Camino 2012

Many of you may know by now I was unable to get on my blog while in Spain. Too bad because each day had a new challenge. So in retrospect I'll try to summarize.
The Camino, The Way of St James pilgrimage had various elements. The preparation, the physical challenge, the walk , the people, the country side, the resident farm houses, the cuisine and the spiritual component.
I was totally physically unprepared for the walk/hike of the Camino. I described it as having to walk the hills of WV after a mud slide. If God gave me a gift it was the weather. It was cool, dry and sunny. The trail was muddy from the three weeks of rain prior to my arrival. But the weather was great. We were met in Madrid by the tour company, introduced to our driver and field guide. We traveled 5 hours to Sarria where we would stark the pilgrimage. We stopped at historic monasteries and was served a lunch of picked meats including pigs ear.
Once in Sarria we were introduced to the Galician farm country. It was rural and pristine...like going back in time. The first farm house ( B&B ) was quite stately, once owned by someone important It even had it's own chapel where an old local priest had a mass for us to bless our journey.

St James, Santiago's namesake and symbol, was a Christian evangelist — one of Jesus' original "fishers of men." An apostle.Once James was beheaded his body was sent out from Rome and landed on the shores of north western Spain, the very area he had been assigned to minister. His remains were buried in a forest.

Some historians figure the "discovery" of the remains of St. James in Spain was a medieval hoax. It was designed to rally Europe against the Muslim Moors, who had invaded Spain and were threatening to continue into Europe.With St James buried in Iberia, all of Europe would rise up to push the Muslims back into Africa...which, after a centuries-long "Reconquista," they finally did in 1492.
All this commotion dates back about 1200 years to a monk who followed a field of stars  to this distant corner of Europe and discovered what appeared to be the long-lost tomb of St. James. Church leaders declared that St. James' relics had been found, built a church and named the place Santiago (St. James) de Compostela (campo de estrellas, or "field of stars").
Imagine you're a medieval pilgrim. You've just walked from Paris — more than 700 miles — to reach this cathedral. Your goal: to request the help of St. James in recovering from an illness. Or maybe you've come to honor the wish of a dying relative...or to be forgiven for your sins. Whatever the reason, you know the pope promised that any person who walked to Santiago in a Holy Year, confessed their sins, and took communion here would be forgiven.

Now to be an official pilgrim you have to walk a path to Santiago at least 100 kilometers
May 10th my journey began