floorless tent .. yes, I've been thinking along those lines .. light and simple .. and you are right of course, we are tribe creatures and a special tribe is formed along the Camino if we allow it .. perhaps I was being a little harsh - ... though I do feel the same and do want that independence
but, I have been thinking that I might have terrified those about to start their first camino .. so, to them another way of looking at the experience ....
the same thing but mirror imaged ...
Camping independently is a grand option - to be independent and free of many constraints .. but then, there is the refugio experience, quite unlike our normal individual and segregated lives ..
in the refugios in summer there are more people than beds and pilgrims of all ages, genders (there are six I think), nationalities and educational levels are thrown together to live in and share the facilities ... hugger mugger ... sleeping with strangers closer than with your partner after an argument and all crammed in together, to breathe and sweat and snore and dream of pilgrim trails...
- food is shared, as is wine, and the gentle and muscle sore evenings are filled with warm anecdotes and memories of past Caminos .. people massage each other, offer first aid, and sometimes someone - usually a few Spanish men, used to all this, suggest all throwing in 3-5 euros and they then produce a feast, a veritable feast, where all sit and break bread and share wine as if it is the year 34 AD and all are brothers and sisters ... and once into deep Spain parties of female Spaniards arrive, housewives and neighbours, and follow the trail for a few days .. and their excitement and joy at life is displayed in continous chattering and laughter - it is like living with nesting gulls - and if one is relaxed and calm and open to the enjoyment of this feast of human life, layed out before you and you, madly, a part of it,then within that space one can be silent and meditative and float upon it, like a small boat floating upon the roar and swell of the sea.
Most of the refugios are well run - some of them are stunning - and the hospitaleros and owners, no matter how tired they are, tend to do all they can to be helpful ... even their title is the root of our word 'hospitality' and the story goes back well over a thousand years ....
...
and life is good and one is part of this 1200 years of the pilgrim trail, connected to all the past pilgrims, all the present pilgrims, and all the future pilgrims and the day you started your pilgrimage the Good God gave you your companions, specific to that day, to that place, some of whom you may stay in touch with for the rest of your lives - and you know, at the deepest level of being, that all is well.
(But the next time you do it you may want to camp as often as possible :wink: :wink: )