Dreaming Santiago
- Perspectives on a Pilgrimage
- Bas Boorsma
- ISBN 90-7771303-4
- NUR 402
- Have we all gone totally deranged? Do we require pilgrimages to get away from our luxurious and highly arranged lives? Why do people voluntarily submit to a regime of walking endless stretches, day after day, week after week only to end up in one of the back-to-basic pilgrim's hostels on a nightly basis? In the spring of 2004, Bas Boorsma and his girlfriend Dewi embarked on their pilgrimage, an eight hundred kilometer walk to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. In Dreaming Santiago, Bas describes typical Camino tales, reproduces his share of 'Camino Baddies,' puts a scrutinizing focus on some of his fellow peregrino's, lets other pilgrims do the talking, describes what Refugio dormitories do for you, and more. He also provides a personal perspective on what kind of seed is being sown when walking the ancient trail…
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- Bas Boorsma (35) lives in Bussum, the Netherlands and Vauvert, France. In his 'normal life' he is an entrepreneur, facilitating 'smart communities' worldwide, something he never expected to end up doing as he studied Political Science and Asian History. The latter brought him to Cambodia, to live there for three years in the early nineties, working for the United Nations. He got into a different love affair with Malaysia, supporting numerous companies in Europe in their bids to do business in Southeast Asia. This led him to work closely with communities that experiment with broadband infrastructures and services of tomorrow. If 'the future” is his work, he considers history to be his hobby. He enjoys writing essays and articles on contemporary issues, loves Star Wars and drinks a lot of wine. He walks a lot too.
Reviews
- I read Dreaming Santiago in the past few days. Because I am an former pilgrim myself, I enjoyed the book very much. Mr Bas Boorsma did a nice job at depicting some of the emotional aspects of walking
- the Camino the Santiago. The book is possibly a little short, whereas the Camino is not. But I liked it very much.
- Robert Roland
- Paris, France
- I have just read "Dreaming Santiago," about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, written by Bas Boorsma. I normally do not write reviews but as many prospect pilgrims might be out there looking for information, stories and other pilgrim's experiences on the Camino, I wanted to write this bit. Above all, I nenjoyed the book very much, It describes much of what you may expect on the camino de santiago. Its not a great work of literature, but for anyone planning on going its a must-read item. For those who have walked it, the book is full of a thousand things familiar...
- Sincerely,
- D. van den Heuvel
Pictures
A Camino well marked...too well marked?
Santiago...
- Village of Navarette, Navarre.
- Our end destination after a day of walking 42 torturous but beautiful kilometres.
Somewhat confusing Camino signs in Navarre
Camino half way in Spain, on the Mesesta: Hundreds of kilometers of fairly arid countryside is the fate of the pilgrim who walks it all the way from France. At this particular point some pilgrims start to have serious doubts about the whole venture…
Camino de Santiago in the Pyrenees
Next>Walking towards the steep hills following Castrojeriz. The author’s girlfriend had been thoroughly sick in the days preceding this climb. After several kilometres of walking again with legs trembling and weak, this is what she was in for. The Camino is like that.
Next>Foncebadon, the largely abandoned and ruined town which served as the backdrop for the horrible wild dog stories of Shirley Maclaine and Paulo Coelho on their pilgrimage. Today, Foncebadon is showing signs of new life. As described in Dreaming Santiago, the author thought he would enjoy a wild dog-free Camino after passing through the little town. However, he was in for a deeply unsettling experience two days after.
At the Galician frontier: 150 KMs to go.
Photos by Gert Wich & Jürgen Krauss