On the Camino

May the 29th  is the Feast day of Saint Bona of Pisa and you may wonder why it is that her day is being mentioned here - she is the Patron Saint of Pisa, guides, couriers, flight attendants and, importantly to us, Pilgrims. She was canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII and lived in the 12th century from 1156-1207. Santa Bona - Giovanni Lorenzetti" by Giovanni Lorenzetti - http://www.giovannilorenzetti-f.com/. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Bona_-_Giovanni_Lorenzetti.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Santa_Bona_-_Giovanni_Lorenzetti.jpg   - she is shown holding a Scallop shell to symbolize her devotion to Saint James and to shoe that she is the Patron Saint of Pilgrims

'All truely great thoughts are concieved while walking' Friedrich Nietzsche

 The t ourist travels , the hiker walks , the pilgrim searches  

After a long day of walking you want somewhere comfortable to rest your head but what do you look for when choosing an albergue? Here are a few ideas ..

Johnnie Walker in Santiago has arranged this

When I was in Santiago this year there was a new place that I wanted to visit - Pilgrim's House.

'It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop' Conficius

Taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ln4kn 

The Cathedral in Santiago is issuing a new certificate - a Certificate of Visit seen below (sorry for poor image quality but I took a picture of the copy displayed in the Cathedral which was high up and behind a sheet of glass).

There have been a few Pilgrims who have gone 'missing' while i have been aware of the Camino and they have always (to my knowledge) turned up before - maybe they had a few rest days and did not tell anyone their plans or had to abandon their Camino due to injury or a situation at home or maybe they just walked a shorter day. This is Denise Pikka Thiem (also known as Arizona) and she is  a 40-year-old Chinese American. Her brother last heard from her on the 1st of April and she was last seen on April 4th after she spent the night Astorga and was going to head to El Ganso the next day. The woman, who is from Arizona, is 160 cm tall with long straight brown hair and weighs between 50 and 53 kgs. I know that it is unlikely that anyone will know anything but every avenue is worth exploring just in case someone knows something. If you do add it in the comments (I am in contact with a guy who knew Denise on the Camino and is in contact with her family) or look at https://www.

'Walking is a man's best medicine.' - Hippocrates