Back in May, my good friend (and partner at Charles River Recruiting) Adam Weiss and I traveled to Israel.  A problem with fuel in Tel Aviv, by various machinations no one could adequately explain, left us stranded in Brussels.  “Neat,” Adam said.  “And second prize is two days in Brussels.”  But Brussels has its charms, especially the Grand Place (French for “the Grand Place”), not to mention that while we were there we met an irrepressible Spaniard named Julio, who was also stranded en route to Israel, and who accompanied us on our second day of drinking in the sunny, French-accented Grand Place.

That night, we were back on our flight, and just after midnight we all said goodbye in the Tel Aviv Airport.  Julie stayed on in Tel Aviv, and Adam and I took a taxi to Jerusalem.  We toured the great old city for a few days, took a train to Haifa, then a bus to the mystical hilltop village of Tzfat.  And it was there, about five days after we’d arrived in Israel, that we ran into . . . Julio.

Now, at this time, I had no knowledge of the Camino de Santiago.  “Santiago,” I have learned, means St. (Santo) James (Diego, which is how the ancient Hebrew Ya’akov ended up being rendered in Spanish).  My acquaintance with the term “camino” was limited to the following:  (1) my mother’s 1972 2-door El Camino (2) my 1992 study of Spanish for an aborted trip to Patagonia – “camino” means “way” or “path” and is frequently used as English speakers use “road” or “street”, and (3) the Gipsy Kings’ dreamy, meditative “Caminando por la Calle”, or Walking in (or down) the street, which, interestingly, turns the camino or “path” into the gerund for “walking” itself – caminando (and, probably so as to avoid the repetition of “caminando por el camino”, substitutes calle for street).  It deserves your listening to’t:

So anyway, who does Julio turn out to be?

* a Spaniard

* who lives near the Camino de Santiago, in Bilbao, home of the world-famous Guggenheim Museum,

* and is the most experienced walker I have ever met.  In fact, he was in Israel precisely to walk from north to south, a distance of several hundred miles. He does these long walks several times a year.

And now he is not only offering advice on the Camino, he is walking parts of it himself, right now.  What are the odds?

Here is his latest:

Hi Cameron,

I´m still in bilbao, we suppose to move to Pyrenees already but problems last minute … always women problems … we´ll probably start next week.

Suggestions : In my opinion the most beautiful part is the begining , means one side of the mountain Saint Jean Pied de Port (France Basque country ) o Roncesvalles ( other side of the mountain , spanish basque side ) from here you walk to Pamplona , now huge fiesta going on – San Fermín – Bull fighters on the road , and many people injured because they are extremely ” brave pepople “.

From Pamplona to Logroño still nice, we are talking about Rioja´s heart.

After Logroño, temperatures in summer are a little bit like Death Valley, you must start every day really early otherwise , you risk of ” melt ” , dry part of Spain… from Logroño you could get bus to Burgos, beautiful cathedral, place to sleep pilgrims fifty yards from cathedral, you could get bus again to Leon , less than two hours, again another beautiful cathedral; the way out from Leon is disgusting, pick up the bus again and depending of how you feel , you could get near Santiago or few kilometers away.

Information concerning buses can be provided all around places where pilgrims spend nights, some people get the bus to Sarria, only 100 kms away from Santiago and that way you could get your ” title ” … you deserve the diploma , and only waiting a funny queue at
the Pilgrims Office in Santiago, you will be very proud of it.

How to decide, It depends how exhausted you are after walking under the sun.

In my case after this delay, we suppose to star walking next week, i dont feel confortable if i depends on other people decisions…  thisis going to be an ” special case ”

Well, let me know what you decide and make sure if i am around we´ll share a couple of San Miguel´s ( one of the most popular spanish beers “)

In the meantime, keep fit.

Hasta pronto,
julio

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