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there is ALWAYS a solution. Spain is a civilized country deeply invested in keeping pilgrims from freezing. If you're really stuck, use your AlertCops app to get help. You might not get the Instagram-ready suite you imagined, but you won't be left on the street.
I oversee operations at the municipal albergue in Najera. There is often a queue there during high season. We will sometimes move particular pilgrims to the front of the line -- elderly people, handicapped people, and those traveling with small children. It is rare to hear complaining, but it's...
Pilgrims sleeping on floors, in doorways, outside??? OMG!!!
We have upgraded and monetized and marketed the camino right back to the Old Days, when lords and ladies slept secure in their pre-booked beds, and pilgrims slept on floors, in doorways, and outside.
I live on the meseta and like to star-gaze. I have found pilgrims night-walking in the neighborhood. I usually stop and ask them if everything is OK. About half of them are exhausted and lost. The other ones are hardcore pilgrims who carry tents and have the flexibility and savvy to walk when...
More Templars? Puh-leeze. The original San Anton was built on the site of a royal hunting lodge. There are no Templars anywhere in the historic record, despite the best efforts of many to squeeze them in there.
...but don't get too upset if your hospitalero DOESN'T know what's open up ahead. It is up to each pilgrim to take care of his own needs/do his own homework, and then look around and see who else could use a hand.
It was called "Un Paso Limpio," it was sponsored by the Amigos de Astorga and the Japanese Association of Pilgrims, with funding from Correos. Yellow plastic bags were distributed along the Frances route, and pilgrims could take them, fill them up along the Way, and hopefully drop them in a...
Please be aware that Laurie is a phenomenal walker, and I'm maybe just a little above average.
Also, the 7 km. from Penalba to Montes de Valdueza is the most challenging part of the (very long) day. Now that there's a place to stay in Montes de Valdueza, I am sure Laurie will have a...
The fine dining in Fromista is at Las Palmeros, a lovely Michelin-listed place on Plaza San Telmo. Great wine list, too!
As for coming to see me when you are in Moratinos: Some of the best people stop here when I am not home. It's always been that way. It is how I maintain my "Woman of...
Thanks for being patient with my peevishness, Puttster.
Exactly what kind of volunteer service did you have in mind? What do you mean by "big organizations?"
"The Camino" is not really a very big place. It is made up of dozens of little places and small groups and individuals, and thousands...
Yes I am very tired. I am still in the middle of recruiting volunteers for 2024. I still need about 16 good people willing to give two weeks of their time to care for a scruffy albergue in the middle of the Frances.
It's hard work, hospitalero-ing. It's hard work training hospitaleros, and...
Puttster, you malign good people doing good work. There are other places you can train for less money. The Canadian program is second to none, the Australians and South Africans and English also offer great training sessions, but I don't know what they cost. It is a good idea to be trained...
Mar, the lady in charge, always kept the door open to even the scruffy and penniless. She kept extra clothes on hand for people who needed them. When pilgrims were stuck in Spain and needed a place to rest and/or volunteer, El Serbal y Luna was a go-to place. It embodied the Camino Spirit with...
I was a volunteer hospitalero at Eunate back in 2007.
The old rectory building has a bumpy history, albergue-wise. Way back in the late 1990's, it was opened up as an albergue and administered by the circle of Don Jose Ignacio, the parish priest who also pioneered landmark albergues in Granon...
Yeah, and photos were forbidden indoors in 2017 when I last stopped. The owner said he was getting all fed-up and cranky with people stopping for photos and not even saying hello, or buying anything -- or demanding things he didn't have.
I met this guy on my first Camino in 2001, when he was a...
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