Nicole- I've been inviting whomever want to join in! We're planning now on mid- to late-April of 2002. Plenty of time to save some ducats and get in biking shape! If you've got the inclination, I think you should do it! I've got one other friend already confirmed, and another about 90%. We'll watch out for you (probably the other way around... .)

Let's discuss when we get together with the other LA'ers next time! (Maybe we should have a Dinner Group-slash-Lakers Championship party!!!!)

woo hoo!

I wanted to post some thoughts from jdowney. I've been following her pilgrimage via e-mail for the last few months, as she's been kind enough to put me on her e-mail list. Here are a few excerpts from her last e-mail. She made it to Santiago over this last weekend:

»I have made it to Santiago and so much has happened. When I last wrote I had only two days left and then I would be in Santiago. And, that is when the rain came. Unbelievable rain. Rain so thick and wet that at first I thought it was hail. It was almost impossible to see anything and since I did not bring any gore-tex clothing, only a plastic rain parka; I was soaked in a
matter of seconds. My first thought was to try and walk it in one day because it was obivious that the rain was not going to stop. That would mean walking 40 Kilometers with my pack and I almost did it. But, my body and feet gave out at 36 Kilometers. The road into Santiago is up hill on small, narrow, mostly dirt trails; You meet people
throughout the camino and then lose them along the only to find them in the end. (I have already been to several celebrations).

»The next morning I awoke at 6:00am and walked the last 4 Kilometers into Santiago. It took me only an hour to make it to the church and that includes getting lost in the city. (The theory is: Whenever lost, just walk up hill and you will find your way. It is mostly true). It was amazing to be at the
church so early in the morning. I saw no one and was susprised to find the church doors open. With my pack on and my smelly pilgrim clothes, I walked into a mostly empty church. It was then that I saw my first old friend. A man and his wife, both from the states, were in the process if saying
goodbye to Santiago when they saw me. They asked me if I had a place to stay and when I said no, they took me to their hostal and set me up with a room. We then had a wonderful breakfast and talked until they had to leave to catch their plane. At this time, the alberque in Santiago is closed and in the process of being remodled. So all pilgrims must find refuge in hostels, hotels etc..

»That first day is kind of a blur. When a pilgrim arrives they are to go to the Peregrino Office (Oficina del Peregrino) and register. You then recieve your certificate and they ask you which mass you will be attending. At that mass, the priest announces your arrival to the people attending. For example, he said "Starting from St.Jean Pied-de-Port, USA, 1 persona". It is really very nice. The 12:00 mass is for pilgrims and is everyday. They did a special swinging of the bucket with fire and incense. I am not sure what it is but
it took six men to pull the ropes and swing the bucket high into the air. It was really amazing.

»Today, Sunday 17th of June, I went to the 12:00 mass again along with about 100 pilgrims. And, again recieved a very nice surprise. A priest from Holland who walked with me for three days and is my age, was officating at this mass. I was lucky enough to be in the second row and wearing my
signature yellow rain jacket and matching yellow sandals so he saw me almost immediately. Seeing him perform parts of the ceromony gave this mass a whole new feeling for me. It was like watching an old friend. I was very proud of him. When I caught up with him shortly after the mass, he told me that I was one of people he had been waiting for and that when he saw me in the crowd
it was the first and only time he fell out of his priestly presense. He actually smiled and waved to me from the altar. It was very nice.

I hope you've enjoyed this latest installment as much as I have. I asked her if it was okay for me to post, and she said sure, as it may help others who would like to do the camino. By the way, the "big bucket" is called the "botafumeiro" and is as she states "large". Traditionally, the botafumeiro (incense burner) was swung in order to stave off the smell of the arriving pilgrims. As jdowney pointed out, things still get a little smelly on the road.

I'll try to post a little more later as it becomes available.

I just got this e-mail from jdowney this morning. She's added the trek to Finisterre to her pilgrimage. I've decided to include the entire text of her e-mail, as it is representative of the adventures, challenges and friendships you can (and will) experience on the road to Santiago. Enjoy!!!

»Hello Everyone,
I made it to Finisterra and it was tougher than walking to Santiago. While I did not have torrential rains, I did have blazing sun, huge mountain peaks, fallen trees and unmarked trails. This trail probably most resembles what pilgrims in the middle ages walked.

The way to Finisterra is in three parts. The first day 34 Kilometers, The second day 37 km and the third day 22 km. According to the tourist office in Santiago there is no other way to walk to Finisterra.

The first day was the most difficult. The trails are not marked and it is common for all pilgrims to get lost, which is exactly what happened to me. Like most pilgrims, I got lost getting out of Santiago. It seems that children have played with the signs and arrows and pointed them in many different directions. It was not uncommon to get to your next destination only to find four arrows pointing north, south, east and west.
Everyone I spoke with who had walked to Finisterra did not see another person on the trail. It was not the same for me. During that first day, I saw four other pilgrims, two on bikes and two on foot. After walking for six hours, mostly wondering if I was going in the correct direction, it was nice
to see other people. The two other walking pilgrims were two men in their 70´s with rucksacks heavier than mine and who walked twice as fast. They are from a small Spanish island called Mallorca. By the time I ran into them, I had gotten lost twice on the mountain and each time I had to double back.
The forest was thick with brush, wild flowers, eucalyptus and oak trees. My legs and arms were scrached and red. The same was true of the two men. At one point I had to climb over trees and then underneath them. It was a wild trail. Once it just seemed to end into a field of wheat and it was almost an hour before I was able to find the trail on the other side of the field. Water was also difficult to find. Not all of the towns have wells and some had only non-potable water so I had to be very careful. By the time I reached my destination it was 8:00 in the evening but the sun was still high in the sky. I had been told by the tourist office to stop at the local bar for food, drink and directions to the alberque and while the bar owner was willing to give me directions to the alberque, he was not to interested in serving me drinks or food. He told me that the alberque had beds and hot
water. He was wrong on all accounts. This alberque is an abandoned school house. It had extremely dirty tile floors, disgusting toilets, no hot water, and one sink. The lady in charge of cleaning the school house for pilgrims was stashing all the trash in a closet so the place did not have the nicest
smell. I was there for about two hours when the two men (Pedro and Benito) from Mallorca arrived. They too were very astonished by the condition of the place and had been told the same story by the bar owner. I had uncovered a thick green carpet in one of the rooms and laid it out for all three of us
to sleep on. The men swept the floors and I cleaned the sink and semi-cleaned the toilet. Pedro received a call on his cell phone and told his wife that he was staying in a five star hotel and that she too could be enjoying this if she had only come with him. Neither Pedro or Benito speak any english and their Spanish is a catalán dialect so it was difficult to understand them at first. Somewhere along the way they decided to teach me Spanish and to keep an eye on me.

Day two started with my two new traveling companions waking me up and telling me it was time to get started. Benito measured distances by restaurants. He was always talking about food. There was only one restaurant or town along the way that would have services for us and it was at our half
way point 22 Kilometers away. Needless to say, Benito was not a happy camper. Walking that day was very similar to being in the Rocky Mountains. We climbed three mountain peaks of heights up to about 2500 feet, we crossed a river much like the one in the Grand Canyon and walked among huge oak and pine trees. It was truly an amazing day and I thought that it might not ever come to an end. Benito and Pedro arrived at the half way point about 40 minutes before I did and had already ordered food. They then slept for almost two hours and told me to do the same. Benito kept repeating "tranquila" and told me not to worry that it will not get dark until midnight so we have plenty of walking light. He was right but I have to
admit it was very funny to wake up on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant with Benito asleep and snoring in two chairs and Pedro snoring in the grass on the side of the building. After our long nap and food we hit the trail again with renewed energy and arrived at our destination at 8:00 p. Our arrival was greeted with the most incredible view of the ocean and a tiny
fishing village from the last peak. From there it was all down hill. But, this was another difficult town with no arrows or signs for the alberque. We were misdirected by several towns people until we finally arrived at our sleeping quarters. This time it was a soccer stadium and we were housed in the locker room. This time we slept on a hospital beds and had a hot showers so this place was five stars as far as we were concerned.

Day three seemed like a breeze being only 22 kilometers and it was mostly flat with only rolling hills. We walked into Finisterra and right through it another 4 kilometers to the light house where the pilgrims go to burn some of their clothing. It is considered the end of world and it truly feels like it. The guys were trying to talk me into burning my boots and everything else I had on. It was really very funny. After a small snack we headed back down to Finisterra and found the alberque. And, much to our surprise it was
very nice. We felt like royalty. Amazingly, five other pilgrims arrived who we never saw on the trail but who had also walked. The guys tried to talk me into walking with them further but I have decided to go back to Santiago via the bus. A pilgrim friend, Michael and I are going to go into Portugal for two days. I might be a couple of weeks. He is a theology student from Mississippi who received a grant to walk several different trails throughout Europe. We have nothing in common but the gift to gab. It should be another adventure.

PS- Benito and Pedro invited me to their home in Mallorca to send a month learning Spanish. It could be fun.
-Jill

I hope this account helps someone out there get a feel for the trail. Jill has already helped me more than any of the guidebooks have with a REAL account of the physicality of the road. I'm stoked for next April!!!

I am so glad you posted that. It sounds incredible and makes me want to run off and have my own adventure. very inspiring.

I was thinking about your bike trip tonight as I peddled from Venice Blvd up to UCLA, hoping not to get killed by angry motorists. I can imagine the lush green of Northern Spain with a lovely breeze coming in off the coast. Sitting down for a hearty, fresh seafood dinner and a glass of wine after a long day of biking or walking sounds like heaven. I can't wait to hear about YOUR trip.. only a year to wait!

Yeah...and these will be the longest 10 months of my life!!!!

Wait 'til you're on the trail, you'll have the longest day of your life!! Viva Ponferrada! Thanks for posting her
e-mails!

Greetings from the Camino. I´ve been in Spain now for several weeks, and haven´t been checking the board, but I´m now in my beloved Jaca, which is on one of the caminos to Santiago, and I´ve been thinking a lot about you guys. On Wednesday at mass in Jaca´s Iglesia de Santiago I witnessed the special blessing for the pilgrims in attendance (they usuallly have about 10 a day at the 8pm mass), and yesterday, as I drove down from a little farm towards town I passed a tall, thin man with a white beard walking alone along the road (towards the west, claro) wearing a backpack and a nice big shell around his neck. Well, I got a little emocionada... Although I feel no great desire to do the Camino myself,at least at this point in my life, I find it fascinating, and I admire you guys out there who have done it or are planning it! I´m staying with a very old couple who were telling me this morning at breakfast how they put up some peregrinos who were doing the camino by bike when the albergue was full. They were doing the camino to get information for a report on whether or not the pilgrims really did get treated well. (This happened many years ago.) They wrote back when they were finished, raving about how wonderful it was, and how well treated they had been. Hope you all have as good an experience!

Well, I'm less than three months away from my own pilgrimage and have a question: On another thread, there was mention made of a "menú de peregrino" at Mesón del Cid in Burgos. Is this something that is fairly common on the road (discounted pilgrim's meals)? I assume that if this is the case, all I'll need to do is show my pilgrim's passport and get the "deal on the meal".

Does anyone know anything about this???

I'm so excited for you! How's the training going? We've decided to give it another go this summer. I can't wait! I'm not going to train this time like I did before (the three pathetic trips to the gym) and just show up and hope for the best! We're going to do the ruta in reverse this time (with a pit stop in Pamplona to "ride" with the bulls) and head to the Tour de France to ride with the big boys!
Watch out Lance, I'm a commin'.