• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

OBSOLETE COVID THREAD Albergues in the time of covid

OBSOLETE COVID THREAD
Status
Not open for further replies.

peregrina2000

Moderator
Staff member
We have had a couple of threads talking about regulations for albergues going forward, speculations about how they might adapt, etc. We are going to lock both of those threads, but you can see them here. We find that locking and starting over often gives us a clean, rancor-free slate going forward.




I am also pasting in a link to the current governmental guidelines. Still many questions, but this is the most up to date information I have seen. If there is more, please add it here.


https://www.mincotur.gob.es/es-es/COVID-19/Paginas/Guias-sector-turistico.aspx

Fresh start, new thread, be friendly!
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
This was posted on Facebook, from the Albergue O Candil in Melide. They will no longer rent individual beds. Each room will have to be rented in its entirety.
I'm not saying that all albergues will operate this way, but apparently these are the measures that this particular albergue is taking.

The information is also on their website

FB_IMG_1590533717510.jpg
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
Thanks, Laurie!
I attended a webinar yesterday put on by the Xunta de Galicia for the tourism sector, and the guides you posted are the ones they refer to as well. If anyone is interested in the webinar, it's on YouTube (in Gallego).


Thanks Faith for posting the link. It is actually possible to follow if you speak Spanish but after 30 minutes I zoned out. Was there anything of interest besides reviewing the guidelines which are in black and white?

Cheers
 
Lee, the most interesting part was trying to follow the enormous attendee Chat that was going on on the side while the presentations were going on (you can't see the chat as part of the video itself).

As for the speakers, they were instructing us on the most important things:
- Proper ventilation
- Proper social distancing between clients and clients, clients and staff, and staff and staff
- Proper hand washing (don't wear gloves as they provide a false sense of security - just wash your hands a lot, unless you're dealing with food or disinfecting an area.)
- Frequent cleaning and disinfection
- Wearing masks

Many of the speakers repeated these instructions. One interesting thing was that they were very specific that face shields shouldn't be worn alone; they can be worn as a complement to masks but the masks are the most important face covering.

In the attendee Chat, workers from all different tourist sectors had so many questions. Some of the most repeated themes were:
- The Xunta has said that all business owners in the tourist sector in Galicia will need to go through an obligatory course. People were asking where and when the courses would be available. The Xunta answered they're still in the process of planning that course, but we in Galicia will need to take the course when it's available. Not sure if you have any similar requirement, Lee.
- So many workers had questions about what exactly to do if a worker or a client is sick with COVID-19 and in the establishment. Seems like the manuals aren't very thorough in their guidelines about that. Questions were raised such as: does the whole establishment need to close for 14 days? Or can they stay open? And/or do hotels and albergues need to impose a quarantine on the infected clients and who would pay for that? The Xunta did not get to answer these questions.
- And people had questions about how often they needed to wash curtains, fabric chairs, etc. Again, the Xunta didn't have time to answer these.

If they update the manuals at some point, it will be interesting to see if they include some of these pointers.
 
Thanks again Faith.

Regarding the quarantine issue I have read that an albergue does not have to close and you do not have to lodge the person in question. If you are unable to block off the room then it must be disinfected which goes without saying.

It is unfortunate that there are still unanswered questions.

I have removed all blankets and cushions on chairs. The 2 sofas will also be off limits as fabrics can not be sanitized daily.

My big question is if I can still give cotton sheets and pillow cases as I refuse to buy those awful disposable ones. According to the guide, sheets must be separately packaged.

A fellow albergue owner here has her sheets done by cleaners in Astorga but her prices reflect that extra cost. I spoke to her today and she said that the cleaners must package everything in plastic rather than paper.

I'm afraid that all these rules are going to contribute to an increase in plastic waste. There is enough already!
 
Last edited:
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
The rule about dorm rooms having to be booked/used in their entirety will encourage camino ‘families’. I can envision individuals joining forces to create groups, even on a very temporary basis, to be able to use these dorm rooms; these groups being very fluid and apps being exploited to find like-minded individuals.

It won’t make dorms safer, but people will find ways to circumvent the rules, in order to save €.

Tenting will become more attractive to budget conscience solo walkers who don’t want to share dorms with strangers. Single rooms will have a lot more demand on them.

But albergue owners have to try something!
 
The rule about dorm rooms having to be booked/used in their entirety will encourage camino ‘families’. I can envision individuals joining forces to create groups, even on a very temporary basis, to be able to use these dorm rooms; these groups being very fluid and apps being exploited to find like-minded individuals.

It won’t make dorms safer, but people will find ways to circumvent the rules, in order to save €.

Tenting will become more attractive to budget conscience solo walkers who don’t want to share dorms with strangers. Single rooms will have a lot more demand on them.

But albergue owners have to try something!

There is no rule that says that dorms have "to be booked/used in their entirety". This is just an option that some have decided to use.
 
There is no rule that says that dorms have "to be booked/used in their entirety". This is just an option that some have decided to use.
Right. I posted the measures that Albergue O Candil is taking just as an example of what one albergue is doing.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
‘Rule’ was too narrow a term, and I should have said I was responding to the posting about O Candil. Booking out dorm rooms to established groups seems to be a smart way to go, limiting the mixing of new people, but I think it’s fraught with easy potential for run arounds.
 
My big question is if I can still give cotton sheets and pillow cases as I refuse to buy those awful disposable ones. According to the guide, sheets must be separately packaged.
I don't see why not if you wash or have them washed them every morning, handle them in disinfected gloves and maybe pack them in washable cotton bags?
 
I don't see why not if you wash or have them washed them every morning, handle them in disinfected gloves and maybe pack them in washable cotton bags?

Thanks @caminka I haven't thought about the cotton bag option. I guess I will just have to wait and see how strick they are. I was originally thinking of packing them separately in paper which I could recycle but the cotton bag open sounds much beter. I have some old sheets I could use. Now I only have to find a sewing machine.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
‘Rule’ was too narrow a term, and I should have said I was responding to the posting about O Candil. Booking out dorm rooms to established groups seems to be a smart way to go, limiting the mixing of new people, but I think it’s fraught with easy potential for run arounds.

In light of this possibility, "established" groups will most likely form. I personally know that if 4 pilgrims came to my albergue and said that they were walking together I would not hesitate to put them in a room with 2 bunkbeds. Who am I to question when the group was formed? I don't want to police and personally feel that pilgrims should be accountable and responsible for their actions.
 
This was posted on Facebook, from the Albergue O Candil in Melide. They will no longer rent individual beds. Each room will have to be rented in its entirety.
I'm not saying that all albergues will operate this way, but apparently these are the measures that this particular albergue is taking.

The information is also on their website

View attachment 75832
It seems to me that what will happen with that albergue is that pilgrims will meet up on the trail and combine resources to rent the room of beds together. Which wouldn't be much different than before, other than self selecting your roommates.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
In San Martin del Camino last fall I had planned to stay in Vieira albergue and found that I was arriving there just after a large group of adolescent pilgrims. I decided to go on to the next albergue, and suggested to a Spanish woman, whom I had just met, that we go on to Albergue Santa Ana a hundred metres or so further. When we discovered that the dormitory was full, I suggested that we share a double room for the night, which we did. I never saw her before or since. But of course the risk of infection was not an issue at that time.
 
An article in a regional newspaper about the reopening of the Roncesvalles albergue with a number of photos.

78 pilgrims stayed on the first day, both from Spain and from abroad. So that was nearly a full house, I guess, as they now have only 90 beds available (instead of 183 beds before Covid).

Roncesvalles.jpg
 
Last edited:
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Status
Not open for further replies.

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Similar threads

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top