Camino Fever

Below are some words about the Camino written by a fellow pilgrim. I have his permission to share this tongue in cheek description (thanks Bob). Rest assured it us very accurate! I have decided not to play. ¨A brief essay on Camino Fever. This is a rare phenomenon only observed amoung peregrinos. It appears to become worse as the Camino progresses. It is open to debate whether CF is a brief psychotic episode or a form of mass hysteria. Camino Fever usually occurs in large dormitories in albergues. It involves grown adults going to bed before 9 pm and hissing anyone with the temerity to come to bed later. The ensuring night is puntuated by snoring in multiple keys and toilet breaks (tricky if you are on an upper bunk without a ladder). The affected then wake around 5am ensuring that everyone within earshot wakes too. The sole purpose of this exercise is to ensure the CF individual hits the road in the complete dark, and often cold, before 6 am. This means the affected can see nothing except the semicircle of light from their headlamps. They do manage to avoid walking in the heat of the day. The desired result is that they reach the next town by 1pm at the latest, grab the available beds so that they can repeat the exercise again the next day as in many towns there is little to do other than eat, drink and sleep. I hasten to add that CF, while infectious, is not irresistible.¨