Dear Linda
Pilgrim qualifications: an introspective viewpoint possessing little relevance for geography or final documentation
1) The willingness to confront your own self or your soul as to why you are even in Spain, why Santiago and why Saint James, which of several realities you wish to accept or discard during which time periods and on which continent - answers for which will change often alarmingly as you progress
2) Camaraderie and shared goals that often necessitate cooperative effort with other pilgrims and like souls - not all who walk the Camino are "qualified" pilgrims not all who reach Santiago are happy to have completed the Camino
3) Love of freedom and the inherent lack of responsibility and obligation as one has come to perceive them over the years – this also generates a curious time warp in which time truly slows until losing all importance well, until late afternoon
4) Some self-abnegation, walking for hours, arriving at a crowded noisy hot/frozen albergue with lukewarm showers, and 14 people snoring like a sawmill on fire are not for everyone
5) Santiago and the Compostelo are only the excuse that you are there, they mark the end of a personal experience not a geographical position on the map while the document has meaning but no inner significance of what you have passed and both often generate an askance-and what now?
6) Should you find yourself in wonderful company, walking through beautiful landscape with the prospect of overwhelming medieval art and architecture waiting for your admiration in say Burgos, Leon, even Astorga, why scrap it all for Portomarin? Elide?? Arzua???
My recommendation? The Camino, Santiago and the desired Compostelo document have been here for a thousand years and baring major divine intervention will still be here a thousand years hence-do what you can gloriously and come back to triumphantly enter Santiago de Compostela at some future date.
I can only warmly wish you a fantastic experience and Buen Camino-personally I would not concede a single meter along the way even if such a dedication would demand a return Camino in which to finish.
S
