How do I do my laundry on the Camino de Santiago?

Laundry is done mostly by hand.  My walking partner and I each had three pair shorts, shirts, socks, underthings.  You wash by hand every other night and hope that it will dry overnight.  Bring some clothespins or large safety pins though because if you run into a damp evening — you must clip your somewhat wet items to your backpack on the following morning so that they dry before you need them.  Most of the alberques have large wash basins and you can easily purchase small amounts of powdered soap along the way.

 Ronel van Wyk: There are many South Africans who go to the Camino but apart from the “Confraternity of Saint James” there are no co-ordination amongst those not being a member.  With so many optional dates and times it rarely happens that South Africans meet on the Camino. You will literally find hundreds of Germans and Americans along the way and may bump into a fellow South African probably once or twice along the way. I walked Camino Frances (6 weeks) and Camino Portuguese (11 days) and only met South Africans on the six week walk and only for a single day!