Hmmm . But then, you yourself actually contribute to the increase with your tour groups! Don't get me wrong I'm actually envious that you've found a way to enjoy walking and make money from it however without experienced guides like yourself many would not actually do the Camino.
Mind you the same could be said for bag transport, YouTubers ( both you and I are also guilty there), a certain film, even books.
Actually it's kind of ironic that those who truly love being alone on the trail can contribute to the very crowd's that they try to avoid.
Ok. you hit a nerve.
Yes, I'm sure my 7 pilgrims a year must make a HUGE difference in the crowding on the Camino.
Those 7 pilgrims each year take up a LOT of space! lol!
Well, first of all, we book private lodging, we don't stay in albergues.
So I doubt we're affecting the number of free beds.
And the fact is, they'd go anyway - via some other company if I weren't here. ::
::
My 7 pilgrims spread out. Each person goes at their own rate of speed, alone or with companions as any other pilgrim does. They don't get off the bus right before a village and swarm in to get their Credentials stamped so they can get their "Compostela" in Santiago, and get picked up on the other side of the village, like I've seen over and over and over.
As far as making money, I think when all is said and done, I may make about $1/hour for all the hours of work I put in. This week alone, I've spent about 20 hours online with not only my group members but the 1.6 thousand members of my FREE Facebook Camino Planning Group. I send all of those people to this forum, by the way, for more information. I probably spend those 20 hours a week EVERY week from now until March when I leave for Spain.
I do give back. I use all those dollars I make to support the Camino - I pay for my membership here, for my membership with the Confraternity of St. James, for my membership in American Pilgrims on the Camino, and to volunteer as hospitalera when I can. I also support the Camino by picking up bags of trash each year and cleaning every albergue I stay in when I'm walking alone.
I suppose I do contribute to the crowds by helping the people in that group - though again, they're already planning on walking. I do try to train them to be better pilgrims along with information on planning their own trip. I talk to them about Pilgrim Etiquette, paying a generous donativo, buying in bars where they use the toilet, and picking up their trash.
My yearly group trip, by the way, is a way to do the long distance walking prescribed by my specialist for my Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. My Federal Disability just won't cover the yearly trip. So I book for 8 people, add in my airfare, my costs for 6-8 weeks of walking, and a bit for the hours and hours and hours I spend, and divide the total by 7 and that's what they pay. I start planning the trip almost a year in advance. Looking at other groups that charge for self-guided trips, one that is around $1,000 for help just from SJPP to Pamplona, I feel my prices are pretty darned good, considering I pay for upscale lodging, backpack transport, and all private taxis inside the dates of the trip.
Walking for 6 weeks chelates enough chemicals that I can feel "normal" for up to 6 months. For 6 months I won't have joint pain, migraines, muscle aches, or debilitating brain fog until the chemicals once again start building up in my body. So for me, it's an answer to prayer. . . a prayer I left at the altar in Santiago on my very first Camino in 2006.
My whining isn't about pilgrimages to Santiago. It's about the rude people who scatter toilet paper, bottles, and trash, who start fights with hospitaleros, who click click click through villages at 4 am laughing at the top of their lungs waking up the entire village, and who complain about albergues when they could well afford private lodging.
Ironic? Maybe... or maybe just whistful thinking - the same type most people of a certain age have when daydreaming about the good old days...
