheena]

I stayed up way too late last night reading Francis Tarpon's well-known blog post "Ten Reasons El Camino Santiago Sucks" (not scenic, too crowded, too paved, the "bitch" in Finisterre that wouldn't let him stay in an albergue, etc.), and the hundreds of comments by folks who had walked the Camino that followed this post--most of them angry at Tarpon. There was one reaction to the blog post that was very moving, which I'll share here. I can't credit the writer, as it was an anonymous blog comment. But I thought it beautifully communicated the power that a pilgrimage can hold, and I hope to keep what the writer says in my heart when I start walking in a few weeks:

"You can find God in a mud puddle. Or in a diamond. Nowhere and everywhere. God is on the highway and on a dirt path. I was not a tourist on the Camino this last fall, I was a pilgrim with my hat in my hand all 500 miles. Grateful, heartbroken and heart-open.

I took a break from a year of supporting my daughter and her son, age 2, who had cancer (he died just before Christmas). It was a brutal year of horrific treatment and suffering for this beautiful child.

So I read with a kind of wry smile when you say the Camino sucked. Because some "bitch" didn't deliver, because it wasn't "wild" enough or hip enough. For me, walking the Way gave me exactly what I needed: I returned to my family with renewed strength and peace to face the unthinkable. I didn't know he was going to die when I was on the camino, in fact, I took the month off because he was doing so much better and was finished with the brutal therapies. A month after I returned from Camino he relapsed and the cancer returned with a vengeance unexpectedly, and he died a very painful, heartbreaking death under hospice care. we were all helpless.

But it was the Camino experience, and the deeper faith it brought me, that saw me through. I learned to accept what was in front of me, be it a delayed or non-existent shower, a yucky meal, a noisy albergue, or no room at the albergue and more kilometers to walk on aching feet. I learned to put one foot in front of the other and be grateful. I learned to tolerate others, which sometimes I did well, sometimes I sucked at that. I walked every mile with a prayer in my heart and tried to be kind to others. Sometimes I failed.

I returned a better person, which is why I went. I didn't look at How the Camino Sucked, I looked at how i sucked, which was illuminated in surprising ways by all the difficulties you speak of.

The Camino is like a dear, dear friend who gave me more than I could ever give back. You should understand that Mr. Tapon. When you throw insults around, my loyalty and sense of indebtedness kicks in, and I want to defend my friend. I only wish you could know the Camino like I do. As long as you "want" stuff, you never will.

All the reasons the Camino sucked for you were, for me, reasons to love it all the more. The point of life isn't always comfort, entertainment and thrills. In fact, it never is.

I'm glad you said what you wanted to say. I've said what I wanted to say. Vive free speech forever."

Well said dear Sabbott. Far from the Camino 'sucking' (an awful word in itself), I feel the Camino experience changed me. I felt I was beginning to heal, following the deaths, over a very short space of time, of several much loved relations and friends. For me the Camino was a wonderful experience, full of highs and some lows but never was it as Mr. Tapon experienced. This June my husband and I are hoping to experience more on the Portuguese Coastal Camino. We can hardly wait to set off, such is our love of the whole experience.

 

[Leigh J Christensen]

A must read...and discuss it
http://tomallen.info/adventure-snobs-hate-camino-de-santiago/
Bom Caminho
Mario
View attachment 24790

I had second thoughts about speaking up, but I'm going to. This article is quite mean spirited. And some of the comments are as well. I'm saying something because since I've joined this forum it isn't the first time I've encountered snark and sarcasm. It is the last thing I expected on a forum dedicated to a pilgrimage that most folks do for reasons that run from "for the heck of it" to "finding myself" and everything in between. It is just fine to have an opinion about things. It's a whole other thing to diminish, demean or belittle someone else. Personally, I wouldn't even try to compare the Camino with something like the sort of hiking done on The AT. And the fact that folks on the Camino like to laugh about the ones that show up with "all their gear" means that those folks are right there in the same category as the "adventure snobs" described in the article. (that old adage about pointing your finger means 4 more are pointing back at you) I'm sure there are people that will never do the Camino because it's too cushy for their taste, and there are people that would never attempt the AT. I'm sure there are just as many that do both sorts of "adventures"? I'm sure there are plenty of folks that do the camino that have sky dived, go skiing and plenty of other adventure in between. I don't know who the person is that wrote the article but it was written with malice and that is just sad. Just stop.

 

[Victoria_Peregrina]

What is the meaning of "adventure"? Must it be an athletic fit, such as climbing the second highest peaks on each continent? Must it be in an "official" adventure area, such as Hua Shan mountain trail? Must it be geopolitically dangerous, such as the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan?

When I walked the Camino last year, I got lost two and a half times. At the time, I had a real sense of danger. Later, I reclassified my experiences (especially the second one) as adventures. This year, I will not make the same mistakes, but I am sure fresh mistakes are awaiting me. I am leaving on Wednesday.

 

[trafferty]

To me an adventure is going someplace I have never been and doing things I have never done. Simple as that.

 

[Alison Chandler]

A must read...and discuss it
http://tomallen.info/adventure-snobs-hate-camino-de-santiago/
Bom Caminho
Mario
View attachment 24790

On Camino in October folk asked me "Are you going to do more of this?" They meant walking. They meant am I going to do Kilimanjaro, the West Highland Way etc. I answered their question "Yes" but I didn't mean what they meant. I meant I am going to do more Camino. Some of it will be walking. Some of it will be on the Ways of St James. Some of it will be - and already has been - going deeper (not further or faster or higher or more adventurously). When we say to each other "Buen Camino" we don't just mean have a good walk. I went so slow I nearly sank (gladly) into the Galician leafmould and yellow mud. Others skimmed over the surface. That's not Camino.

 

[Alison Chandler]

I was hoping another member would comment on something in this post, but no one has, so here goes.....

@Texas Walker, I take issue with your mention of "grannies walking and chatting in their kaffeeklatsches" in the last 100 km of the Frances. There are a great number of 'grannies' walking the various routes to Santiago - I was one of them - and a lot of us start way further back than the 'last 100 km.' And I mean way further back - for instance Le Puy - not that I was one of those. Is there something wrong with stopping and chatting over a cup of coffee? Should we bring our knitting too? And what about all the grandpas? Do they not stop for coffee, during the last 100 km? Or is it only beer, or vino tinto?

I feel better now. Thank you.

I'm not a granny (but only by accident) but I was just off my 58th birthday on Camino (leaving husband and daughter behind). One day (Portomarin to Palas del Rei) we were passed by a huge Spanish school party. I was feeling pretty alone and separate from the fitness freaks in my group over those first days. Later on I came across a gaggle of the teenagers on a pretty little bridge. One of the boys was singing in English in a thick Spanish accent from the Jungle Book, "I wanna walk like you, talk like you ..." and I, grey haired limping and dumpy, joined in with him "... can learn to be human too". That is what Camino is about .... generations of people walking, talking, joining in , learning to be human.

 

[KentuckyJay]

Are you doing the Coastal or Interior route? We leave from Porto on May 10.

I have never been able to figure out which interior route is considered "the" interior route. I am going by way of Rares, Barcelos, Rubias, Tui--. Perhaps we will cross trails. I will be the old guy struggling up moderate inclines.

 

[KentuckyJay]

Are you doing the Coastal or Interior route? We leave from Porto on May 10.

Forgot to include that I leave from Porto on May 13.

 

[Alison Chandler]

Nne
Numero Uno
Primer
Primus....

Mehh...
Just an affectation.
So yea been to the top o the Mountains Glory
And yea been to the bottoms deep

What happens after the roaring crowds crown yea with accolade and praise?
Why Tired of you they are and will be...

Shake the dust and distance off and what have you?

A man.. simply.
No more
No less.

But if some of that dust calls you in the deeps of your cup,
The deeps of the nite.
Footsteps in the stream they are!

But to start again?
The beginnings,sparkle and speckled with dew!
New chapters to write
Not for glory
Not for fame
For you..

I'm not a granny (but only by accident) but I was just off my 58th birthday on Camino (leaving husband and daughter behind). One day (Portomarin to Palas del Rei) we were passed by a huge Spanish school party. I was feeling pretty alone and separate from the fitness freaks in my group over those first days. Later on I came across a gaggle of the teenagers on a pretty little bridge. One of the boys was singing in English in a thick Spanish accent from the Jungle Book, "I wanna walk like you, talk like you ..." and I, grey haired limping and dumpy, joined in with him "... can learn to be human too". That is what Camino is about .... generations of people walking, talking, joining in , learning to be human.

 

[Alison Chandler]

For @texaswalker
WHAT CAMINO IS ALL ABOUT
Fifty seven
I limped the pilgrims way
the Road to heaven.
One day
Feeling alone
Grinding bone
I heard up ahead
A giggling gaggle of girls and boys
Making a noise
Ratatatatatatat
Spanish chat.
I lfited my head
Lifted my hat
Took a look.
A boy sang from the
Jooongel Booook
in Spanish vowels
As I approached
I Caught his look,
Great big grin
"Wanna walk like yooo"
"Talk like yoooo""
Oooo –oooo –oooo".
I sang back
He sang too
Him fourteen
On the bridge between
This life and that
Him and me,
we were just
Learning to be
Hyoo-oo-ooo- man too-oo-oo.

 

[jbear]

Wow, loved the Tim Allen article. It's a great way to explain it to someone who's just discovering the Camino.

 

[Lance Chambers]

"You can find God in a mud puddle. Or in a diamond. Nowhere and everywhere. God is on the highway and on a dirt path. I was not a tourist on the Camino this last fall, I was a pilgrim with my hat in my hand all 500 miles. Grateful, heartbroken and heart-open.
"

Thank you for this. It is a beautiful statement of what the Camino meant for this lovely lady.