Any bedbug news this season?

[Anniesantiago]

Seems like no news may be good news...
Has anyone experienced any bedbugs this season on the Frances?

 

[annakappa]

Annie, I was just about to post the very same question! No new is good news - I hope so!! Anne

 

[ivar]

About a month ago I had someone in my office that told me that they had meet someone that had some bed bugs bites... other than that I have not heard of anyone else.

[knock on wood]
Ivar

 

[MichaelB10398]

Two weeks ago I spoke with a couple who just got back from the Frances and she had a serious case of them during their walk. They have not gone away.

They also said the mosquitoes were terrible this year.

 

[Hermanita]

OMG I hadn't thought about mosquitoes. I didn't think there were any in Spain. I have been to Spain 5 times and never noticed them before.
So how bad are they?? Are they only in certain areas?

 

[ivar]

At my house, just outside Santiago this year is a "normal" mosquito year. I guess it varies, close to water there will be more of them...

Pharmacies in Spain have a good selection of "anti-mosquito-equipment". If it becomes a problem, I would pick up something at a pharmacy.

Saludos,
Ivar

 

[Annette]

@Hermanita... Ohhh.yeah... we have mosquitos and they are all over- Here in Barcelona we even have the feared Tiger-mosquito... and they spread. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_mosquito)

This summer is hot hot hot here in Spain... and this means more mosquitos and other unwanted insects.

As for bedbugs... I hope there wont be that many... well it is better if there are Zero... I might be going back for two weeks in October... (though I am not in shape at all).

As Ivar says... The phamarcys have all you need to take away that itzy feeling... and they are all over here in Spain...

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Yes, there are bedbugs. Nothing like last year, but I know a couple of albergues have been closed for overnight fumigations, and that one baggage transfer service and one of the Regional Renfe trains (much-used by pilgrims "skipping over the boring parts") have had to fumigate as well.

Since they´ve all been fumigated, I assume they are now bug-free and I won´t blacken their names by posting here.

It´s a wide-open path through all kinds of country, traveled by thousands of people from everywhere. Fellow Travelers of the six-legged kind are inevitable.

Reb.

 

[Anniesantiago]

They've become a problem everywhere. I have a friend who manages a large hotel chain here in the USA, and he says they're at war with bedbugs here too.

I just wondered if there were any specific places I should avoid.
Thanks.

 

[WolverineDG]

You really can't avoid them. Just do your best to keep your stuff away from those who have encountered them, though. Last time on the camino, an otherwise very nice woman kept insisting that my bag be next to hers & wow, did I ever get hit with the damn things. I finally had to take a rest day, clean all my stuff, including my pack, to get it to stop. The second I got home, I put everything in the freezer for about a month, just to be sure.

Kelly

 

[-404]

watch out in Astorga, a few people i met started with problems there

 

[RestlessRose]

I will be starting my walk in Oct. Would mosquitoes be much of a problem in October or would this really be just a summer problem ?

 

[tohams]

I've heard that putting a sheet of tyvek over the bed keeps the bedbugs from crawling through. Any truth to this rumor before I carry one (though they are light and would double nicely for a picnic "blanket"). I'm thinking it's a slick material and one they can't get through.

Of course, any bed bugs falling from the bunk above (I've been known to fall out of bed, so will be in bottom bunks if I can help it) would suck...

 

[AJ]

I write from Sarria.

I met several people a few days ago who had been bitten quite badly whilst in Burgos. I have had no problems myself - I started from Leon.

 

[Frogmarch]

The albergue in Logroño had to be closed and fumigated last week according to the
Mundicamino website. If anybody drops by in the next few days, the place should be perfectly clean.

ALBERGUE DE LOGROÑO ESTARÁ DOS O TRES DÍAS CERRADO POR LOS CHINCHES.
23-08-2009 / 19:10 h
El albergue de peregrinos de Logroño, uno de los de mayor capacidad del Camino de Santiago, permanecerá cerrado al menos hasta el martes a consecuencia de una plaga de chinches, que obligará a fumigar todo el edificio.
Según ha explicado a EFE la presidenta de la Asociación Riojana de Amigos del Camino de Santiago, Socorro Rodríguez, que aunque a diario se realiza una desinfección del albergue, ya la semana pasada detectaron la presencia de chinches en una zona y trataron de erradicarlos, sin éxito, por lo que han decidido cerrar.
Rodríguez -cuya asociación gestiona el albergue de Logroño- espera que este problema se resuelva completo para el martes "o miércoles".
Mientras tanto, "ya hemos avisado a los albergues anteriores", a detallado, para que en esas etapas del Camino "aceleren" a los peregrinos que van en bicicleta, "para que lleguen a Navarrete o Nájera", localidades que están después de Logroño, o que "frenen" a los que van a pie, para que se queden en las poblaciones navarras anteriores a la capital riojana.
"La picadura de los chinches puede causar problemas a los alérgicos y por eso tenemos que tener mucho cuidado", ha subrayado la presidenta de los Amigos del Camino de Santiago en Rioja.
Ha explicado que "no nos ocurría ésto desde hace tres veranos, pero es bastante habitual, hay sitios del Camino en los que se fumiga muy a menudo".
Por otro lado, Rodríguez ha afirmado que no tienen previstas medidas especiales para evitar los contagios de gripe A "porque sería muy difícil decirle a un peregrino que no abrace a otro" y además "no hemos tenido a ninguno peregrino con fiebre".EFE

 

[vikingo]

i got bitten by bedbugs to places in france, in dormitories, this spring!!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Any bedbug news this season? BE PREPARED

It is a little Boy-Scoutish, but "Be Prepared." Even after a lodging has been sprayed for bedbugs, the very next pilgrim can bring in more. If the entire route is sprayed, the very next pilgrim can bring bedbugs from another country. When one albergue has bedbugs, every albergue down the route is likely to have them. If you know there are bedbugs, then your objectives are: 1) don't get bit; and 2) don't spread them. If you spray your sleeping bag with permethrin, bedbugs will stay away. If you spray your backpack with permethrin, bedbugs won't hitchhike in your equipment. If you are allergic to permethrin (or are too green to want to use chemicals), you simply will fail to achieve either objective, and you and fellow pilgrims will just have to live with it, and perhaps with many bedbug bites.

http://www.rei.com/product/768970

 

[Rocknroll]

My wife has been bitten in the Samos parocchial albergue in july.

 

[Ajda]

My wife has been bitten in the Samos parocchial albergue in july.

I slept in Samos parocchial albergue in august - no bed bugs.

 

[Rocknroll]

My wife has been bitten in the Samos parocchial albergue in july.

I slept in Samos parocchial albergue in august - no bed bugs.

I slept too. I wasn't bitten and I ain't seen any, but my wife has been bitten several times. Her arms, then, proves that...

 

[Pacharan]

Found this blog entry...guess it was the dreaded bed bugs :cry:

http://johnandgillbeattie.blogspot.com/ ... l-rio.html

 

[craigmiller]

Any bedbug news this season? BE PREPARED

It is a little Boy-Scoutish, but "Be Prepared." Even after a lodging has been sprayed for bedbugs, the very next pilgrim can bring in more. If the entire route is sprayed, the very next pilgrim can bring bedbugs from another country. When one albergue has bedbugs, every albergue down the route is likely to have them. If you know there are bedbugs, then your objectives are: 1) don't get bit; and 2) don't spread them. If you spray your sleeping bag with permethrin, bedbugs will stay away. If you spray your backpack with permethrin, bedbugs won't hitchhike in your equipment. If you are allergic to permethrin (or are too green to want to use chemicals), you simply will fail to achieve either objective, and you and fellow pilgrims will just have to live with it, and perhaps with many bedbug bites.

http://www.rei.com/product/768970

I agree, all pilgrims should be prepared to deal with the problem. But don't rely on the information on this forum - there are lots of reliable scientific reports written for the layman on how to avoid them, or deal with them once you are exposed. Do an internet search and look for extension publications from research institutions or universities. (aside - we have had good luck sealing our packs in large heavy-duty zip-lok bags while in albergues. We also pack our sleeping gear in smaller zip-lok bags to isolate it from the rest of our gear).

 

[KinkyOne]

Ahem, did you zip-locked your backpack and boots too?