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What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim: A Midlife Misadventure on Spain's Camino de Santiago

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I walked the Camino, from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, in 2003, in part to celebrate my sixtieth birthday. I spent almost every night in an albergue, or pilgrim hostel.
No experience of walking the Camino is typical, and every experience is valid, but I feel very unhappy at Jane's words being given such publicity, undoubtedly giving many people the idea that if they were to do the walk, they could expect to undergo her difficulties. People who choose to walk the Camino are almost all seekers, who by releasing themselves to this experience are hoping to open themselves to new understanding, new ways of thinking, and the magnificent experience of the pilgrimage.
During my six weeks on the road I found that one of the great gifts of the Camino was being with these people, from so many backgrounds all over the world, who had chosen to walk. For the most part I chose to walk alone, but it was an extraordinary privilege to be with these people, in the albergues each morning and evening. Toward the end of my time it occurred to me that not since before I had set out had I heard a word of anger or complaint spoken. It seemed that there was a Camino culture to respect and care for all others, to be open to learn from all others, and to create and maintain peace.
Similarly in the albergues, one was thankful for what was given. In one albergue there may be no pillows, or in another no hot water for the showers. One night along the way there were dogs barking in a field outside the albergue, dogs that continued to bark for over an hour. It was a remarkable and joyful thing to me that I never heard complaints about such things. One was thankful for everything that was given, and one figured out how to manage without those things we expect to have at home.
There was a general recognition that everyone's Camino is different, and everyone will learn something different. I may not choose to make a Blackberry or a cell phone parts of my Camino, and I may not set as my goal to complete the Camino faster than anyone else, but it is not for me to judge the value of what others may bring with them, or what they may choose to do along the way. Certainly it is not part of the culture to label anyone as "nuts."
Jane says that she was uncomfortable with what she called "manufactured penury," when people with plenty of money set forth to walk the Camino. I would like to remind her that the Buddha was a prince, with every luxury, before he chose to leave his home and walk in search of his way.

The author is a good storyteller, and like most storytellers, might be accused of exaggerating for the sake of a good story. Did I say drama queen? No, I wouldn't do that, but don't take this book too much to heart. As you enjoy the writing, realize that if you do this walk there will be some physically demanding moments, but most people get through them. The people you meet, both the other pilgrims and the locals, will be the best part of the entire experience. This is true for the author as well, but many stories come from the hard parts.

Picture a woman at age fifty, divorced, the three kids out of the house, somewhat on a whim, plunging into the Camino de Santiago adventure. Word gets out about her plans via email and word of mouth, and women of similar vintage start contacting her, asking to go with her. In May of 2004 fourteen women meet in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, most strangers to each other, expecting Jane Christmas to lead them. The author's deft touch for describing the group dynamics are what make this book unique. Some of the time she is walking alone, but still feels the tug of the group.

She writes about more negative encounters with locals and other pilgrims than matches my experience, or that of most accounts I have read. I don't know what to make of that. It is easy to read encounters wrong if there are cultural differences. Our experience in the first-class hotels was that they were unbelievably gracious to scruffy pilgrims. But even Jane's negative encounters are related with a wry humor that makes them a good addition to the book.

I do recommend this book for entertaining reading, but be aware that she will trod on some toes, and there are those who may feel that some subjects deserve more respect. The author's style reminds me of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. If you enjoyed that, you are likely to enjoy this book.

After enjoying Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, Her Walker, and Our Grand Tour of Italy, about Jane Christmas's disastrous trip to Italy with her mother, I had to read more. While voyages of faith or chronicles of inner growth do not tempt me, I can't resist reading about a really horrible trip. What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim seemed promising.

It starts out with Christmas's impulsiveness causing her to blurt out on national (Canadian) TV that she is going to hike across Spain. In the same way that announcing to your friends that you are going to lose weight or quit smoking, she has more or less committed herself to the project before thinking it out. She's okay with that until several dozen people, friends, acquaintances, and strangers, inform her that they will be joining her on her trek. Of course the Camino de Santiago de Compostela is available for anyone to hike, but apparently these people expect her to organize and lead them across Spain. Suddenly a solitary journey of reflection has gotten out of control.

With the group pared down to Christmas plus fourteen similarly fifty-ish women, the hike commences with a strenuous climb through the Pyrenees. Tempers flare, relationships are strained, emotions unleashed. For the first week or two of the month-long trip, the women arrange themselves into various cliques and factions. Along the trail Christmas tries to simultaneously fend off unwanted companions, those who talk too much or complain, while trying to bond with more sympathetic travelers. It's a frustrating exercise that fails more often that it succeeds. The trail is no different than any workplace or schoolyard.

Eventually she gets fed up with the whole bunch and leaves them behind, returning to the solo journey she had originally envisioned. That turns out to be a little too scary though, when shady characters and sheer loneliness make her less choosy about hiking companions.

More spiritual readers will appreciate Christmas's inner growth, but I was most impressed by her eye-opening experiences in realizing that after weeks on the trail, she appeared to townspeople as a possibly dangerous bag lady. Her sunburned face, wild hair, and travel-stained backpack made locals give her a wide berth. Suddenly transformed in the eyes of others from middle class working mother to homeless and possibly deranged outsider, Christmas had to rethink her own attitudes.

I can't say that I would volunteer to go on a trip with Jane Christmas, but I look forward to reading about her further adventures.

(For a book by another Canadian that looks at the less spiritual side of the Camino Santiago de Compostela, try Taras Grescoe's The End of Elsewhere: Travels Among the Tourists, in which he travels the Camino backwards.)

I was delighted with this novel. Although it might be a memoir, I found it to be an inner exploration during a time most women are facing huge changes--such as menopause.

After reading some of the previous reviews, I think some readers took the book too seriously.

The traversing of the Camino de Santiago was a time of reflection and of trials for Jane Christmas.

The book is her personal journey--frankly written with humor and introspection--where nothing is sacred.

I'd recommend it for those craving a reading adventure.

The subtitle of this memoir is: "A Midlife Misadventure on Spain's Camino De Santiago De Compostela".

Christmas was on a plane promoting her first book - The Pelee Project: One Woman's Escape from Urban Madness - when a random conversation with an air attendant sparks a decision to announce on a national televison interview her intention to walk the Camino Trail.

In the Pelee Project, she left behind her job, sold her home escaped with her 10 year old daughter to a small Canadian island to get away from it all. It too is a really good read.

Once the decision to celebrate her 50th birthday on the Trail is publicly announced, offers and requests pour in from other women to join her. A year and a half later, she leaves her children with her mother, meets up with a group of roughly 15 other pilgrims and heads to Spain.

There has been a dearth of 'finding yourself on a pilgrimage' books lately. What I absolutely l loved about this one is the brutal honesty. Christmas does start out with ideas of wonderful epiphanies, spiritual awakenings, etcetera, but nothing goes quite as anyone envisioned. The group has nominated Jane as their leader - a position she has no interest in. There are splits in the group, personality conflicts,illness and a lot of sqabbling.

When Christmas inadvertently loses the group and strikes out on her own, that's when her Camino journey begins.

Where does the psychic come in? Well, before Christmas heads out, she consults a psychic, who has firm predictions about this journey. Do they come true? Does she find her truth on the Trail? I'll let you discover that.....

I haven't been able to leave the Camino behind since I walked it in the summer of 2007. I chat with pilgrims on a Camino-related website, read books about the Way, and plan my next excursion to Spain (as the author indicates, the trek can be addicting, and there are a number of Caminos to be explored). A seasoned peregrina recommended "What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim," so I jumped on it. I'm glad I did, because it was a well-written account of a woman's adventure on the Camino.

Jane Christmas, a fiftyish Canadian writer and PR person, got the Camino bug like so many of us do: through a seemingly random encounter that firmly lodged the notion of pilgrimage in her mind. She planned and trained for the trek, and soon had a number of other like-minded women clamoring to go along. Eventually, a stalwart bunch of die-hards flew to Europe, made their way to St. Jean Pied-de-Port, and began walking towards Santiago. Of course, things didn't quite work out as expected - or perhaps they did for the author, since the titular psychic's predictions came true for her. Ms. Christmas' adventures included conflict, a hint of danger, romance, pain, good food, bad weather, and lots of vino and coffee. Sounds like par for the Camino course.

I enjoyed revisiting the Way with Ms. Christmas. I've read a number of Camino memoirs, and hers is one of the best written of the bunch. It doesn't really have a practical focus - you won't find a packing list or a how-to guide in the back. Instead, she crafts a personal account of a life stage that seems to demand introspection and reevaluation that happens to be set on a long trail in Spain. I saw many women like her on the Camino, working through marriage and vocational issues, or just getting away from their routine for a time of solitary renewal. Although I can't really endorse the back page's "wickedly funny" blurb, she does encounter - or create - some humorous situations (check out Tim Moore's book for a truly funny take on the Camino). And the ending is pretty cool.

However, a couple of issues slightly marred the book for me. First, like a number of other pilgrim authors, she skipped large portions of the Camino in favor of public transportation. Some argue that everyone's Camino is equally valid, but I have a bit more respect for pilgrims who stick to the trail. Even so, such is the power of the Camino that it can profoundly affect folks who walk only a fraction of it - hence books like this one. Second, as a Canadian, she is somewhat critical of the USA. That's not bad in itself, and to her credit (and ours), she had some good encounters with a couple US citizens in Spain. However, when she said, "how long are you going to dine out on 9/11?" to an admittedly right-of-center Chicagoan, I was not impressed. Finally, she expresses a somewhat cynical view of the Camino's religious aspects, particularly in Santiago and Finisterre, but as a jaded Christian I could relate to her viewpoint.

Despite the above minor dings, I enjoyed finding out "What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim." Doing the Camino was one of the greatest adventures of my life, and I'm always up for a good memoir of the Way. Recommended for all pilgrims - past, present, and potential.

This is an excellent and insightful account of a journey and its demands, not only physical, but --more importantly-- emotional and spiritual. This book walked me through my own ups and downs doing my own camino. It is a wonderful example of how the bubble that it constitutes becomes a space in which we are forced to face and reckon with our inner self, our past and those who surround us in our "real" life, off the trail. The Camino can be a roller coaster of emotions and Christmas knows how to exploit their litterary possibilites with a lot of humor and wit. I highly recommend this book.

absolutely hillarious wonderful read. Grab a glass of wine, light the fireplace, stick up the feet, and enjoy a great book......and it is funnier particularly when you know gals who have done the Camino.