Review: Remarkable Trek
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2013
I've read several travel logs of people's trips and always find them entertaining. When I was asked to read this off the wall, funny and practical travelogue of hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, I was glad to do so for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed it from the different interpretations of "Buen Camino" (my favorite is saying it to a boring companion who is relieving himself while you scurry away) to rules for communal living which included ear plugs as the top three. I totally gathered that they were essential when eight people shared a room in a hostel.I had never heard of this pilgrimage or trek until reading this book, but I feel that after reading it, if I were a hiker, I would know what to pack, what time of year to travel and something of what to expect along the Camino de Santiago. The one essential item was to obtain a pocket-sized passport (credencial) used to collect stamps at hotels, restaurants, bars, etc, which provided an official record of the pilgrimage. At the end of a grueling, enduring trek the pilgrim received a Compostela, an official certificate of completion of the route by showing stamps that proved that walkers completed 100 kms and bikers completed 200 kms. For the author, he hiked the total 800 kms through historic cities and villages with the scenery ranging from mountain ranges to dry prairie and through forests. I have to admire someone willing to take on a hike of this magnitude.It was, at times, hard to tell what was legend, fact or fiction, sometimes appearing a straightforward accompaniment to a travel guide and other times being a detailed account of the author's experiences, interlaced with humor and made-up names of people and their accounts of the trek. It provided useful information on packing, sites and weather, on hiking the Camino de Santiago, along with useful tidbits on what to expect during the trek. To keep the book from being the same old, same old, travel book the author interjected different fellow travelers with their emails or tweets to friends back home. I'm not sure all of his fellow travelers were fictional individuals. Maybe the names were changed to protect the innocent. Once in a while, some of the same things appeared in different chapters, but not in great detail. The author always referred you to the relevant chapter. After all, things do overlap when talking about travel.The 35-day trek along the Camino de Santiago was full of misery, especially the blisters and fatigue, camaraderie, communal living, snoring and plenty of wine. This book provided the reader with a mixture of those feelings.This is a good supplement guide for those hiking the Camino de Santiago or those armchair travelers who wish to live out their travels through others. The words of the author, the "Camino welcomes one and all, then punishes them equally," just about summarizes this book and the path to the end of the book is enjoyable, a fun read, with many memories I'm sure the author will cherish and the reader will enjoy reading.