Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
So, remember way back when in my first blog that I mentioned I wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela before I'm 50? Well, I'm bound & determined that I will do this next year in May 2007. One of my coworkers wants to come along as well & I hope that he does follow through because 35 days on the road is a long time to travel alone.
I first heard about the Camino in a Conde Nast Traveler magazine article waaay back when, early 90's I think, in any case it was before I went to law school in 1994. Other than that article, I had no way of finding out any information about it, but I was intrigued by walking a path that has been walked on for millenia. I am a history nut at heart & doing something like this seemed right up my alley. Through the years, I kept searching for information about the Camino, but did not have much luck. Even with the advent of the Internet, I wasn't able to find much until recently when I felt compelled to renew my search for information.
My interest in the Camino was renewed, in all places, in June 2005 in a theatre in London where my cousin & I went to see "Les Miserables." Somehow, we fell into a conversation with a woman & her daughter who were on their way home from Spain. I believe what started the conversation was that they heard our accents & were happy to finally hear someone from "home." ;) When I heard they had been to Spain, I asked if they had heard of the Camino. They both laughed. They not only had heard about it, they had just completed it! Okay, so they were with a tour group that carried their bags in a bus during the day & slept in hotels at night. They had still walked the Camino & had their Compostelas & pilgrims' passports & I didn't.
More recently, I had a dream in which someone was trying to give me & some others $2 million. "Take all you need, don't worry, there will be enough for everyone." I asked for $1 million, figuring that I could pay off my house & my student loans & all my bills & still have enough left over to save for retirement. After I got the $1 million, I worried that now there was not going to be enough for the others. "Don't worry." I was told. "No matter how much you take, there's always $2 million." What this has to do with the Camino, I don't know, but the next day while fooling around on the Net, I figured "what the heck" & Googled the Camino. That's where I stumbled upon the Bulletin Board & website below.
The sites that I found that day are: The Confraternity of St. James: http://www.csj.org.uk/ (links to their bookstore with booklets & DVDs available & link to the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela BBS under "Discussion Forum" tab). Direct link to the Discussion Forum: http://www.santiago-today.com/board/ Another website that I have found through these two sites is: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/&prev=/search?q=camino%20santiago%20consumer&hl=en&lr= . As you can see by this last board, I'm going to have to brush up on my Spanish a bit more & start practicing speaking it.
It turns out that there are several Caminos. The most famous & most used is called the Camino Frances, because it originates in, of all places, France. While you can start your camino anywhere you like, say Paris, the first major starting point for non-Spanish pilgrims is St. Jean-Pied-du-Port, just across the border from Spain. This is where I plan to start my Camino.
I first heard about the Camino in a Conde Nast Traveler magazine article waaay back when, early 90's I think, in any case it was before I went to law school in 1994. Other than that article, I had no way of finding out any information about it, but I was intrigued by walking a path that has been walked on for millenia. I am a history nut at heart & doing something like this seemed right up my alley. Through the years, I kept searching for information about the Camino, but did not have much luck. Even with the advent of the Internet, I wasn't able to find much until recently when I felt compelled to renew my search for information.
My interest in the Camino was renewed, in all places, in June 2005 in a theatre in London where my cousin & I went to see "Les Miserables." Somehow, we fell into a conversation with a woman & her daughter who were on their way home from Spain. I believe what started the conversation was that they heard our accents & were happy to finally hear someone from "home." ;) When I heard they had been to Spain, I asked if they had heard of the Camino. They both laughed. They not only had heard about it, they had just completed it! Okay, so they were with a tour group that carried their bags in a bus during the day & slept in hotels at night. They had still walked the Camino & had their Compostelas & pilgrims' passports & I didn't.
More recently, I had a dream in which someone was trying to give me & some others $2 million. "Take all you need, don't worry, there will be enough for everyone." I asked for $1 million, figuring that I could pay off my house & my student loans & all my bills & still have enough left over to save for retirement. After I got the $1 million, I worried that now there was not going to be enough for the others. "Don't worry." I was told. "No matter how much you take, there's always $2 million." What this has to do with the Camino, I don't know, but the next day while fooling around on the Net, I figured "what the heck" & Googled the Camino. That's where I stumbled upon the Bulletin Board & website below.
The sites that I found that day are: The Confraternity of St. James: http://www.csj.org.uk/ (links to their bookstore with booklets & DVDs available & link to the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela BBS under "Discussion Forum" tab). Direct link to the Discussion Forum: http://www.santiago-today.com/board/ Another website that I have found through these two sites is: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/&prev=/search?q=camino%20santiago%20consumer&hl=en&lr= . As you can see by this last board, I'm going to have to brush up on my Spanish a bit more & start practicing speaking it.
It turns out that there are several Caminos. The most famous & most used is called the Camino Frances, because it originates in, of all places, France. While you can start your camino anywhere you like, say Paris, the first major starting point for non-Spanish pilgrims is St. Jean-Pied-du-Port, just across the border from Spain. This is where I plan to start my Camino.
posted by DG @ 9:43 AM
0 comments
