Day 49 - Down to basics - what is the Camino de Santiago really all about?

One of the first questions I'm asked when people hear that I'm planning to walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrim's walk is: 'What is the origin?' or more often simply: 'What's it all about?'

The second question is the simpler one as I normally start chatting about the route, the albergues, the fact that you walk with just a backpack etc., etc. Easy stuff. The first question has caught me off guard a few times and I realized that if I'm serious about this business, I can't just start walking because it feels right and I know (or hope at least) that it's going to be a spiritual experience for me.

In other words - don't sound like a fool now Emilene. Educate yourself. Or at least feel like an educated fool by the time you start walking that long road with just your boots on your feet and a bag on your back...

I decided to start with a map of sorts. Hence the map above. I liked that one because it details the Camino Frances route, the route that I have chosen to walk.  I intend to start in the little town known as St Jean Pied de Port (St John-at-the-foot-of-the-mountain pass). It sounds like a delightful little town and this is also where I will be collecting my pilgrim's passport. (Not to be confused with a regular travelling passport, I read. ) ;-)

To learn more about the little town - visit this site: http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/st-jean-pied-de-port/

Anyway. Back to the history.

The word camino means 'the way' and 'Santiago' is the Spanish name for St James. (Santiago, as a matter of interest, is a compression of Santo Diego). St James of course being one of Jesus's apostles. The story goes that when the Apostles divided the world into missionary zones, St James was sent to the Iberian peninsula. He eventually returned to Jerusalem where he was beheaded by Herod, in the year 44AD.

His followers put his remains in a stone boat that was then guided by angels and carried by the wind beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. It went ashore near Finisterre, at Padrón, in northern Spain. There his remains were buried  in a marble tomb together with that of two of his followers. The tomb remained forgotten, until the 9th century.

During that time, a local hermit, named Pelayo, had a vision. He saw a field of stars, which led him to the ancient tomb. The tomb contained three bodies. The local bishop confirmed that this was indeed the tomb of St James and his two followers. St James was subsequently declared the patron saint of Spain.

A small village named Campus de Ia Stella (Field of Stars) and a monastery were established on the site. The news of the discovery spread like wildfire and a trickle of pilgrims began to arrive. Miracles came to be attributed to the site, and the miracles encouraged pilgrimage and pilgrimage elicited more miracles...

At the time the Spanish church struggled with the Moors on the Peninsula and it certainly was in their favour to promote the idea of this pilgrimage. In fact, it became one of the most significant pilgrim's routes in the world, the other two destinations of course being Rome and Jerusalem.

The pilgrimage reached it's peak during the Middle Ages with the infrastructure along the routes being developed to support pilgrims. Bridges were constructed across rivers, hospices were built by religious orders and businesses thrived because of the steady flow of feet on the route.

The sheer number of pilgrims on this route during that period might very well account for the fact that the Moors never successfully conquered the northern part of Spain.

By the end of the 16th century Spain engaged in war with both France and England and effectively was largely cut off from the rest of Europe. This, together with other major developments, such as the Reformation that was initiated by Martin Luther, were possibly contributing factors as to why the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage became less popular during that period of history.

The 1900's saw a revival of the pilgrimage for a number of reasons. Let's pick up Tony Kevin's dialogue from here on:

' I thought more about how the Santiago pilgrimage,which by the early 20th century had become defunct medieval history, had revived spectacularly after World War II  and the return of democracy to Spain following Franco's death in 1975. It's an interesting story and in itself says much about the changing mood and values of our times.'

'Spain itself was searching for new approaches to civil society and to church-state relations. Franco's coercive and now discredited clerical-fascist ascendancy had run its course, and with his death in 1975 a new democratic politics was in rapid gestation. Progressive Spanish Catholics were looking for new ways to re-legitimise their church, to restore its standing and connections with younger, democratically minded Spaniards. In this context, the pilgrimage to Santiago was something fresh, holy and untarnished by past church mistakes and misdeeds. Local voluntary 'Friends of the Camino'  societies sprung up across Spain and Portugal to survey, waymark and restore the old pilgrimage right-of-way -routes that had in many areas became no more than vague local memories. Soon there were local alternative waymarked routes to Santiago being re-established: not only through the Pyrenees, but also from Valencia, Alicante,Toledo, Granada, Seville, Cadiz, Lisbon. All the ancient caminos of Spain were being re-located and re-signed with the famous yellow arrows'

By 1987 the Camino de Santiago was declared a  World Heritage site. And in 2010 I decided to walk the route in 2012.

There you have it!

After reading a myriad sites and summarising it for myself, based on the information that I saw repeated on these various sites, I understand the origin of the pilgrimage somewhat better now. One is overcome by information and I'm sure mis-information at times as well, but generally, I'm satisfied that this is a pretty accurate story. I'm sure that certain details have given rise to many a question and probably inspired many a book, but as far as I'm concerned, this is how I'm going to accept the camino.

I'm not Catholic, nor am I Spanish, so I'm pretty much an outside observer but I do know why I'll be walking the route and I do know that when I'm in a church along the way, it's not going to matter what my denomination is. I'll be in the house of the Lord. And I can't wait to pack my bag!

As for the blog-hopping experiment of yesterday.

Quite honestly, I've decided to stick to my camino-hopping! I've gained one lovely new friend, discovered some great blogs and received a talking-to by the owner of the 'hop' for not sticking to the rules. I really thought I did everything I was supposed to, but clearly I am indeed as challenged as I confessed to be when I posted yesterday!

Anyway, nothing ventured - nothing gained, I say!

Day 31 - The dreaded Albergues

Overnight hostels. Those two words together do not work for me at this stage of my life. Especially not if it forms part of my travel itinerary!

On the Camino de Santiago they are referred to as 'Albergues' and I have no idea what to expect from these ominous places. From what I've read they are all very different. Some seem wonderful and some seem to be just as the description says - overnight hostels and nothing more.

So now you'll understand why I was intrigued by a recent post by my new friend, Annie, on her camino blog. She decided to showcase some of her favourite Albergues and I was all ears. She has very kindly allowed me to post some of the pictures here. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised!

To read more about Annie's experiences at these Albergues, visit http://www.caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/.

I am indeed thankful for people like Annie, Sil and Karin, all recent acquaintances of mine, who are so willing to share their camino experiences. I know that when I finally pack my backpack to start my own walk, I will be so much better prepared because of all their advice and guidance.

Gracias peregrinas!

Day 16 - Contemplating blue skies,whistles and umbrellas...

One of the perks of this season of my life is the fact that I can go for lunch in the middle (or the start, or the end for that matter...) of the week. Today was one of those lucky days for me.

Blue Monday nowadays refers more to the colour of the sky on the first day of my week than my state of mind...

Not a bad feeling, I tell you!

Today the blue sky was admired from Moyo, the spot my husband and I chose for lunch. We felt a bit like tourists in our own city as we opted for the whole hand washing/face painting deal.

I felt like all I needed to complete the picture after my painting session was a teepee! Here I am then - painted face and all...

There is just something about washing your hands this way before starting a meal - I think it should be a standard option at all restaurants!

And then there was the bread - served with olive oil and dhukka -delicious!

http://www.moyo.co.za/index.php?sec=store&id=3&ids=9&sub=yes

Just to prove that I was actually doing something constructive yesterday - here is our team of eager beavers waiting for the stream of cyclists to arrive, VERY EARLY in the morning. I'm beaver no. 5 at the far end - what a great excuse not to get on a bike and cycle 85km!

I'm done making excuses though - I climb mountains once a week and slowly (admittedly SLOWLY), I am starting to fit in a few early morning runs. I haven't been running for three months now, my running partner is so far ahead of me at this stage, I don't know if I'm ever going to catch up with her again.

I do miss our running sessions though, that really should be more than enough to get me motivated!!

So back to the Camino.

What to take along. That, after the bedbug issue, is probably the next big question. I have a pretty good idea of the basics but I thought finding out from people who have actually walked one or more of the camino's, is the best way to go about it. Straight from the horse's mouth as it where.

I have joined a 'virtual albergue' that I found during one of my surfing sessions and the following advise is what I found on the forum.

I've copied the comments as they appeared and will compile a more official looking, organised list at a later stage.

Here goes!

- A spiral immersion heater to make tea, coffee, cup-of-soup etc. Never travel without it.

- In my pocket: a whistle. Weighs nearly nothing, hopefully will never be used. On the day my rucksack snapped, I needed to use it. Why? To scare off a herd of very inquisitive, even aggressively inquisitive, bullocks who were only a couple of metres from me as I crossed a field, even by keeping close to the hedge. Waving arms, stick, shouting did nothing - but on the first short blast of the whistle they flinched, the second longer blast, they bolted.

(Note from me: And I was worried about bedbugs?!)

If you fall down a ravine, you might be able to shout for an hour or so, leaving you without a voice. A whistle goes on and on. It is also useful to attract attention in other nasty situations.

- For me, a needle, polyester thread, and a thimble, all in an old film canister - total weight about 20g. Saved my pilgrimage to St Davids (SW Wales) when the strap over my left shoulder snapped on my rucksack.

- An umbrella! My poncho ripped open in many places in a storm. I already had a mini super lightweight umbrella with me, but my husband decided that we needed something a bit bigger. It proved to be a god-send - both against the rain and against the sun over a couple of long treeless stretches

- Twisted elastic clothes line. No clips are necessary; clothes are slipped into the line gaps for drying. There is a lot of competition for drying lines at albergues, and the clothes clips provided are used up fast (and if you supply your own, they will be gone by the end of the trip).

- A sink stopper would have been handy in all the places where they were gone. It is hard to wash clothes in running water.

- My 2 "must" items that some folks might consider the basics were my Spork and my trusty Swiss Army knife. I learned about the Spork just before I left on my Camino and I had planned to take my basic Swiss Army knife but I upgraded it just before I left with several more accessories (that corkscrew on the new one came in handy many times along the way). These are 2 items were very useful.

- Well, if we're talking luxury: a small tube of eye cream. On every camino it has soothed me morning and night and made me think/hope that I wasn't turning into a hag from the ravages of daily sun and wind.

This last suggestion sounds like it should be number one on my list, unless some clever entrepreneur has latched on and has set up a mobile botox clinic along the way! :)

Day 14 - What...bedbugs!?

Talk about discovering the good, the bad and the ugly! I've tried to ignore it everytime I read about it this week but I actually have to accept that there is a very real possibility of encountering bedbugs on the camino.

Ok. That's not good.

Albergues are hostels where people come and go and I suppose it really is inevitable that a bug or two will pop up somewhere. Best I just figure out how to deal with it because there ain't too many five star hotels along the route...

So, I figured if I could survive 6 days on a mountain without a proper roof over my head, electricity or running water, I can tackle a few bedbugs. This is my plan of action...

Firstly - find out exactly what a bedbug is.

Wikipedia describes a bedbug as follows:

'Bedbugs or bed bugs are small parasitic insects of the family Cimicidae (most commonly Cimex lectularius). The term usually refers to species that prefer to feed on human blood. All insects in this family live by feeding exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals. The name 'bedbug' is derived from the insect's preferred habitat of houses and especially beds or other areas where people sleep. Bedbugs, though not strictly nocturnal, are mainly active at night and are capable of feeding unnoticed on their hosts.'

Secondly - digest that information without cancelling the trip.

Thirdly - search the Internet for tips and remedies - especially as I'm going to be in a different bed every night.

Fourthly - invest in a tent and roll-up mattress and figure out what to travel without so that I van carry that extra weight.

And lastly - just relax, maybe it won't be a problem at all.

I'm happy to report that I think I found a possible answer to the problem. I'm going to have to train Abbey the Yorkie to detect the little critters.

I found evidence that you can teach a dog to do that. Abbey weighs 1,7kg and can come into Spain via Portugal with me as they have no quarantine laws. There.

Who said dogs sleep all day - watch this...

I have to be at our local sportsfield at 05:15 tomorrow morning to help with registration at our club's annual cycle race, so guess I'll put the bugs to bed for the time being!