My instructor Pablo is a native Gallician and has some very specific ideas about what our project is about. (Remember that we are supposed to be suggesting improvements to the final 12 km of the Camino de Santiago.) After listening to what we had come up with on Thursday, he threw out some ideas more in line with his thinking and then gave us until tomorrow (Monday) to come up with refinements and justification for one of those ideas.

Specifically, Pablo proposed that the enhancements to the camino should take the form of one of the following, each of which should be modular, seasonally applicable (available during the festival weeks during summer when the highest number of pilgrims come) and should benefit both the pilgrims and the people of Santiago:

• A solution for storage of backpacks, bikes, etc. after pilgrims complete the Camino.
• A solution for accessibility for those areas of the Camino inside the old city that involve stairs.
• A solution for bathing, washing.
• A solution for creating and storing stages, which are used during the festival.

For one reason or another, I am not feeling connected with any of these issues, so I kind of went off on a bit of a tangent (although, in a slight stretch, I could argue that my “problem” is related to bathing).

In short, I am proposing a public fountain that would allow pilgrims to wash their hands, faces and feet, and allow the children of Santiago to play. I’m thinking of something that combines pools, channels and waterfalls/streams. The water would be recycled and purified as part of the fountain.

If possible, I’d like to incorporate a way for pilgrims (or anyone really) to add a stone or water or something as a dedication to someone or something. The idea is that a pilgrim could complete their journey and then drop a pebble or small amount of water into the fountain to dedicate their walk to someone or something. I haven’t figured out exactly how to make this happen in a manageable and sanitary way though, so this aspect might have to be dropped.

I’d also like to have the fountain change based on the ambient temperature. When it is warmer outside, there would be more water falls and more opportunities for play in the water. When it is cooler, the fountain “contracts” and becomes more of a place of shelter, quiet bathing and enjoyment of the flow of the water.

I have found a really great site for the fountain — it’s on a fairly steep slope right outside the city walls, across from one of the tourist information offices (for the pilgrims) and next to a public library (for the children and people of Santiago). I spent a good deal of time yesterday mapping out the details of the site and documenting them.

We present our ideas tomorrow. As I said at the beginning, Pablo has very specific ideas regarding this project. So I’m guessing there is at best a 50% chance that I will end up going ahead with my idea. I’ll let you know in my next project post what happens.