June 24, 2004

Dear friends, I’m back home after a couple of months in Europe, and I’m glad to tell that the pilgrimage was well accomplished.

I did El Camino de Santiago along its most classical route, called El Camino Frances (The French Road). This route is about 750 Km. (465 Ml.) and it goes along the north of Spain, from Roncesvalles, close to the french border, to Santiago de Compostela, near the atlantic coast. It was a month of magnificent walking, with a daily average of 25 Km. (15.5 Ml.) The first stages were in the Pirineos mountain range, in Navarra, then there is a long stretch of flatlands across La Rioja, Castilla y Leon, after that the camino crosses another mountain range, la Cordillera de Cantabria, and finally it arrives to hilly Galicia. There are some main cities along the way, Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, Astorga and Santiago, but most of the time the camino goes through open country with only tiny villages on the way.

The surfaces are all you can imagine, with the exception of sand. I met rock, snow, mud, grass, gravel, packed earth, water streams, and a little asphalt. All pilgrims use some kind of shoe, usually hiking boots, and ALL of them get blisters ( I gave medical help to many of them) Obviously that was a problem I didn’t have, but I don’t want to be misunderstood, going barefoot is not a magical recipe, your soles must be well and long trained, the camino is hard, in some stages very rough, with gravel similar to that used in railroads. Anyway, the advantages far outweight the difficulties and pleasure the pains, as all of you well know.

The first ten days were very cold, with rain, snow, wind and mud, The other pilgrims, struggling in their mud caked boots, discovered that bare feet are self cleaning. My only problem was with vegetation, because, not knowing the local poisonous varieties, suddenly discovered the upper part of my feet red and swollen, but mud was a good treatment and soon were back to normal. From then on, temperature started to rise and it was much better.

There it was two little negative incidents, in Galicia I was refused service at a restaurant, but I got it at the restaurant across the street, and in Madrid, at Atocha railway station, a chorus of security guards told me I could not be barefoot at the station, but a quick visit to the client’s attention office proved them wrong, anyway, I stamped a complaint note for them to learn.

I was very surprised when I found myself turned into a kind of celebrity, I believed that to do the camino on bare feet was not common, but not so unusual as to attract the attention of radios and newspapers! Many people didn’t believe it could be possible, and they prophesied that my soles will succumb to wounds and ulcers. When they said that, at the beginning, I was a little worried, but after a week I was sure that my confidence was well rooted and I was enjoying all textures. In fact, I did the last stages singing and dancing, happy because the dream was been accomplished, but wishing the road not to end. It was wonderful, I made many good friends, there was people from all over the world, and every one sharing a charming goodwill that made each day the most beautiful discovery.

Now I’m thinking of doing my own web page, so I can show you the photos, with an english version of the chronicle I wrote.

Dear friends, I highly recomend El Camino de Santiago, at least once in your life. It’s big effort for the body, and a great challenge for the mind, but it’s a fantastic pleasure and luxury for the spirit.

From the rainy midnight of Patagonia

Machi

Click on any thumbnail to get the full picture. Der Weg ins Nichts
April 29 – At the begining, in the mountains, it was muddy and cold	May 1 – Climbing towards the “Height of Forgiving”, green springtime, dry but cold, friendly surface	May 2 – Average surface, very friendly	May 2 – Argillaceous mud, very soft when wet, very hard when dry.
May 2 – Rough surface	May 2 – Moderated rough surface	May 3 – “Sweet” surface. All along the road, yellow arrows show the way.	May 4 – Rough and unstable surface
May 4 – Caressing and noisy surface	May 6 – The road in La Rioja, an invitation to walk	May 9 – In Castilla, going down to Burgos (that’s the city in the far background)	May 9 – The high table-land of Castilla
May 11 – Stones and hardened mud in Palencia	May 15 – This is me at Barefooters Street, in Leon City, past midway from Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela. Here I have walked 444 out of 760 Km.(275 out of 470 Mls.)	May 22 – Up towards the entrance of Galicia	May 22 – In Galicia, after 600 Km. (374 Mls.) caressing mother earth.
May 25 – In the mountains, barefeet are self-cleaning!	May 25 – Last 100 Km. (62 Mls.)	May 28 – Beautiful and friendly path in the last days	May 29 – Other pilgrims are very friendly and respectful with a barefooter
	May 30 – The last texture: warm stones and a red “miracle”