- Time of past OR future Camino
- Yearly and Various 2014-2019
Via Monastica 2022
For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here. (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation) |
---|
What beautiful photos!All the elders in the tiny villages we walk through
Beautiful people!What beautiful photos!
The juxtaposition of pictures on his wall is delicious.A gentleman who lived just past Tineo
I live in a village of 32 people in Vilacha a d the Pepe are predominantly old and afraid. I agree it is time to put their health first and stop walking. The thing that attracted me to Galicia was the incredible friendliness, helpfulness and politeness of the people. But do not be mislead by this, underneath they are afraid and vulnerable
Oooo. Where was that, @Theatregal? I met a lady with a flock of sheep in the first little village after Monforte. A different lady, much older.A favourite moment from the Invierno. She asked if I wanted to walk with her and see the pasture she was taking her sheep to. I did!
Yes.We need to extend this consideration to elderly and debilitated people globally.
AbsI agree
View attachment 70855
This is why I decided to leave on Wednesday night lying below a coughing pilgrim, and why I haven't left my home since I got here Thursday, I realized that sick or not sick all my efforts to wash my hands would not keep the locals safe. I did not know just how bad it would get so fast. Never has a decision felt so right.
Buen Camino to all,
MaryEllen View attachment 70855
All the elders in the tiny villages we walk through - these are the people most at risk form Covid-19.
May they be well!
These are the people we most protect by not walking. They are someone's beloved parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents - and they are a precious part of our extended human family.
To make the point less abstract, here are photos of some of the vibrant elders who urgently need our care right now - feel free to add your own:
I bought some great rain pants at a really good price in November. I stopped by to see him in 2012 and bought some stuff in 2014. His shop is just down the steps from the Municipal albergue and to the left.And the old man in Castrojeriz...
Thank you, @VNwalking for this post. Brings up fond memories of people, who have become friends, that I SO want to see again!
View attachment 70862
I met her after Monforte between Moreda and Broza. Such a great encounterOooo. Where was that, @Theatregal? I met a lady with a flock of sheep in the first little village after Monforte. A different lady, much older.
Your photos are priceless - thank you for posting them! I especially like the group photos. Wonderful.
I noticed that immediately and thought it must have been a mistake. But no. Haaha...a coquette!..the one on the right side then lifted her long skirt up to expose her knee! It was so cute and endearing
I will be walking the VDLP with great hope next year and will connect with Sanabres route. When I first walked the CF in 2012 it seemed that your description of what you experienced was similar to what I experienced especially in the villages on the Meseta. There were so many towns then that the only people you encountered were elderly women (mostly) and so often dressed in black. In many instances stores were shuttered and often there was just one bar open. There were times that I would wonder if there was anyone under 75 in these villages. It is very different today of course as so many of these places have been revitalized. I hope you had a great experience on your camino. If you got some time, now that the whole world is supposed to stay homeIn a vast number of villages in Spain, the only year-round residents are elderly. The villages are already at a tipping point of viability. The old people won't be just worried for themselves as individuals, but for their village and way of life being lost completely. I walked through a lot of abandoned villages and rewilded land on the Sanabres last year, very moving.
Of course just message me. I did it over 4 years.maybe you could tell us about your experience on your camino
Here are three from 2011.
1. We were staying at Miriam's albergue in Las Herrarias, which was so small there is not town plaza. Yet, in the early evening the senior citizens had a communal place to congregate. At first they were skeptical of having a photo, but afterwards everyone wanted to see. I later sent Miriam a copy so the village would have it.
2. On the way to Las Herrarias, I was ahead of my companion and came upon an old man closing the gate to his garden. He wished me "buen camino" and then offered me a peek inside his plastic bag. It was full of fresh figs just harvested from his tree. He then urged me to take the whole bag, but I did not want to be greedy. I took 4, two for my friend and two for me. I had never had fresh figs before! I thanked him, and he got on his red bicycle ad pedaled away.
3. On our way out of Portomarin, we met this woman on the street. She was carrying the most beautiful leafy greens. At first, she was reluctant to have her photo taken but she agreed. I'm glad she did.
View attachment 70931View attachment 70932View attachment 70933
And all of them......let’s hope he stays safe.
Yes, exactly. Because no matter how self-centered people seem, most of us are not monsters.Sometimes it takes a little push to switch from "I" to "WE".
I'm going to be adding a couple more.
Taiji’s first picture really surprised me, because I think it is the first co-ed conversation bench I have ever seen among Spain’s elders. It has always struck me and on many different camino routes. Not a judgment, just an observation (in my own country, I rarely see anyone sitting outside on a bench and talking, much less elders!).
VN, your words are reminding me that when I met you last May in Santiago, the talk at the dinner table was that you loved the padron peppers and ordered them at almost every meal when they were available.Ohhhh, @Kanga.
This is the most delish photo yet!
Yes, and so that photo that @Kanga posted had me salivating, literally.VN, your words are reminding me that when I met you last May in Santiago, the talk at the dinner table was that you loved the padron peppers and ordered them at almost every meal when they were available.
Awwwww.It obviously took 'Dad' longer to get the car out and to the church than it would have to walk. But he liked to drive his mother to church.
am sure most pilgrims who have walked the Camino Frances will recognise this old tree on the way down into Triacastela. When walking there in Oct 2017, I stopped to take this photo: as I did and elderly lady emerged from a nearby house with a basket and started to collect chestnuts from the ground around the tree. I decided to gather some for her too but she obviously saw me as competition, as she whizzed around gathering up everything in sight. Her face was a picture (which in hindsight I should have taken) when I placed all I had gathered in her basketA fond memory indeed.
Here is one of my small ‘pictures’ that I vividly remember: One evening in 2018 I was walking down Calle Portales in Logroño looking for a place to eat when I heard a tiny voice calling. It was a little old lady who was struggling to keep her entrance door open while holding her cane and handbag. I helped her with the door and supported her by one arm. When out in the street she curled her arm under mine and started walking very slowly down the street while constantly talking and I had to follow which was fine because I wasn’t going anyplace in particular. Though I speak a reasonable Spanish, I didn’t understand much of her ‘dialect’ but that didn’t seem to bother her – neither did the fact that I was a foreigner and a total stranger. She was well dressed, obviously wearing ’La ropa para salir’, hair nicely done and fresh lipstick. We continued down the street for only a couple of hundred meters to the benches in front of the church, which were occupied by some old people who obviously were friends of hers. Probably what she did every evening: Dress up nicely and walk down to the church to meet with her friends and have a good talk. She thanked me for assisting her and her friends smiled and nodded to me, and I walked on with a good feeling.
Update: SadlyThese are one group of my Camino angels View attachment 70987
A gentleman who lived just past Tineo, he entertained me and another young couple for an hour.View attachment 70872
Yes, that juxtaposition struck me too....
Fortunatelly it's no easy to find a woman in Galicia transporting things that way. When I was a boy it was the normal way for women.Getting to this picture from our first camino five years ago took a bit longer than the one I posted earlier that I took last autumn. This woman with her load of pine cones was encountered near Muxia.
View attachment 71011
How lovely that this gentleman has a picture of Che Guevara displayed above the Virgin – and perhaps a good slogan these days: “Hasta la victoria siempre”
This is by far my favorite thread.
Such beautiful people.
It moved me to tears.
I do so hope to meet some of these folks one day.
My first Camino was planned for June this year....
Since you have not started/finished a camino as of yet, please allow me to let you know these photos are very accurate depictions of what you will encounter on a camino. IMO a very large part of a camino is about the "people", whether fellow pilgrims or the ones you pass and greet on your path or the one's who tirelessly work to make camino's "work" for everyone.
Know that you are not alone with disappointment as many of us also have/had reservations in the near future and as each day passes the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be darker.
Trying to look at the bright side of things I tell myself once the dust settles with this virus and we are all able to once again walk our caminos we will be able to look back and know we are a stronger "people" and a stronger pilgrim community.
Amen. As well as more empathy and compassion and compassion...because much much more is at risk than our european vacations.Yes, this will make us stronger and more resilient and hopefully engender more appreciation and gratitude.
I think one of the wonderful and fascinating things about the magic of the camino is that we so often can recall minute details of special moments we have had on our caminos...just as @catheriam has shared from 2002!On my 2002 Camino, as I crossed from the path across a gravel road, a tiny, wizened lady entirely in black appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She approached me with a questioning look, took my hands in hers, and spoke softly in Spanish. "Peregrina?" At the time, my Spainish was virtually nil but I knew enough for "Si!". She spoke again and my sense was she was asking me to pray for her when I arrived in Santiago: I did, with a full heart, for this sweet, indomitable woman whose face and arthritic hands were a legacy of unceasing labor and pain born bravely. I felt such overwhelming humility, with my smart boots and Kelty backpack, tromping through the land she had given her life to cultivate, to support, to endure and to survive. We held hands a moment longer, smiled, went our separate ways. I turned not 10 seconds later and she had vanished.
And the old man in Castrojeriz...
Thank you, @VNwalking for this post. Brings up fond memories of people, who have become friends, that I SO want to see again!
View attachment 70862
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?