To Walk Far, Carry Less : Camino de Santiago (12 page)

Nevertheless, translation devices are sometimes helpful. The most useful among them provide features to learn the language, and of course a translation dictionary.

If your weight budget allows for a translator, and using it will encourage you to communicate more, take it. Or consider a pocket-size language dictionary or phrase book—there are no batteries to charge, and it’s probably less costly.

A GPS (global positioning system) provides navigational assistance via signals received from orbiting satellites. In cities, these devices tell you the driving route and the distance from one point to another.

On the Camino, GPS information is not as precise (at least not yet). If you get a good signal, the GPS device might tell you the distance from where you’re standing to the next town or village.

But a GPS device won’t show any details—the twists and turns—of a Camino trail.

Until a specific and reliable application is designed for the Camino routes (apparently some are working on it—check the store that sells apps for your device), it’s more accurate to follow the ubiquitous Camino signs and symbols.

Besides, a pilgrim already has enough information to approximate where he or she is at any given time. Most pilgrims walk about four kilometers per hour. Considering the time already walked, and the distance between reference points provided in the guidebook, you can get a good estimate of where you are and how much farther you have to walk.

Voltage Converters and Adapter Plugs

French and Spanish electrical outlets use 220 volts; make sure your device is capable of using that voltage. Most newer devices indicate the voltage on the plug or AC adapter or on the device itself, and some can handle a range of voltages (look for something like “input 100–240V”).

If your device can only handle a lower voltage, you’ll need a voltage converter to avoid damaging the device with too much electrical current.

Gear Guide

Caution:
If you’re taking a computer, be especially careful. Many new computers and other electronics are equipped for 100–240 volts, but if yours is not and you need to use a converter, note that some voltage converters say, “Do not use with a computer.” Be sure the converter you get has the capacity to work specifically with computers—or you’ll risk damaging your computer.

Electrical outlets in France and Spain use prongs that might be different from the ones in your home country (search Google Images for “Spanish electrical outlets” or “French electrical outlets” to see them).

If your device has a different type of plug, you’ll need an adapter plug so you can plug your device into the electric socket. Grounded adapter plugs provide protection against power surges.
Adapter plugs
do not
convert voltage;
they only allow the plug to fit into a foreign electrical outlet.

Gear Guide

Some devices may need both a converter and an adapter.

Other devices are dual voltage, and may need only the adapter plug.

Amazon.com
is a good place to see an array of voltage converters and adapters as well as photos. Travel agents and travel stores are also a great source of information on this topic.

* * *

Which technology items to take on the Camino is a very personal choice, as is choosing toiletries and first aid items. We’ll look at these in the next chapter.

I met a delightful French woman in her late fifties on the Le Puy route in France. It was her first pilgrimage. She had been walking for only three days and was already feeling a serious pain in one of her legs. Her son, a doctor, had advised by phone that she should eliminate weight from her backpack.

The French woman asked a Canadian woman she had recently befriended to help her reorganize her backpack. I was sitting on a bunk nearby when I heard the Canadian woman ask her to spread out the contents of her backpack. Soon I saw a pile of stuff smothering two twin beds in the pilgrims’ refuge. I looked up again when I heard the Canadian woman declaring, “These must go!” She was pointing at four full rolls of toilet paper. The French woman agreed to let go of her scarcity fears and banished the rolls to the refuge’s bathroom. Later, when I joined the two of them for dinner, the French woman stated that she was determined to make it to Santiago de Compostela—no matter what.

Several weeks later, I heard that she (and her lighter backpack) had made it to Santiago. She’d walked about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles).

No matter what Camino route you take, know that you can easily replenish toiletry items on the Camino. Even small village shops carry the basics: shampoo, soap, toothpaste—and toilet paper.

Take lightweight sample-size toiletry products. The idea is to eliminate weight and bulk.

I’ve found most of my sample-size products and small plastic containers at a chain grocery store. Apparently the market for sample sizes—especially of liquids and lotions—has increased along with air transportation security restrictions. Outdoor stores that sell backpacking gear also sell sample-size toiletry products and empty containers. If you can’t find the items you want in a sample size, buy small plastic containers and fill them with your preferred products. If you need to replenish something along the way, but can’t find a sample size, see if you can share the larger quantity with another pilgrim. Or, take what you need and ask the pilgrims’ refuge if you can leave the larger bottle or package behind for other pilgrims to replenish their own supplies.

Bringing only small amounts of toiletry items saves weight that might be better used on something else. An average-size tube of toothpaste weighs 226 grams (8 ounces). My sample-size toothpaste tube weighs 29 grams (1 ounce). Weight savings: about 198 grams (7 ounces).

That savings equals the weight of my down vest.

Packing Tips

Toiletries: A List for the Minimalist

Store the following in a ziplock bag; it’s the lightest-weight carrying option.

• Toothpaste:
  a sample-size tube weighs much less than a regular-size tube.
  
• Toothbrush:
  travel-size toothbrushes often have a cap that can be used to extend the length of the handle.
  
• Dental floss:
  a sample size might last your entire Camino journey.
  
• Comb or brush:
  take the smallest you can find.
  
• Shampoo:
  get a sample size, fill a small plastic bottle, or use a multipurpose bar or liquid that also works as a body soap—and even as laundry soap for washing socks and underwear.
  
• Bar or liquid soap
  : keep a bar of soap in a
  flimsy
  sandwich baggie. This somehow allows the bar to dry between uses. Sturdier or slicker plastic bags cause the bar to stay wet, so it eventually turns gooey. Hard-plastic bar-soap holders often create the same gooey problem (and they weigh more).
  
• Deodorant:
  bar or liquid; choose the lightest in weight.
  
• Toenail clippers:
  trimmed toenails keep feet happy on the Camino.
  
• Pack towel:
  a backpacker or travel towel weighs less, is less bulky, and dries faster than a typical bath towel.
  
• Toilet paper:
  take a partial roll and squish it so you can take out the paper tube for less weight and bulk. Or, buy a travel size, which comes in a tight roll of about fifty sheets. TIP: When you use a public facility on the Camino, stuff your pocket with a little TP to use along the trail—or at the next public facility where you’re faced with an empty roll. This is an international dilemma for women, though diplomats never talk about it.
  
• Tissues:
  just one small packet. Can also double as TP. Replenish along the way.
  
• Tampons or pads:
  can be bought along the Camino. Take enough for two periods at the most.
  

Sometimes there’s not much privacy, or hot water, in pilgrims’ refuges. There’s often a line to use shower or sink facilities.

To simplify your
toilette,
consider going wild on your Camino journey. This way you’ll also save weight on razor blades, razors, and shaving foam or soap.

Men: if you’ve never seen yourself in a beard, or it’s been a long time, this is the chance to check it out.

Women: if you’ve shaved your legs since you were a teenager, you might be surprised to discover how pleasurable a warm breeze feels on hairy legs. Also consider going au naturel under the arms while you’re walking the Camino. Besides, imagine this: men shaving their legs and underarms. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Why do women go to that trouble, but men don’t? The Camino pilgrimage offers women a chance to try something different too.

Backpacker’s First Aid Kit

A prepackaged backpacker’s first aid kit typically comes with sterile dressings, different sizes and types of adhesive bandages, tape, ibuprofen, antihistamines, antibiotic ointment, treated wipes for cleaning cuts, moleskin pieces for blisters, and sometimes a couple of safety pins. Everything is contained in a compact waterproof packet. The size I take fits in the palm of my hand.

The number of items contained in the kit determines its size and weight. The heaviest backpacker’s first aid kit I’ve seen weighed about a kilogram (more than two pounds)—a mini-hospital, or a hypochondriac’s dream kit.

I prefer the ultralight version for the Camino, because it only weighs 99 grams (about 3.5 ounces). One can always supplement the kit by buying items at the local pharmacies frequently found along Camino routes.

Personal Medications

Check with your doctor regarding any medications you’ll need while you’re on the Camino. Be sure to take enough for the entire time you’ll be gone, as well as copies of prescriptions, should you need refills.

Small Scissors

To cut bandages and gauze and for other miscellaneous tasks, take a tiny pair of scissors. I buy a small size that fits into my backpacker’s first aid kit.

If you’re flying to Europe and won’t be checking any luggage, it’s likely that security won’t let you take scissors on the plane. You can easily buy a small pair of scissors upon arrival in France or Spain.

Camino Lingo

Scissors

Spanish =
tijeras

French =
ciseaux

Blister Treatment

I once checked out a book from the library that was devoted entirely to the care of the feet. In the chapter on blisters, over a hundred backpackers, runners, and other athletes offered their advice for the prevention and treatment of blisters. All types of adhesive tapes, powders, creams, ointments, “skins,” and socks were suggested.

I soon realized that one contributor’s advice often contradicted another’s. One backpacker swore that duct tape prevented blisters; another emphatically disagreed and wrote that duct tape
causes
blisters. He then offered his own solution, which was then contradicted by another contributor’s method for blister prevention.

Apparently, the author enlisted such advice because he knew he couldn’t provide a definitive answer on the one true way to prevent and treat blisters. And neither can I.

Blisters are by far the most common ailment on the Camino, and everyone has their own methods for prevention and treatment. Even pharmacies along the popular Camino routes sometimes specialize in blister-treatment products and advice.

Because I haven’t found the perfect solution to prevent or treat blisters, I can only provide a list of what I find most useful.

Toe Gel Caps

Toe gel caps slip over the toes. Made of an oil-impregnated silicone gel, they’re lightweight, soft, and flexible. Packages of toe gel caps usually come in four sizes so you can get a close-enough fit for your baby toes, big toes, and those in between—then easily cut them for an even better fit.

At the first hint of a blister forming on a toe, I slip a toe gel cap on that toe to stop the problem. The caps are also great for covering calluses on the bottom or side of a toe.

Toe gel caps are sometimes difficult to find; I buy mine from Feet Relief (
www.feetrelief.com
). They’re based in San Francisco but sell internationally. They also have a variety of other products to prevent or relieve problems with the feet (click on “Products” at the top of their website to navigate your way to the toe caps).

Gentle Paper Tape

This extremely thin tape is often used by athletes to cover areas that might experience friction. It’s great for hot spots where that first hint of heat indicates a blister getting ready to be born. But if a blister has already formed, the gentle paper tape will probably be too thin to help.

Compeed

Compeed is a brand name for a kind of thick adhesive bandage that can be used to cover a blister. They’re available in almost every pharmacy in France and Spain, both on and off the Camino routes. Various sizes and shapes are available to protect heels, soles, and toes of all sizes. Compeed bandages have some distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Compeed advantages:

• Once applied, they stay on—even when showering.
  
• The thickness of the bandage helps to cushion the blister, so it won’t get worse from more friction or pressure. It also helps to eliminate some of the pain caused by the blister.
  
• Application is easy and quick.
  

Compeed disadvantages:

• They get gooey and sticky when wet from foot perspiration.
  
• They’ll also get wet from a shower. Let them dry thoroughly before putting on socks.
  
• That gooey stickiness can stick to the inside of socks and is almost impossible to scrape or wash off.