New Camino Project!

[WanderingMind]

Hi everyone!

I want to share a Camino project that my fellow walkers and I have been working on. The website is called ¿Por qué Peregrino? We made this website because there are many sources out there that are great for sharing logistical info (like this one) which is totally necessary, but there are far less that capture the essence of the experience. The goal of this website is to have a user friendly, central place where people can read about experiences and share their own.

Please take a look at the site and share it around if you would. We would be very happy if you shared your story with us as well! We all had our own reasons for going and it is certainly something to feel passionate about.

Also, let me make it clear: there absolutely no monetary gain for us in this project. It is purely to help foster the Camino community and to inspire past, present, and future walkers. The Camino is such a powerful experience of generosity and selflessness and this site will reflect that.

I hope you enjoy,
-David
porqueperegrino.com

 

[t2andreo]

David:

I have visited your website a couple of times, and saved it as a bookmark. IMHO, your site fills an important need for people to share the CORE of their Camino experience, without the hassle of maintaining a completely separate blog. I applaud you for this creativity.

While many people tell themselves they are going to blog their Camino, there are usually two things working against most folks doing so. The first is the effort to set up and maintain a blog as current. It is not something to be undertaken lightly or casually, and it does require daily effort.

The second issue is that most people tell the same story of the Camino, albeit in their own terms. This is NOT to denigrate each person's experience. But, if you looked at as many separate blogs as I have, they tend to sound similar after a while. I have seen too many partial or discontinued blogs that various persons started, then let lapse.

Porque Peregrino provides pilgrims a place to share their seminal feelings, their personal takeaways from the Camino, without having to go through all the effort related to blogging. Beyond that, issues concerning the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of the Camino are aptly handled in this forum.

So, in that regard, I see both web sites as being complimentary.

Thank you for helping pilgrims share their experiences.

 

[WanderingMind]

Hi Andreo,

Thank you for your feedback!

We understand what we've taken on here. I work in web development and I've seen projects like this start strong and slowly fizzle over time. We'll do our best to make it known through social media and word of mouth. At the end of the day, if the Camino community wants a site like this to exist, we'll probably know within a year.

We want the stories to be as varied as possible. It's okay if one story is about architectural observations, another about the physical struggle, and another the religious aspect. Hopefully we can avoid the standard (but still important) story experience. We encourage people to be as creative as possible in their writing.

I also see both web sites as well as the Facebook groups as complimentary. We'll do our best to make this site a success!

 

[WanderingMind]

I don't think we should think about this website as having a "goal." The first question I asked new people I met on the Camino was 'what brought you here?' The range of responses was so interesting - and those beautiful stories are sadly only known to a few people at a time. Millions have walked the Camino, and we all had profound experiences, saw interesting things, or heard interesting stories.

We thought that a site for people to share their insights would be a nice thing. That we might relive our experience by reading some of these stories. And that people considering the Camino might be inspired to go after seeing what an amazing experience it can be. By sharing these stories, future pilgrims, travelers, or anyone else will have a window into the Camino.

 

[naplesdon]

I have found after walking several Caminos that one's hand and mind get writer's block after the first 3 or 4 days. The insights become something that are very hard to share.

 

[gscheaff]

I have found after walking several Caminos that one's hand and mind get writer's block after the first 3 or 4 days. The insights become something that are very hard to share.

I'm helping WanderingMind with this project and your point is accurate. I definitely struggled with my post, but it came to me eventually. We are more than willing to help however possible with writing this and have offered a few "prompts, if you will, at www.porqueperegrino.com/your-story.