Hi Johnny Walker (I went to skool within sight of the distillery which bears your name)
This is strange for me, to be seen as an old guy- I go all all queasy and cover my bald patch when this happens. Like many men, I sort of think I'm in my midthirties :roll: . WRONG! It's not arrogance or vanity - it's amnesia. :? Or senior moments - sigh.
I remember meeting Mme Debril (some mistakenly said Debile) .. I was a mature student then, maybe 38ish, and bemused to be filling out a form just to walk, it seemed. She asked my occupation; I said student. Well , that was it! I was finished after that! She thought you cant be a student unless you were 20 yrs old, so I must be a liar. My French was very poor, and she said to a French pilgrim (the very nice ******) who was with me that I was concealing the fact that I spoke good French. At the time I thought it was somehow obligatory to register with her. What a dragon. Having some kind of illusory authority floated her boat. But hey! I am content to have been singed by her dragon's breath; she was, I found out, famous on the Camino, and a part of its history. As you know, she appeared in Coelho's book :roll: on the Camino. And anyway, if the Camino is also a metaphor for life, then we take the highs and lows as best we can. It's like the posts about alleged rough hospitaleros - we are all rufty-tufty pilgrims and can surely take alleged knocks without howling too loud. (I am not condoning such alleged roughness). **
There was a Dutch guy as hospitalero in Pamplona, who was the sergeant major type. He also kept on about the terrors of the Meseta - he described it like the Sahara, but hotter. My eyes got wider and wider and wondered if I should continue without camels. He said he hid from the sun in a rusting car shell, groaning in fear of his life. When I got to the Meseta, I found it to be one of the most beautiful parts I saw! He wanted to open a refugio near the Col de Somport - I dont know if he achieved it; but he'd have driven folk away with his style. He imposed his camino values on others, which I found was not uncommon on the Way - notions of what a "real pilgrim " is and so on. * I mused that some wanted a hierarchy or caste system, perhaps to soothe their insecurities. I bet this has happened since the Middle Ages. But I digress..as usual..opinionated git..mumble mumble..
In Pamplona, they were running the bulls, which I didnt like - these poor animals are terrified, pursued by testosterone crazed blokes, who are strangely attracted to hospital emergency rooms, which of course they richly deserve - instant karma. In Los Arcos, a pilgrim's horse ran away and we all went to look for it. I remember the owner (Sophie?) didn't thank anyone, but continued on her way. At the time the refugio was a deeply derelict house on the edge of town. I remember a Swiss man who was doing the Picaud etapes - those massive stages in the ancient guide. The guy was gaunt, stressed and exhausted; quite obsessed. I remember Jesus Jato who of course is still there; his refugio made of plastic etc, and very nice too. His daughters, home from University, dancing in the refugio. The solar showers, and the saucy drawings on the shower walls; the Basque woman of 35 who was near blind, teaming up with the 70 yr old Belgian woman who was so frail - mutual self help. AND they got to Santiago. My heros. There was **** from Switzerland who was a Sri Chin Moy adept, and ********** from Bielefeld - lovely people. And Irishman and very strong walker ***** (TGV). I've mentioned San Juan de Ortega refugio in another post. After reading accounts of bedbugs there, I think in my first time here, a bug would have died of loneliness. Did you know that some believe that bedbugs are the reincarnation of early pilgrims who ran at dawn for the next bed ? Spooky, huh?
I was on the Camino by accident; I had been on the section between Le Puy and Conques and liked it. I knew almost nothing of the Camino, and advanced in a haze of ignorance. But somehow I just kept going and ended up in Santiago. There were a lot less refugios then, and I wish I'd taken more pics. It's a page which has turned in the life of the Camino. As it has done for a thousand years of course. And your time has done so too. But it's not over yet! There are new pages to turn.
I got a guide book in St Jean Pied de Port; it was that long book for putting in your rucsac sidepocket. It was in Spanish which I didnt speak :shock: . So I used the maps and dredged up my schoolboy Latin to catch a word or two. I knew it had to come in handy one day; forget Hannibal crossing the Alps and "Delenda est Carthaginia" - this was me crossing the Pyrenées! Hic haec hoc, amo, amas, amat. Thank you Latin teacher who beat us into learning this dead language. My hands still sting with "the belt".
I laughed when getting my Compostellana in Santiago- they put me down as Dionysius, who of course is the god of debauchery, booze and partying -Bacchus, as the Romans had it. And a pagan god into the bargain; what were these good Catholic chaps thinking of? :shock: I think we should be told.
I'll try to recall more - I really wish I had taken a zillion pics. Of course, life was in black and white then.
What did I learn? -and I'm a slow learner, repeating mistakes ad nauseam. I learned that getting to Santiago was not the point - but I was so thick I didnt realise that till I got to Santiago. The point was all the places and people I encountered every day. I think of the book by Baba Ram Das - "Be Here Now"...that, when I at last twigged, was the whole point for me. The present, the moment, the fun, the snooty pilgrims, the friendly pilgrims, the wild eyed runners, the desperately crappy refugios, the nights under the stars, the luxury refugios, the beer by a fuente, the bread and sardine lunch, a paella in Burgos and so on.There is a famous motorcycling writer who says "The Interruptions ARE the journey". I do like that.
(I had some more text here but hit a wrong key and lost it. Just as well)
* If you want to know about the life of medieval pilgrims then read Jonathan Sumption's brilliant book "Pilgrimage: An Image of Medieval Religion". That opened my eyes to past pilgrims! :shock: It's an academic work, not popular history, so don't look for it in your normal bookshop. Order it through the library loans system (UK).
** I repeat the word alleged, for I am a little dismayed at the willingness elsewhere to condemn someone so easily, on a one-sided assertion. Golgotha is also a case in point?
Buen Camino! :arrow:
