Since crossing O Cebreiro and entering Galicia it seems new types of Pilgrims are entering the Camino. The previous 620 km there were two types of Pilgrims: the walkers and the bikers. Both on their way to do the whole route to Santiago de Compostela. Suddenly in Galicia, a new type of pilgrim is showing: a walker equipped with only a small daypack. They walk the path is if they are on a casual Sunday afternoon in New York’s Central Park. They pay no attention to other walkers and barely respond to the traditional Pilgrim way of saying hello: ‘¡Holla! ¡Buen Camino! Most of them seem to be American, although I had some near clenches with some French who frolic across the path without paying attention. They look like tourists rather than pilgrims to me. Later I learned that they are called “touregrinos” among the pilgrims. A combination of tourist and pelegrino.

Also, local entrepreneurs happily jump in to serve these touregrinos. Jacotrans, for instance, exists for only one purpose: transporting baggage for pilgrims who are not prepared to carry their own pack and are happy to pay 7 euro to have it shipped to the next Albergue.

Today another new type of Pelegrino crossed my path. A complete Spanish school class with students of about 15/16 years old was walking the last 100 km of the Camino. Quite impressive to see a school camp being developed this way. In the end, it remained a school class of 15/16-year-olds. So they made the same noise every school class of 15/16-year-olds will do. So I quickly moved on, leaving the class behind me.

Today was quite a humid day, but as usual, on humid days I perform well in sport and walked nearly 40 km. I stopped in Pontecampana because there was a very nice Albergue, while I could have done more kilometers. Since entering Galicia every 500 meters there is a sign next to the road that shows how many kilometers to Santiago. At the point of this Albergue, only 61 km to go and Santiago is getting closer. With my current schedule time allows continuing to Finisterre, which is another three days. Finisterre is the place where the ancient pilgrims collected their shell from the beach as a proof that they walked the way before they walked back. I hope also to be able to continue to Muxia, the place where the ancient pilgrims buried the clothes they don’t need anymore. Muxia will be another day more. After that, I will be a modern pilgrim and fly home rather than walking home 🙂