Hardest part of the Camino: saying goodbye

[Jon Santiago]

I imagine that many of us who spend weeks on the Camino feel the same way by the time we arrive in Sarria: only 100 kilometers left. Then it sinks in. Wait a second -- only 100 kilometers left!

Once I realized that Santiago was just a few days off, my heart sank. Two conflicting emotions began to do battle inside me. I wanted to complete the Camino. And I wanted the journey not to end.

As the one year anniversary of my Camino came around, I got to thinking about all this again and wrote about it for my local newsweekly, Charleston City Paper. (The article is written for a general audience who may have never heard of the Camino before.)

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/char ... id=3525743

Ivar kindly left a comment on the City Paper site and that's how I found my way here.

I feel very lucky that I was able to make this journey and I hope to do it again some time soon. In the meantime, the Camino remains alive in my life. Sometimes in unexpected ways.

 

[+@^^]

Jon
love your writing
you have set off some conversation in another thread on this site
which youve no doubt seen by now
when i read your piece i concluded thus
... this dude is just a journo
... he has not set foot on the camino
... he writes brilliantly
... i wish hed written the script for Estavez' The Way
... he needs to buy himself an iPhone with decent confessional apps
.
that aside
you bring back my 1000kay vdlp memories with 100kays to go, of the realization that :
it will soon be over
but that i dont want it to end
and that ive had enough and i cant wait for it to end

 

[Deleted member 3000]

We have been discussing your article behind your back!

camino-frances-blogs-photo-albums/topic11218.html

 

[Jon Santiago]

Jon
love your writing
you have set off some conversation in another thread on this site
which youve no doubt seen by now
when i read your piece i concluded thus
... this dude is just a journo
... he has not set foot on the camino
... he writes brilliantly
... i wish hed written the script for Estavez' The Way
... he needs to buy himself an iPhone with decent confessional apps

tamtamplin, thanks so much for your comments. And for alerting me that another conversation about my article was taking place elsewhere on this forum.

Also -- I had no idea there's an iPhone app for confession! Misses the point, doesn't it?

I first went on the Camino in a Holy Year, 1999, fulfilling a long-delayed promise to my mother that one day we would go to the Camino together. We did not walk the Camino at that time as it would have been too difficult for her. All the same, arriving in Santiago was very emotional for us both and I promised myself that one day I would return to it. Fast forward ten years.

I walked the camino in 2010 -- as it happened, the next Año Jacobeo. That's the journey I wrote about in the article.

I recall with great affection the Bishop's homily at the Pilgrim's mass in Santiago. He pointed out the difference between pilgrims and refugees. Refugees, he said, were anxious to put something behind them but were uncertain what their ultimate destination might be. Pilgrims, in contrast, knew where they were going and with growing confidence, finally arrive. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but the point for me was that pilgrims walk with an increasing awareness that only comes from the effort of slowly fulfilling the covenant they and the Camino make between them.

The priest who heard my confession in Santander -- the one I allude to in the article -- had made the Camino pilgrimage six times. Making that confession was a wonderfully cleansing experience and a bittersweet (momentary) farewell to the Camino as well.

I'm looking forward to my next Camino.

Again, thanks for your comments.

 

[ksam]

Jon, so glad you found your way here! Loved the article and this at least gives me a chance to say thanks! (tried on the papers site..but my computer was having a bad hair day and wouldn't cooperate.)

Buen Camino, Karin

 

[Jon Santiago]

First, belated thanks to falcon269 for posting a link to my article on this forum and initiating a discussion.

And Karin, thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. One of the interesting challenges of writing something like this is having to work within the editorial space available. Big topic, tiny space! Of necessity, a lot gets left out, as you noted elsewhere.

By the way, your comment did make it onto the City Paper site, so maybe your computer's "bad hair day" wasn't so bad after all. I appreciate your taking the time to leave a comment there.

If I recall correctly, you mentioned that you'd just returned from the Camino. Where did you begin? Was it very crowded this year?

Last year, hospitaleros told me that many pilgrims, in anticipation of big crowds, take a pass on walking the Camino during a Holy Year and that the following year -- this year -- was sure to be busier. However, I understand that 2010 continued the trend of increasing numbers on the pilgrimage, especially so (as always) from Sarria forward.

I'm wondering -- this question to anyone who's walked the Camino a number of times -- How has the experience changed for you over the years as more people are discovering the pilgrimage?

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

I'm wondering -- this question to anyone who's walked the Camino a number of times -- How has the experience changed for you over the years as more people are discovering the pilgrimage?

My main observation is that in 1998 I met only two people who claimed to be walkers; the rest were pilgrims. I walked SJPP to Finisterre in 2004 and have undertaken an annual pilgrimage of varying length every year since. As the years have gone on the numbers of those who are simply walkers has risen. In 2008 it felt that pilgrims were out numbered.

My observations are
This has resulted in some deteroration of courtesy in the albergues among those on the Camino.
I have found that the two groups do not interact as much as they might.
There has been an explosion in private albergues - I do not decry this, it is an observation.
I have come to value even more the albergues where the ethos is Christian, where eating together and going to worship together is very much part of the communal life there. In 2008 I spent the night in Santo Domingo and only walked as far as Granon because of my stay there the year before. It was to be a significant second visit.

I now try to stay in albergues with a Christian ethos and will plan my journey accordingly.

At times I have felt that my attempt to escape the materialism of the secular world by going on pilgrimage has been somewhat thwatered. I am now surrounded by people chattering on their mobile phones, who sit listening to their iPods where I once would have found conversation, where the internet connections in albergues are being used by people to catch up on their emails.

I go on pilgrimage to step outside of normal life and this has become a little more difficult as the years have rolled by. Finding quiet and solitutde is more difficult. I have been quietly praying in churches when even pilgrims have barged in like they were entering a pub.

In 2009 I walked both legs of the Camino Inglés and found the solitude and lack of numbers was a real blessing. Arriving in Santiago was a shock and walking to Muxia brought me back to earth with a bump.

My worry about finding somewhere to sleep has risen with the passing years and in 2009 for the very first time I had to use my insulin dependent diabetes to persuade a warden to let me sleep on the Negreia municipal albergue floor. That was in June. I walked in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 well out of the season to avoid the over crowding.

The number of new agers walking the Camino seems to have risen. This has led to some interesting conversations and revealled that I am a more orthodox Christian than I thought. I hope the experience has been good for both parties.

This says more about me than others. The clock will not be turned back and if I have to work harder to make my pilgrimage more of a spiritual journey then that may well be blessing in disguise.

ps. Any reading about medieval pilgrims show that it is likely that many went on pilgrimage to escape the drudgery of everyday life so this is nothing new.

In short there has been both a negative and positive impact upon the journey.

 

[PadreQ]

Jon,

Welcome!

I am afraid I was pretty hard on you in my critique of your article. I hope you will forgive me - my knee jerked pretty hard. It does sound like you got a good confession in. And that is really what matters! It is cleansing! And the really good thing is that it can be repeated as often as necessary. :lol:

I appreciated very much all that you had to say about the Camino itself - I will be finding out for myself at the end of next month.

God bless you,

Christopher+

 

[ksam]

Hey Jon! I started in SJPP on May 13th, yup, Friday the 13th! :shock: and loved every minute...even the ones where I sat by the side of the road crying! Was it crowded...not really. Never so I couldn't find a way to walk alone or just be. 'course a trick I learned from a priest actually, helped too. Pull out the beads and you are pretty well assured that folks will pass ya bye! And yes, I weighed the ones I brought.

I did blog as a way to let my family and friends know that I as still alive and breathing... it's still getting added to..pics as I'm not that techno savy to do that on the trail. http://www.ksamsontheroad.blogspot.com

Looking forward to further articles... and for the road ahead, Buen Camino, Karin

 

[+@^^]

Jon
a request, if i may, for an article
.
i walked the vdlp 2010, and ended about a week before the pope was due to arrive in S'diago
what struck me was the all these dudes with power-tools
drilling huge plasma tv screens into the walls of an ancient cathedral over 1000 years old, every 10 pews or so
so we could all see pappa close up
.
so, max 300 words, a parody on the usage of mod tech on the ancient spiritual journey, please
.
if you could also please weave in the word "chainsaw" without it appearing too out of place, that would be a bonus
.
thanks

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

@ tamtamplin.

Your comment is the funniest thing I have ever read on this forum.

Please tell me they didn't :shock: