Precipitation, pesticides and post-camino blues

Lets start with the pilgrims-to-santiago fourm:

Rain, rain and more rain
Over the weekend it has rained quite strong in north eastern Spain and several areas have had severe flooding. The Bilbao area seems to be hit the hardest, with several secondary roads closed. The mayor highways are reported to be open. The rain has stopped in Santiago after 23 days in a row with rain. In Santiago we got more rain this May than in the whole of 2007.

A guy asked about walking from Scotland (Why?)
He received this reply:
In 2005 I set out from home, Tynemouth, got the ferry to Amsterdam and walked south to Le Puy to pick up the GR65. I think Zeebruge is further west than Amsterdam so Le Puy wouldn't suit, but the Vezelay route is now marked all the way. Difficulty is that there are few gites d'etapes as you go through Belgium and northern France and not a lot on the Vezelay route. I didn't take a tent and so tended to walk on fairly major routes so as to hit the towns that appeared big enough to have a B+B - didn't always get it right.

Bed Bugs and fleas made it onto the forum again this week. (I actually started scratching just reading the posts!)

When I showed the hospitalero in Astorga evidence of bed bugs he said I must have brought them with me from Mararife and HE didnt have any bugs there. This was not true - my bed was COVERED in bugs and I would have noticed the weight if I was carrying so many! (WHAAATTT?? )

Having been badly bitten last year I was carrying spray to treat my bedding etc and lotion to soothe bites and I was able to give the poor chap some of both. He did not really understand the need to treat all his gear thoroughly and unfortunately I suspect he will have carried them further as he seemed to think I was making an unnecessary fuss when I tried to explain what he needed to do to be rid of them. I had the misfortune to be on the bunk above him and even earplugs could not drown out the noise of his incessant scratching!! I would advice everyone to take some kind of insecticide with them as I found it difficult to buy anything stronger than fly spray which really wont be strong enough to deal with bedbugs.

Santiagobis - was quiet again this week – just a few posts:

Someone looking for a hippie commune asked:

Why no artist communities along the Camino???

And the reply: We´re working on it. Wanna join up?
Rebekah Scott - www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com

And another asked if pilgrims returning along the way can stay in the albergues.

The succinct reply? YES

On the Via Francigena Forum

A cry from the wilderness:

Oh dear, more and more pilgrims; everyone kills the thing (s)he loves. It will get as bad as the Camino in ten years' time. Do it now or not at all.

Grant’s website:

This is an interesting one. (No-one has replied. Who is going to admit that they walked the camino with a go-as-you-please B&B back-up service? Nobody. Nadie)

Does anyone know of a company that offers 'Randonnée en liberté / Go as you please walking' on the Camino del Norte? (= you do the walking, they book the bed-and- breakfast for you).

Good post by the webmaster on his language courses:

Have you seen our Camino Language page? It currently shows 4 instructional audio 'CDs' for both Spanish and French. These files are available in both PC and Mac formats. You can save a file to your computer by right-clicking and 'save as .. ' . I'm working on streaming media players for these files and others. The first of the group that's now working are music media player.

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/caminolanguage.msnw

The subject of vegetarians on the camino came up again.

http://www.caminosantiago.com/way_of_saint_james/pilgrims_forum.htm site

This vegetarian eats fish, cephalopods and eggs. Heloooo!! You are not a vegetarian.

Ask Yahoo: "If I am a vegetarian and I eat fish, am I still a vegetarian?
Answer: "No. Fish is an animal. Vegetarians do not eat animals.

I walked the Camino in 2005 and had no problems with meatless food, tough I did eat fish almost every evening. There was always at least a fish menu to choose from. Otherwise you can survive on starters (ensalada mixta, pasta, rice dishes) and postres (cakes). Sometimes I even got a specially prepared dish just for vegetarians (eg. in Tosantos).
Bocadillos with cheese and once a huge one with egg and cheese (in Arzua) are common, but also try different sandwiches with onion, spinach or cheese. I am not too sure about Galician pulpo (boiled octopus), we had problems with digestion afterwards.
I do very much recommend pilgrim menus. They are big, tasty and affordable.

Post Camino Syndrome: I walked the camino in the Spring of 2005 and when I got home at the end of May, I was like a fish out of water. I wanted to move away from my home on the west coast of Canada and just keep walking and experiencing life. Everything was big compared to Spain, big cars, big houses, lots of material stuff, big stores, a different reality. Now three years later, I still long to be on the camino. The emotional and physical pain that I experienced on the path, continues to be an inspiration in my life and I am living more in the moment. Trying to bring the Camino back to your life and community is a huge task. I cried a lot when I got back and I was ready to leave everything behind. It gets better with time. (Boo-hoo! I couldn't find a picture of a crying pilgrim so this one of a crying Paris will just have to do.)