Hospitalero training USA - January 13-15 2012

[Deleted member 3000]

From the American Pilgrims:

Would You Make a Good Hospitalero?

American Pilgrims on the Camino is offering a west coast training this winter January 13-15, 2012 in Menlo Park, California for hospitaleros voluntarios to serve on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

My experience as an hospitalera was at least as powerful as that when I was walking. In many ways, it was even more challenging--and thus more rewarding.

As pilgrims, we are "takers," relying on the kindness of strangers for our success, if not survival. Whenever I walk the roads and trails of the Camino, I feel intense gratitude for the kindness of so many who make my difficult journey more comfortable. After my first experience as a pilgrim, I longed for a way to give back what was given to me so freely and abundantly. Another pilgrim told me about becoming an hospitalero. As soon as I could, I attended a training, and within a couple of months served a two-week tour in Najera, Rioja.

If you stayed in public albergues along The Way of Saint James, you most likely met a spectrum of good and bad hosts. Learn what it takes to become a good, or even a great, hospitalero. The training not only introduces you to the skills required, it also provides you with the means to place yourself in an Albergue in Spain during the coming year. The training cultivates camaraderie among returned pilgrims who share your sense of gratitude, eager to offer the gifts of on-the-ground support to other pilgrims on the trail, ready to give back to the Camino the support that was accepted there.

Training Details: $249 fee includes all instruction, materials, double room with a private bathroom, all meals from dinner Friday through lunch Sunday at the beautiful Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park, CA. Online registration and registration by mail will be available beginning November 13th.
Questions - volunteer@americanpilgrims.com

Trainees must be a member of American Pilgrims on the Camino and have travelled the Camino by foot or bicycle. To become a member go to http://www.americanpilgrims.com

Hospitalero Training Team

 

[Telluridewalker]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

I wonder why they require having walked/ridden the Camino as a prerequisite to take the class?

 

[jpflavin1]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

Nice to see they are offering a training session outside of their annual meeting. That said, the training is still held on one side of the country and requires joining the organization. I am still looking towards the Canadians in Toronto for a workable date or maybe break up my Camino this year and see if Rebekah will train me.

Ultreya,
Joe

 

[sillydoll]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

Telluridewalker asked:
I wonder why they require having walked/ridden the Camino as a prerequisite to take the class?

Most volunteer organisations dealing with people going through an extreme experience, require that their volunteers have been through that experience themselves.
Pilgrims who have walked the Camino are better equipped to understand the mindset of pilgrims when they arrive hot, tired and needy at an albergue. A hospitalero who has never walked the Camino can't have the same empathy as one who has.
Trained hospitaleros can say, "I've been there, I know what you are going through so let me help you to the dorm with your pack and when you have showered and had a rest, come back to me so that I can sign you in."

 

[sillydoll]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

In South Africa we will train anyone who has done a Camino and wants to return to Spain to serve, whether they are members of the CSJ of SA or not.
Because our numbers are relatively small, I train up to 12 people in my home or the home of a pilgrim in another town, and we ask local pilgrims to host them for the weekend.
The 2012 course will cost about $20 for course notes. Trainees are expected to bring and share lunch and dinner.

 

[Telluridewalker]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

:idea: So we must break all doctors' legs so they can have the proper amount of empathy to heal their patients? :lol:

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

Well, of course not and I see your point: isn't someone experienced in the hotel industry or hospitality industry just as good why do they have to walk a camino? In my view it is because long distance pilgrims have a distinct experience and therefore needs both physical and spiritual - on the camino we also have our own vocabulary. So hospitaleros need to be able to understand those needs and to talk the talk - the best way is having walked the walk. IMHO.

 

[sillydoll]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

You don't need to have suffered from breast cancer to treat a patient who has the disease, but the volunteers who provide support to cancer survivors are usually survivors themselves - they know what the patient is going through and are best equipped to provide support and comfort - not treatment.

 

[Telluridewalker]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

I'll certainly defer to those who have been hospitaleros, or those who have trained them (like sillydoll).

I will add, however, that one of the pervasive feelings I sensed on my Camino as I passed and interacted with hundreds of Spaniards along the way was that "we're all in this together toward the greater glory of St. James." (A.M.D.G.) What I mean by that is that although I got the feeling many of them had not made the journey, nor had plans to do so, they were just as excited as I about being a part of getting me there. I was the extranjero making the journey, they were the local support team, offering lodging, food, vino or just the occasional encouraging shout: "Que le vaya bien, peregrino!" (accompanied by big smiles).

I've since done a few more long distance/endurance bike rides/walks etc. in my life and I increasingly have come to the conclusion that the support is just as important as the traveler. So I wouldn't want to exclude anyone from being on the support team, even though they haven't made the journey themselves.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

I wonder why they require having walked/ridden the Camino as a prerequisite to take the class?

I am still serving as a hospitalera in Sto Domingo (we leave in two days) and my sister who is with me has not walked the Camino. She will be the first to tell you that she had no idea what she was getting into even though I told her what the days were going to be like (12 hour days, not a lot of free time, language issues, etc)...so, yeah, I am totally in agreement with the requirement to have walked the Camino in order to become a hospitalero...I got special permission to bring her along and actually, she is more excited than ever to walk next year with me on the Portugues route. However, there are just some things she doesn't understand yet because she hasn't walked.

And for Joe, if you get a chance to be trained by the Canadians, they do a great job of preparing you. I was trained by them and consider myself an "honorary" Canadian hospitalera....If APOC does one close to you, then by all means go to that one, if you can. It cost me less to go to Canada due to the proximity of Oregon to Victoria. It would cost me double what I paid last year to go to Canada to go to California to train...so, make the best decision for you. Also, know that if you are a member of APOC, they do offer grants and financial assistance for people to take the training. The membership fee is a big chunk of change but the organization does a lot of great things with the support of its membership.

 

[sillydoll]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

I am also an Honorary Canuk and was trained in combination with the Canadian Company (Tom and Mary) and Rebekah Scot.
Serving as a hospitalero is not rocket science but there are many issues involved besides greeting people, stamping the credencial and scrubbing toilets!
HOSVOL (Hospitaleros Voluntarios), which is part of the Spanish Federation, require that trainers comply with their guildlines and adhere to their principles and ethos when training volunteers.
In some places you become a part of the community and need to know how to conduct yourself, and run the albergue within that community (especially if it is funded by the local inhabitants).
During Role Play there are over 30 scenarios that a hospitalero might have to contend with. If you have walked a Camino many of these will be familiar to you but if you have'nt you probably wouldn't know how to deal with these issues.

PS:
Last year I received permission to train two people who had not yet walked a Camino but who were leaving for Spain within a few months and wanted to serve after their walk.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

PS:
Last year I received permission to train two people who had not yet walked a Camino but who were leaving for Spain within a few months and wanted to serve after their walk.

I think that is fair...especially because after the first week of walking, a lot of the things said in training will start to "click"! I think my sister is better prepared for walking the Camino now...she knows what the pilgrims go through in ways that I just can't explain. She's seen the ass..... (forgive my language, but I am at the end of my rope with these pilgrms!), she's seen the grateful pilgrims and everyone in between. I still think this is one of those experiences that you have to walk first to truly understand how to be a hospitalera. I've even shared with pilgrims interested in becoming hospitaleros once they are finished with their caminos find the correct resources for their countries to learn how to be trained. I always knew I would be a hospitalera even before I started walking. It's been fun, but it's also been long days with very little rest (which I was expecting) and sometimes you have jerks and sometimes you have nice people...kind like in real life and kinda like on the camino!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

She's seen the ass.....

Perhaps they need the Camino more than those without anger issues, since generally, self-centered people have turned their self-anger inward. They might be very nice people by the time they get to Santiago! (or maybe not...)

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

She's seen the ass.....

Perhaps they need the Camino more than those without anger issues, since generally, self-centered people have turned their self-anger inward. They might be very nice people by the time they get to Santiago! (or maybe not...)

It's really no concern of mine why people behave the way they do on the Camino...you just have to deal with it as a hospitalero/a (and you deal with it as a pilgrim too...though in a different way). Sometimes you deal with it well, other times you don't. Today has been a day where I haven't dealt with it well. Other days I have dealt with it just fine. You don't have time to chat with everyone. You are too busy checking people in, making sure there is enough toilet paper, matches for the stove and blankets to go around. Or having people yell at you in Spanish because they think the albergue is the tourism office (because all the signs point this direction) and they are incredulous that you don't speak fluent Spanish! Oh well. It's groundhog day, so it's all going to repeat day after day until you leave 15 days later...somedays everything is gravy, other days it's like herding cats...and you love it and you will come back or you don't and you won't. Me, I plan to do it again in two years...I will walk the Camino Portugues next year, then serve as a hospitalera the following year. It's more fun than not...you take the good, you take the bad...and it all evens out, sometimes in favor of the good, even.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

No less a personage than the Governor of the State of Maryland went ballistic on a clerk at a McDonalds when he had to repeat his breakfast order because she spoke Spanish as a first language. (It turns out that his grandparents, German immigrants, never did learn English.) Natives can get pretty chauvinistic about their language!!!

I am reminded that louder is not clearer when there is a language barrier. It sounds like the days are as hard on hospitaleros as they are on pilgrims. I will stick with being a pilgrim.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

I am reminded that louder is not clearer when there is a language barrier. It sounds like the days are as hard on hospitaleros as they are on pilgrims. I will stick with being a pilgrim.

In Spain, it is louder and faster, unlike America where it is louder and slower...

And, as they say in Thailand....same same but different...

We just came back from beers with the cofradia...all is well here in Spain!

 

[Kialoa3]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

Glad to hear you are bearing up in Santo Domingo. Look forward to hearing more about your hospitalera experience once you get home. Safe passage.

 

[Zoe]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

She's seen the ass.....

Perhaps they need the Camino more than those without anger issues, since generally, self-centered people have turned their self-anger inward. They might be very nice people by the time they get to Santiago! (or maybe not...)

It's really no concern of mine why people behave the way they do on the Camino...you just have to deal with it as a hospitalero/a (and you deal with it as a pilgrim too...though in a different way). Sometimes you deal with it well, other times you don't. Today has been a day where I haven't dealt with it well. Other days I have dealt with it just fine. You don't have time to chat with everyone. You are too busy checking people in, making sure there is enough toilet paper, matches for the stove and blankets to go around. Or having people yell at you in Spanish because they think the albergue is the tourism office (because all the signs point this direction) and they are incredulous that you don't speak fluent Spanish! Oh well. It's groundhog day, so it's all going to repeat day after day until you leave 15 days later...somedays everything is gravy, other days it's like herding cats...and you love it and you will come back or you don't and you won't. Me, I plan to do it again in two years...I will walk the Camino Portugues next year, then serve as a hospitalera the following year. It's more fun than not...you take the good, you take the bad...and it all evens out, sometimes in favor of the good, even.

Yes we remember you in that albergue. The 'ass....' word fits with the memory. Being a hospitalero isn't for everyone.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Re: Hospitalero training USA

Yes we remember you in that albergue. The 'ass....' word fits with the memory. Being a hospitalero isn't for everyone.

Well, if you're going to call me an ass.... at least identify yourself. I'm guessing you're the spoiled Irish ex-pat who shouldn't be sleeping in albergues who was mad when I wouldn't save you three beds for your friends and tried to tell me how much better of a pilgrim you were because you walked from Roncesvalles unlike the weekend warriors. Because aside from that one pilgrim, all the other English-speaking pilgrims were great. Being a pilgrim isn't for everyone either.

 

[ivar]

Hey, slow down people... deep breath....

Happy holidays everyone!
Ivar

 

[Abbeydore]

Hey, slow down people... deep breath....

Happy holidays everyone!
Ivar

yes it's that time of year, good cheer, & goodwill, to everyone
driving 250miles to my daughters for xmas & the ex-wife, wish me well,
lets hope I don't come back wounded :lol:

love this forum
David

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Hey, slow down people... deep breath....

Happy holidays everyone!
Ivar

If I am being called names I will respond accordingly. I have been pretty clear about the experiences I had while in Santo Domingo. Demanding pilgrims were one of the issues I had. Why does everyone on this forum think everything is puppies and rainbows on the Camino? It's not. And at least I didn't throw pilgrim's packs and boots out into the street like the hospitalero in Logrono was when I was serving.

This person has chosen to be public when a PM would have sufficed. Sounds like the entitled Irish woman I mentioned before.

 

[sillydoll]

Do we have another troll on the forum?
When someone 'new' to the forum makes a comment like Zoe's, only the third time he/she has posted, one wonders if that person is who they claim to be.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

It is hard to find the Irish connection here:

Re: hi everyone

Post by Zoe on 20 Jan 2011, 16:57
Hi Annie, thank you for your answer. I was not sure how far I could walk and which route will inspires me. But I think at this point I am going to take the portugese route. I was also reading your blog about walking the Gorge and that made me home sick for Portland, as my family is there. Lots of love. zoe

 

[William Marques]

It looks as if this topic may need a good deal of moderation. Perhaps if people have strong personal issues they wish to air with another poster they should do it by PM. In the meantime new posters who wade in with comments designed to provoke are always watched.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

It looks as if this topic may need a good deal of moderation. Perhaps if people have strong personal issues they wish to air with another poster they should do it by PM. In the meantime new posters who wade in with comments designed to provoke are always watched.

Feel free to moderate all the comments then...I think Sil is right....sounds like a troll. And falcon, I didn't have time to go through and see what posts the other person had posted...it's nice to know a former Oregonian thinks I am an asshole...I'll add it to the list.

Thank you!

 

[jpflavin1]

To my fellow Pilgrims:

Without those who go through the Hospitalero/a training and donate two weeks of their time to serve other Peregrino's, there would be far fewer Albergues open to support the Camino. I applaud and thank all who have performed this service.

Ultreya and Happy Holidays to all,
Joe

 

[sillydoll]

The traditional albergues need volunteers throughout the year so if you think that you can manage for 15 days as a hospitalero, consider doing the training.
Telluridewalker - you don't have to be trained to serve in private albergues. You can contact them direct and they will let you know if they need you. Try not to offer to work for the purely commercial albergues though, they'll accept your offer of free labor with open arms!

Zoe - if you walked from Porto, Coruna or Leon as you were planning to do, you would not have stayed in the albergue at Santo Domingo where Heather was serving. It would be interesting to hear which albergue it was that you remember the 'ass' !!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

If you missed January:

Roads Less Traveled

2012 Gathering of Pilgrims

San Pedro Center, Winter Park, Florida

March 27-April 2

Registration is now LIVE on our website National Events page!

Join us for the 15th Annual Gathering of Pilgrims at the San Pedro Center in Winter Park, Florida. The Gathering, March 29-April 1, is preceded by the Hospitalero Training, March 27-29. The Spiritual Retreat, hosted by Tom Cook, follows the conclusion of the Gathering, from Sunday morning through midday Monday, April 2.

This year’s Opening Reception, on the evening of Thursday, March 29, will feature a Spanish tapas menu with a Valencian flavor. The reception will be followed by a performance of classical Spanish guitar music played by Joshua Englert. Friday evening sees the debut of a new attraction, the Pilgrim Open Mic session: with a couple pictures to illustrate your story, tell us in five minutes about your best—or worst—Camino experience. And, of course, Camino Cabaret returns on Saturday night.

Friday’s schedule will include two limited-enrollment workshops. In her two-session workshop Writing the Camino, Amei Wallach will provide participants with the strategies and techniques to write quality travel literature. And in Camino through the Lens, Ann Howley will give a hands-on workshop covering camera and photography basics and offering ideas to help you get the best Camino photos ever.

Gathering presentations will include new topics like Ultralight Packing, Camino News from Around the World, Reading the Camino, and Romanesque and Gothic for Pilgrims. Last year’s successful Academic Panel will make an encore appearance with the theme The Search for Authenticity. It will be complemented by a second panel offering presentations on Other Caminos. And of course you will find perennial favorites such as Camino First Aid, New Pilgrim Q&A, and Hospitalero Q&A.

All this and more awaits you at the 15th Annual Gathering of Pilgrims in Winter Park. For an overview, travel information, and both online and mail-in registration material, visit our website’s National Gathering page.

See you there!

Gathering Team