LIVE from the Camino Living on the Camino today

[hughb]

So for all my pilgrim friends, met or unmet, living anywhere around the world here is the view from my house near the caminho Portuguese. Its a wonderful view, but not pretty.

Firstly for all the pilgrims who have had to postpone your caminho, you are blessed and lucky. You are alive and free. I fully realise that the virus is now worldwide, but Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are some of the worst hit. I am not allowed out of the house except for food shopping or to walk the dog. It's been like this for over a week. I live in a quiet village, it's now silent. At the bakery this morning, yes there is still fresh bread every day, I met 2 friends, no kisses or hand shakes, instead 2 metres. At least in Portugal everyone obeys the rules without question. When the state of emergency was announced to start in 2 days, it simply started immediately. No-one dared to argue.

Although I am officially old, I am collecting food for older people and leaving it on their gate. People have left produce from their land hanging on my gate. The village spirit survives. And then at the bakery, as an outsider stopped for bread, conversation stopped. As he left, it started again.

I think that it will be the same for pilgrims when travel restarts. Treated with suspicion rather than love and support. It will take a long time before the Camino is the same.

It will I am sure be different in the cities, they will always be cosmopolitan, but in the rural areas, I am getting the feeling that it will remain different for a long time. So before you book your flight, be aware of the feelings of the local community.

As a footnote. As I sit here, the church bells are ringing. Someone has died. Even funerals are banned. In normal times, everyone in the village attends the funerals. Even if only to follow the coffin out of respect from the church, for a kilometre along the main road to the cemetery. Now only the immediate family are allowed.

Life has changed. So has the Camino.

Please stay safe. May God bless you.

 

[richeyboy]

'Tempora mutantur, tempora mutamur in illis': times changes and we change with them - and so does the camino (as it has done every day since it began).

 

[alexwalker]

So for all my pilgrim friends, met or unmet, living anywhere around the world here is the view from my house near the caminho Portuguese. Its a wonderful view, but not pretty.

Firstly for all the pilgrims who have had to postpone your caminho, you are blessed and lucky. You are alive and free. I fully realise that the virus is now worldwide, but Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are some of the worst hit. I am not allowed out of the house except for food shopping or to walk the dog. It's been like this for over a week. I live in a quiet village, it's now silent. At the bakery this morning, yes there is still fresh bread every day, I met 2 friends, no kisses or hand shakes, instead 2 metres. At least in Portugal everyone obeys the rules without question. When the state of emergency was announced to start in 2 days, it simply started immediately. No-one dared to argue.

Although I am officially old, I am collecting food for older people and leaving it on their gate. People have left produce from their land hanging on my gate. The village spirit survives. And then at the bakery, as an outsider stopped for bread, conversation stopped. As he left, it started again.

I think that it will be the same for pilgrims when travel restarts. Treated with suspicion rather than love and support. It will take a long time before the Camino is the same.

It will I am sure be different in the cities, they will always be cosmopolitan, but in the rural areas, I am getting the feeling that it will remain different for a long time. So before you book your flight, be aware of the feelings of the local community.

As a footnote. As I sit here, the church bells are ringing. Someone has died. Even funerals are banned. In normal times, everyone in the village attends the funerals. Even if only to follow the coffin out of respect from the church, for a kilometre along the main road to the cemetery. Now only the immediate family are allowed.

Life has changed. So has the Camino.

Please stay safe. May God bless you.

Thank you for the insight. Stay safe & take care.

 

[trecile]

So for all my pilgrim friends, met or unmet, living anywhere around the world here is the view from my house near the caminho Portuguese. Its a wonderful view, but not pretty.

Firstly for all the pilgrims who have had to postpone your caminho, you are blessed and lucky. You are alive and free. I fully realise that the virus is now worldwide, but Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are some of the worst hit. I am not allowed out of the house except for food shopping or to walk the dog. It's been like this for over a week. I live in a quiet village, it's now silent. At the bakery this morning, yes there is still fresh bread every day, I met 2 friends, no kisses or hand shakes, instead 2 metres. At least in Portugal everyone obeys the rules without question. When the state of emergency was announced to start in 2 days, it simply started immediately. No-one dared to argue.

Although I am officially old, I am collecting food for older people and leaving it on their gate. People have left produce from their land hanging on my gate. The village spirit survives. And then at the bakery, as an outsider stopped for bread, conversation stopped. As he left, it started again.

I think that it will be the same for pilgrims when travel restarts. Treated with suspicion rather than love and support. It will take a long time before the Camino is the same.

It will I am sure be different in the cities, they will always be cosmopolitan, but in the rural areas, I am getting the feeling that it will remain different for a long time. So before you book your flight, be aware of the feelings of the local community.

As a footnote. As I sit here, the church bells are ringing. Someone has died. Even funerals are banned. In normal times, everyone in the village attends the funerals. Even if only to follow the coffin out of respect from the church, for a kilometre along the main road to the cemetery. Now only the immediate family are allowed.

Life has changed. So has the Camino.

Please stay safe. May God bless you.

Do you mind if I share your message with some Camino Facebook groups? I think that people need to know what the situation is right now in Portugal and Spain.

 

[Ekelund]

Reading your post made me very sad.I remember the days walking the Portuguese Camino from Lisboa with great fondness. The Portuguese people was so kind and friendly. It was a lonely walk in 2014 but I did not feel alone because I was met with kindness and smiles every day. May this crisis soon be over.

 

[GailGwyn]

So for all my pilgrim friends, met or unmet, living anywhere around the world here is the view from my house near the caminho Portuguese. Its a wonderful view, but not pretty.

Firstly for all the pilgrims who have had to postpone your caminho, you are blessed and lucky. You are alive and free. I fully realise that the virus is now worldwide, but Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are some of the worst hit. I am not allowed out of the house except for food shopping or to walk the dog. It's been like this for over a week. I live in a quiet village, it's now silent. At the bakery this morning, yes there is still fresh bread every day, I met 2 friends, no kisses or hand shakes, instead 2 metres. At least in Portugal everyone obeys the rules without question. When the state of emergency was announced to start in 2 days, it simply started immediately. No-one dared to argue.

Although I am officially old, I am collecting food for older people and leaving it on their gate. People have left produce from their land hanging on my gate. The village spirit survives. And then at the bakery, as an outsider stopped for bread, conversation stopped. As he left, it started again.

I think that it will be the same for pilgrims when travel restarts. Treated with suspicion rather than love and support. It will take a long time before the Camino is the same.

It will I am sure be different in the cities, they will always be cosmopolitan, but in the rural areas, I am getting the feeling that it will remain different for a long time. So before you book your flight, be aware of the feelings of the local community.

As a footnote. As I sit here, the church bells are ringing. Someone has died. Even funerals are banned. In normal times, everyone in the village attends the funerals. Even if only to follow the coffin out of respect from the church, for a kilometre along the main road to the cemetery. Now only the immediate family are allowed.

Life has changed. So has the Camino.

Please stay safe. May God bless you.

Thank you. My husband and I were due to walk the Caminho Portuguese, from Porto, in May. We are in the UK and had made arrangements to meet with 2 American friends there, so we could all walk together. I hope and pray that we will still be able to enjoy this great adventure together one day.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

So for all my pilgrim friends, met or unmet, living anywhere around the world here is the view from my house near the caminho Portuguese. Its a wonderful view, but not pretty.

Firstly for all the pilgrims who have had to postpone your caminho, you are blessed and lucky. You are alive and free. I fully realise that the virus is now worldwide, but Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are some of the worst hit. I am not allowed out of the house except for food shopping or to walk the dog. It's been like this for over a week. I live in a quiet village, it's now silent. At the bakery this morning, yes there is still fresh bread every day, I met 2 friends, no kisses or hand shakes, instead 2 metres. At least in Portugal everyone obeys the rules without question. When the state of emergency was announced to start in 2 days, it simply started immediately. No-one dared to argue.

Although I am officially old, I am collecting food for older people and leaving it on their gate. People have left produce from their land hanging on my gate. The village spirit survives. And then at the bakery, as an outsider stopped for bread, conversation stopped. As he left, it started again.

I think that it will be the same for pilgrims when travel restarts. Treated with suspicion rather than love and support. It will take a long time before the Camino is the same.

It will I am sure be different in the cities, they will always be cosmopolitan, but in the rural areas, I am getting the feeling that it will remain different for a long time. So before you book your flight, be aware of the feelings of the local community.

As a footnote. As I sit here, the church bells are ringing. Someone has died. Even funerals are banned. In normal times, everyone in the village attends the funerals. Even if only to follow the coffin out of respect from the church, for a kilometre along the main road to the cemetery. Now only the immediate family are allowed.

Life has changed. So has the Camino.

Please stay safe. May God bless you.

Thank y

 

[cj2003]

Thank you for creating beautiful pictures in my mind of the camino as I sit here looking out the window