Wynette: In Spanish, “el camino” means “the way”. Also “the road”, “the path”, “the journey”. My friend Rebecca asked how accurately the movie The Way portrays the Camino. I’m sure many have already blogged about this, but I’ll give it a try.
First, on a sad note, we have heard that this spring at least one pilgrim died trying to cross the Pyrenes on the way from St. Jean to Roncesvalles, just before we arrived. Nearly everyone we talked to who did that crossing said it was a huge challenge. One woman, Anna from South Africa, said she cried at the end from exhaustion. One man, Glenn from Canada, said he honestly didn’t think he was going to make it. We have not regretted our decision to start in Roncesvalles.
On a lighter note, we have seen lots of boomers. And some had earphones which I suspect were connected to ipods. Charlie and I have our ipods. (Well, Charlie’s is a phone with music player.) I have not listened to music while walking as much as I expected. That probably explains why James Taylor hasn’t yet come up in my shuffle. But today music kept me happy through a long walk and boomer music did come up: Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen. But some not quite so old: Tom Petty, Gipsy Kings, Edie Brickell, James Blunt. And even some new stuff, new to me at least: Gotye, Christina Perri, Calexico, Anna Ternheim, Tift Merritt, and the amazing Mexican singer Julieta Venegas. Check her out.
All the above mentioned songs and more provided a fine soundtrack for today’s walk. Just like the movie had a really nice soundtrack.
The movie was mostly about the relationship between the characters. I think that for many pilgrims the relationships formed are important. I’m not sure how often people hook up like those four did but I know many adjust their hiking speed to stay with a particular group or person. One thing we’ve really enjoyed is seeing people over and over. We met the Bulgarian couple above several days ago. Then we ran into them again yesterday. It was like a homecoming. They both reached out and hugged us.
Lots of eating and drinking (mostly drinking) on tables set up in the street.
We’ve stayed in albergues twice now. One was similar to the one Martin Sheen and Joost from Amsterdam stayed in first night.
The physical toll of so much walking is barely acknowledged in the movie. Especially foot problems. Today where we stopped for coffee midmorning, we saw a woman sitting on a bench, with her shoes off, crying.
Weather is pretty much ignored in the movie. That was filmed in the fall so maybe it is less dramatic then. We’ve had lots of extremes. Very cold, very hot, very windy, and at times, very perfect.
We spend a fair amount of time deciding on places to stay, places to eat. But we might do this more than most pilgrims. They didn’t seem to think much about it in the movie, except for the discussion about the parador.
I’m pretty sure the guy below was Jack from Ireland, spotted in Astorga, Gaudi Castle gift shop. Charlie is skeptical.
We did meet a man from Ireland named Patty. But he wasn’t like Jack. All the Canadians we have met have been really nice from the moment we met them.
I just loaded THE WAY to compare the guy in the picture to Jack. He is handsome, like Jack, but has less hair. Maybe he, too, is a writer. Also, at least two shots of Sarah ? (the woman) shows her with her shoes off and rubbing her feet.
Did you stay in the big hotel in Leon?
Have you come to the ‘rock pile’ and do you have a rock to add? What about the written prayer?
It seems they climbed a ‘mountain’ after leaving Leon and before the rock pile and arriving in Santiago. Will you have to cross a mountain range (C mentioned in the recent video)?
What about the sign with distances to different places? i.e. 5000 Km to Jerusalem!
Really a touching ‘ending’! I watched about half of it and enjoyed it, again! MOM
Hi Mom, we decided not to stay in the fancy parador hotel in León. But I would if Martin Sheen would treat me! Stay tuned for answers to other questions.