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Rebekah Scott said:These are the ultimate tourists. They fit the profile perfectly.
1) complain about the food
2) complain about the opening/closing hours of bars, stores, attractions, and compare it to how much better things work at home
3) complain about the service
4) complain about the road surfaces, paving, lack of paving
5) compare the landscape to Kansas (or some other familiar place that is unsuitable)
6) Brag about their great equipment
7) Brag about their mileage and hiking technique
8) Brag about their superior hiking experience and background
9) Become particularly shrill and whiny when "my expectations are not met"
and finally, Number One Profile Element:
10) Complain about the "HOARDS of TOURISTS" who are "not behaving like real Pilgrims," and who are clogging up "MY" camino!
These people need to get their bad attitude on a bus to the beach, where tourists are better catered-to.
Expectations are a funny thing. This journey has not met mine…in so many ways. It is my burden, and this morning I let it go. I watched as a busload of Japanese tourists (who were dropped off to hike the last kilometer up to the Iron Cross) crowd out the true pilgrims. One raised her arms in triumph while some tired hikers stood aside and watched in disbelief. I decided to tie my small Camino necklace I have been wearing to my rock and set it down on the pile. I was disgusted. My Camino, whatever that is supposed to mean, is over. I am now on a simple hike to Santiago Spain.
Rebekah Scott said:These are the ultimate tourists. They fit the profile perfectly.
1) complain about the food
2) complain about the opening/closing hours of bars, stores, attractions, and compare it to how much better things work at home
3) complain about the service
4) complain about the road surfaces, paving, lack of paving
5) compare the landscape to Kansas (or some other familiar place that is unsuitable)
6) Brag about their great equipment
7) Brag about their mileage and hiking technique
8) Brag about their superior hiking experience and background
9) Become particularly shrill and whiny when "my expectations are not met"
and finally, Number One Profile Element:
10) Complain about the "HOARDS of TOURISTS" who are "not behaving like real Pilgrims," and who are clogging up "MY" camino!
These people need to get their bad attitude on a bus to the beach, where tourists are better catered-to.
It has been my observation, not necessarily universally true, that bartenders are very good at knowing who is next. They ignore those who vie for their attention, sometimes local patrons excepted, and do one customer at a time in the order they have arrived. When there are twenty new pilgrims, the bartender's memory may be a bit off, but I have carefully observed the queuing hundreds of times, and it is first come, first serve almost all the time.Pilgrims jumping the queue and fighting for the attention of the bartender, who was openly and blatantly ignoring me.
Please don't!!!!! This is one of the last refuges from Facebook! "Like" is passionless; pap for the teen who has not learned to Love and Hate, or even complete a sentence without putting the qualifying "like" somewhere in it so he makes no commitment to the sentence's content. It would take a nuanced Scale-of-One-to-Ten to give everyone a gradient from which to choose. "Like" gives you the choice between saying nothing and a "5." It is beige; oatmeal without a topping; tepid water; non-alcoholic beer; decaf coffee. Please, please, please save us from Zuckerberg!I see that I need to add a "Like" button to the forum
Self-description of blogger.Up and packed, watching (with a bit of jealousy) from our stoop all the other pilgrims leave the village via a tight cobblestoned lane hemmed in with small specialty shops. A sea of generally novice, over-geared, over-packed, heavily clothed ‘peregrinos’ trying to sort out their many encumbrances.
You can already detect the source of his discontent. He is over-qualified for the Camino, and will have to share it with the "generally novice" pilgrims. I read the whole thing, and it gets worse. I think most of the Forum posts make valid comments, Pieces. I am surprised that you view the blog so positively, though I agree 100% that no one has to read it, and he is not posting in the Forum, so we are proactively seeking to criticize. Perhaps that is wrong.Wanderer. Life Seeker. Outdoor Enthusiast.
Ultralight backpacker, trail runner, mountain biker & thru-hiker.
I believe in the wonder of the outdoors.
It inspires me. It moves me. Literally.
I believe in simplicity.
Less is more.
falcon269 said:Please don't!!!!! This is one of the last refuges from Facebook! "Like" is passionless; pap for the teen who has not learned to Love and Hate, or even complete a sentence without putting the qualifying "like" somewhere in it so he makes no commitment to the sentence's content. It would take a nuanced Scale-of-One-to-Ten to give everyone a gradient from which to choose. "Like" gives you the choice between saying nothing and a "5." It is beige; oatmeal without a topping; tepid water; non-alcoholic beer; decaf coffee. Please, please, please save us from Zuckerberg!I see that I need to add a "Like" button to the forum
:mrgreen: :mrgreen:
BoulderBackpacker said:Hi everyone, this is the Boulder Backpcker. I just found out I have a bunch of new fansI have 3 requests please, particularly for those of you who disagree with me and my personal experience.
Please:
1) http://www.boulderbackpacker.com is written by me (a male), and not my wife. The blog is my words and experience, not hers. Whoever started this thread, please change it to "he..."
2) Anyone who feels compelled to comment, please do so. I welcome different opinions. BUT, please take the time to read the whole blog from Day 1 on. Because that's how my experience evolved. It very well may change your view of me. Maybe, or maybe not. But at least you will get the whole story, and not just a juicy sound bite.
3) Please make your comments on my blog, not here. I was not even aware this discussion was going on about me and my experience on the Camino.
Thanks for commenting. Happy trails.
falcon269 said:Day One post.Self-description of blogger.Up and packed, watching (with a bit of jealousy) from our stoop all the other pilgrims leave the village via a tight cobblestoned lane hemmed in with small specialty shops. A sea of generally novice, over-geared, over-packed, heavily clothed ‘peregrinos’ trying to sort out their many encumbrances.You can already detect the source of his discontent. He is over-qualified for the Camino, and will have to share it with the "generally novice" pilgrims. I read the whole thing, and it gets worse. I think most of the Forum posts make valid comments, Pieces. I am surprised that you view the blog so positively, though I agree 100% that no one has to read it, and he is not posting in the Forum, so we are proactively seeking to criticize. Perhaps that is wrong.Wanderer. Life Seeker. Outdoor Enthusiast.
Ultralight backpacker, trail runner, mountain biker & thru-hiker.
I believe in the wonder of the outdoors.
It inspires me. It moves me. Literally.
I believe in simplicity.
Less is more.
ivar said:I see that I need to add a "Like" button to the forum
...so many things, so little time..
Greetings from a sunny and 34c Santiago!
Ivar
lynnejohn said:I'm coming out of retirement to say:
If we have come to the point where we can "press a "Like" button" instead of engaging in a conversation, I am no longer interested in the forum.
lynne
I honestly feel if BoulderBackPacker had precursored his blog with those three little (but huge) letters a lot of unnecessary negativity would have stayed out of our universe/forum today! Like Karyn I had a "freaky" moment this morning when I read "Unfortunately El Camino de Santiago is a prepackaged tour masquerading as something else." Replace "Unfortunately" with "IMO" ..big difference!
"A good reason why one should walk with no expectations or preconceived ideas of what the Camino will be like for you. A priest on the Camino once said, "The Camino will be for you how you walk it".
CarolineMathieson said:You know those shiny stones you can buy in shops? Guess how they get that way and how they look before they become so shiny?
They all look rough with sharp edges. But they are put together with lots of other stones that may be different shapes and colours but also rough with sharp edges. They are put together into a device that contains an abrasive and water.
Then they are churned together for a period of time.
Afterwards when they are released from the device they come out transformed!
I think this is how the camino can be for many of us.
Of course the hardest stones of all are unchanged by their experience.....
annakappa said:I think that he was doing a "hike" and not a pilgrimage. He is obviously an almost "professional walker" you just have to check out his technical clothes, his scorn regarding floods of Pilgrims, wrestling with their, presumably, inappropriate equipment
Right! Sosillydoll said:It would be really useful to know what those expectations were so that others can learn to walk with a blank slate, no expectations beyond those that you can make happen yourself.
Maybe its time to let him be!
sillydoll said:This blogger has been brutally honest about the fact that the Camino hasn't lived up to his expectations. It would be really useful to know what those expectations were so that others can learn to walk with a blank slate, no expectations beyond those that you can make happen yourself.
Maybe its time to let him be!
Jeez. Sorry, but you're being a drama queen about all of this. Some people you don't even know say stuff about you and you act like it really matters. All that matters is what you and the people you love think. Why are you letting a bunch of strangers have such an impact on your life?
I still think it comes down to your expectations and just from your word usage I think your expectations are still off. You keep referring to the camino as a "hike". It's not a hike. It's a really long walk with a couple very short sections that could qualify as hikes. Expecting it to be a hike when really it's just a walk is setting yourself up for disappointment.
In the same vein, expecting people to act in a way other than human (meaning being rude, imperfect, impatient and all the other things you've mentioned) just because they happen to be walking on the same path that (for some) has a religious overtone is setting yourself up for disappointment. People are humans and they bring their humanity (the good and bad aspects of it) with them wherever they go. Expecting them to be extra-special-whatever just because they're walking the camino is just silly.
From what I've seen you've never really stated what your expectations were but I'll tell you what I expect from my upcoming camino:
I expect to walk @ 800 km. That's it. I don't expect anything of myself, my fellow pilgrims, the scenery, the difficulty or ease of the path, the food, the lodging or the experience. I only expect to put one foot in front of the other for 800 km. Now, do I *hope* that I experience some great things? Yes. But I don't expect that it'll happen and I realize that I will get back what I put out so if one day I'm in a great mood I'll likely have great experiences. Similarly, if I'm in a bad mood I'll likely have bad experiences. Then, I'll wake up the next morning and walk some more.
Instead of worrying so much about what other people are saying/thinking about you, why don't you just get up in the morning and walk.
I took off early this morning at 5:00am to make a solo hike out to Finisterre (the end of the earth). Spooky hiking in the pitch dark in the dense woods coming out of Santiago. My tiny single LED light finally gave out after a month…it was like trail walking using Braille.
Amazing day, hiking pretty much alone the entire day. 75 kilometers (or 46.6 miles for those back home)..I’m tired.
This was my hike.
It was stormy, raining sideways, wind blowing so strong I could barely stand upright, densely foggy and cold. There was no view. It was an absolutely beautiful day. It could not have been more perfect.
I stood alone, naked, at the end of the world, near Finisterre Spain, beyond the fire pits. I could go no further, as many who have come before me for tens of thousands of years. I was intensely happy.
This was my hike.
This was my hike.
Several hours later I sat alone at a seaside restaurant in Finisterre Spain near the port. I cried. I cried. I cried deeply and openly in public for 45 minutes. I was so profoundly happy.
It had nothing to do with religion, spirituality, the so called ‘camino de Santiago’ or any other reason the online Camino de Santiago experts may have to criticize.
I know why I cried.
I have so many things to discuss. In fact, I have several blog posts queued up to reply to what I consider the Camino Club’s narrow-minded, self-righteous view of the world. They will go unpublished. I have only one final comment; go hike the ‘camino’ again, until you get what it is.
I am flawed. I am human. I am aware. I am happy. I know my place. I know my purpose. And, I am done.
Go in peace.
Happy trails
The tears and the joy. If that is not the signature of a pilgrim and a kindred spirit, I don't know what is.
trumpy said:After seeing some of the disgraceful comments on this post I am thinking that it probably not worth posting on our Camino.
trumpy said:Well, well. Touchy lot aren't we. Seems its alright to liken people to slugs or tell them to get off to a beach somewhere. I don't even agree with the blog but I feel that some of the comments here are uncalled for.
Ron
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