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Published: April 26th 2009
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Markers
There were these markers every .5 km telling you the distance to Santiago It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog because I have been traveling for the last two and a half weeks straight. Although I feel like it would take a book to write everything that I saw, experienced and learned, I am just going to give the cliff note version.
My first seven days of my Spring Break I spend on the Camino de Santiago as a trip for my class called the History of the Camino de Santiago. In class we learn the history of the area, the legends and myths and other cultural aspects like the music and food of the area. Although one could start the Camino as far away as Germany, we did just the last 110 km (63miles), but I will get to the experience soon. First a history of the Camino. There are many myths and possible options to take on the history, but basically after St. James was martyr in Rome, his body arrive in Northwest Spain. At the time, the body was placed in a church, later hid in the mountains and then rediscovered when the Christians were fighting the moors. There are numerous different legends surrounding St. James and all
People
One of the old people we ran acros of this, but in the end the bones of St. James are taken to Santiago de Compostela and a Cathedral was built. Then the Pope said making the way to the Cathedral would allow you into heaven, so between the 10th and 13th centuries hundreds of thousands of pilgrims did the Camino. Other religious pilgrims did/do the Camino to ask God for something or as a way of thanking Him. There are many books out there describing this pilgrimage, which is the third largest Christian pilgrimage in the world.
So for the experience, it started Thursday April 9th with a 13 hour bus ride. Thankfully the coach bus we got had a lot of foot room and there were only about 20 of us on it because it was only the CIEE kids that went on the trip. I knew only 6 of them when we went, but by the end of it, I knew all of them well. The second day was much like the four days that followed. We would get up at 7am, eat breakfast at a local café and start walking by 8am. Each day we would walk about 25 km, taking little breaks along
People
Yes, this is how we looked, it would go from rain to sun many times a day the way to look at the scenery or buy little snacks from country women. We would all reach our destination between 2 and 3 in the afternoon where we would check-in to out albergue (like a hostel, but only for pilgrims) and go for lunch at a restaurant, followed by a siesta. After the siesta, we would hang-out, maybe play some cards before going back to the restaurant for supper, there wasn’t many choices for restaurants in these small towns. We would call it a night around 11pm and then repeat it all the next day.
For me, this week wasn’t a religious experience like it is for some pilgrims, but more of a way of disconnecting from the modern world. This is a little hard to explain, but for a week, all I did was eat, sleep, walk and talk. I didn’t have any internet, phone, radio or other technology other than a camera and I spent a lot of time talking and discussing stuff with others. The week really flew by and at the end of it I couldn’t believe that it was over already. Also, at the end of it, although I had a few blisters
and had got a stomach virus like others in my group, my mind was so relaxed that it felt almost numb. I really don’t know how to describe it; it just was a different experience.
You should be able to tell by the pictures, but this area of Spain is very rural. The towns that we stayed in at night had no more than 3,000 people and the towns that we walked thru during the day were usually a cluster of houses and a church. The landscape was very hilly, but was fairly similar to Wisconsin with numerous farms. One night, we stayed at this rural albergue that was in the middle of now where, but was next to a creek and a cow pasture, it felt so much like home.
It was a very fulfilling experience to round the corner and see the front of the Cathedral de Santiago. Also, we went to the Pilgrims mass in the Cathedral, which was in Spanish, but was a great end to our long trek. From here, I took an overnight train to Madrid to begin the second half of my European adventure, but that will be the next blog.
People
Can you find the two shepards and the dog
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