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  1. Alan Pearce

    Best / Recommended Pizza places on the camino?

    I don't know its name but there is an Italian restaurant in Rua do Vilar in Santiago where you can dine on pulpo pizza. Truly! It is my favourite pizza ever, except for anchovie pizza but as that gives me gout, a no-no when walking the camino, the pulpo pizza is No 1.
  2. Alan Pearce

    Volunteering as a Hospitalera

    I have been a hospitalero 5 times, but never with 4 of us there at one time. Twice I have been one of two, once at Miraz and another time at Rabanal. Other than that Jeff Crawly has given a very good insight into what the duties of a hospitalero are. The only thing I would add to what he has...
  3. Alan Pearce

    What is the nicest thing that anyone has said to you on the camino?

    One story I can tell without either making a fool of myself or revealing some ones identity is when I was working as a hospitalero in Rabanal. An American lady stayed with us and I did nothing special, just the things that a hospitalero is supposed to do. As she left in the morning, she turned...
  4. Alan Pearce

    What is the nicest thing that anyone has said to you on the camino?

    I must admit that out of the sweet things that I have been told during my times on the camino that it is impossible to pick out a favourite. How about you?
  5. Alan Pearce

    On the Camino, on this date in May...

    Thanks Sean for bringing back these great memories. Just a little more about Seans and my time with Maria - I am very partial to a good brandy as a nightcap after a days walk, and after she stayed as a guest in my flat in SdC in 2016, she bought me a bottle of brandy as a thankyou. After she...
  6. Alan Pearce

    A 'One Word' Why?

    Redemption.
  7. Alan Pearce

    What do you do when you cannot walk anymore?

    One never knows when it will come the time to stop walking. But when it happens one thing I will do is donate the money that the trip would have cost me to worthy causes that help pilgrims along the camino eg Peaceable Projects, Camino Chaplaincy, Confraternity of St James, Pilgrim House and...
  8. Alan Pearce

    Do albergues refuse the pilgrims who don't carry their packs

    The monastery at Rabanal, or the unafiliated albergue that joins it?
  9. Alan Pearce

    Taking a number in Santiago.

    Who on Earth named it "Senor Bong"? Cringe-worthy! Be Brave. Life is joyous. Alan
  10. Alan Pearce

    Compostela for baby conceived on Camino?

    Slightly off topic, but a little the same as well. When working as a hospitalero at Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal last year, I was asked by a newly arrived peregrina if we had a bed available. I replied that as she had not carried her back pack with her, I may not be able to offer one. She said...
  11. Alan Pearce

    Donativo - How much is enough/too much?

    When I walked my first camino in 2008 I was puzzled by how much I should give at a donativo albergue. I asked Marc the lovely French hospitalero at the donativo albergue in Barcianos del Real Camino what amount was suitable. When acting as a hospitalero since, and asked that same question, I...
  12. Alan Pearce

    What do you do when you're not walking?

    Camino-dreaming Volunteering Grand children My church community AND.............more camino-dreaming. Be brave. Life is joyous. Alan
  13. Alan Pearce

    Best place to exchange AU$ to Euros?

    I always get about 300 euro at a time, both to start my trip with, and later when topping up in Spain. I get my cash in Australia from my local Post Office, where they claim to give you the best exchange rate [certainly better than the banks] available in Australia. They also promise to have the...
  14. Alan Pearce

    The back of beyond

    I drove to Hillston two days ago [ Hillston is on the Hay Plains - just so much like the Meseta! ]. About 35 km before Hillston you go past the Black Stump. Fair dinkum! Alan Be brave. Life is joyous.
  15. Alan Pearce

    Were you suckered?

    Admit it. You've been suckered. Alan
  16. Alan Pearce

    Resume last year's Credencial

    I met an American woman on the Frances this year who had done the first bit of this camino 16 years ago as a member of a youth group, and who was back on the road again with her original credential. She actually also had a new credential that she was getting stamped as well, in case they would...
  17. Alan Pearce

    Cup of tea on the Frances?

    Hi Jeff Biscuits are still served each day, and cake when available. When JennyH94 from Australia is a hospitalera there, she takes a 2 KG fruit cake from Australia with her, to serve to the pilgrims. The Hospitaleros are still asked for coffee. The reply is the same as in 2001. Alan Be...
  18. Alan Pearce

    Cup of tea on the Frances?

    Every afternoon at Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino the hospitaleros ritually serve the peregrinos with afternoon tea [ Gaucelmo is after all run by the English charity The Confraternity of St James]. When I was there the choice was between Yorkshire Breakfast and Earl Grey, with milk or...
  19. Alan Pearce

    Thinking of buying an albergue...or becoming a hospitalero...or sleeping in an albergue

    Description of being a hospitalera/o, courtesy of Julie Davies, who is the co-ordinator of Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino: "Sixteen hours a day of giving from the heart". Plus some of the other things that Rebekah mentioned. Very funny. Alan Be brave. Life is joyous.
  20. Alan Pearce

    Random Quotes

    "Life is a mystery to be lived, not a puzzle to be solved" - unknown Alan Be brave. Life is joyous.

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