Our Walk Along the Camino de Santiago

Given the racket outside last night, we were up and on our way by 4:30 am.  We half expected that by leaving this early we would be hiking alone in the dark, as we had done so many times before now.  However, we soon found ourselves in a mass of pilgrims, all leaving together.  I guess we left Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port at a similar hour so many days ago. Other changes were immediately evident aside from the number of hikers leaving town.  As we walked we passed dozens of Hertz vans loaded with or preparing to load pilgrims and their luggage. We also began to encounter tour buses and taxis waiting at all the points where the path crossed roads to pick up tired hikers.  Perhaps most stunning were the sheer number of pilgrims travelling in groups and wearing matching Camino tour shirts, very large shells, and occasionally carrying gourds on their hiking sticks. The albergues, bars, and hotels we passed today also seemed to be much more mainstream and commercialized - many of them purpo