White Rock Rotarians on a Pilgrimage - Trekking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
Fellow White Rock Club Rotarians Bonnie Goodwin and Ramona Kaptyn returned from Spain recently jubilant that they had walked the Camino de Santiago conquering mountains, mud, rain and injury. They completed 666 KM in 40 days and Bonnie raised $2000 in pledges for PolioPlus.
“Rotary is calling on everyone to contribute to banish this dreadful disease to the history books once and for all and I wanted to be one of the contributors,” says Bonnie.
The Camino de Santiago is one of the most important pilgrimages in Christendom; the others are to Jerusalem and Rome. It is over 1,000 years old and is walked by thousands of people from all over the world yearly, not only for religious reasons but for spiritual, meditative, accomplishment and other.
“The Camino is also known as ‘The Way’ and it is an excellent metaphor for life,” says Bonnie. “I’ve done it twice and feel I got it right the second time around.”
The women say they saw the wealth of centuries along the route, not only in architecture and art, but in the customs, celebrations and cuisine of the people of Basque Country and Galicia. There are several different ways or trails; Bonnie and Ramona took the Camino Frances, diverting briefly to the Camino Primitivo after Bonnie twisted her ankle in Leon. They stopped at various cities along the route including Pamplona, famous for the ‘running of the bulls’ and Ernest Hemingway; Burgos, famous for El Cid; and the ancient walled city of Lugo.
“My favourite spot was atop the 777 metre Alto del Perdon or Mount of Forgiveness,” says Ramona. “The Camino follows The Milky Way and this is where The Path of the Wind crosses the Path of the Stars. It was a breathtaking catharsis but my feet have still not forgiven me.”
Bonnie and Ramona add there are two major highlights of the Camino. One is reaching Santiago de Compostela and seeing the magnificent baroque cathedral where the bones of Jesus’ Apostle St. James are buried beneath the altar and the other is going on to Finesterre which is about 90 KM from Santiago. People believed Finisterre was the end of the world before Christopher Columbus discovered America.
Bonnie will be leaving her wine making business soon to spend more time working on Rotary projects and Ramona is the Incoming Chair of the White Rock/Surrey Chapter of CARP – A New Vision of Aging for Canada. CARP is no longer an acronym and is not for retired people only. It welcomes everyone from their 40s to their 90s.