DoughnutANZ
Ka whati te tai ka kai te tōreapango
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 & 2028.
I am almost finished my Camino Madrid and I have been really impressed with how nice the small donativo albergues have been lately and how lovely the Spanish people are.
When some of the Camino veterans describe their early Camino experiences I can relate some of those to how the Madrid has been for me. I will do a bit of a summary in another thread but in this thread I just wanted to acknowledge the fabulous Spanish people that I have encountered.
Today I walked a relatively short 16 kilometres from Santervás de Campos to Grajal de Campos, via Arenillas de Valderaduey.
I took my time and I was in Arenillas at 10am and so I stopped and had a seat in the town square for a rest and morning tea of dry bread and water.
As I was sitting there contemplating my somewhat unappetising fare a lady appeared in a window of one of the houses surrounding the tiny square and so I gave her a friendly wave and a "Hola" and went back to my bread and water.
The next thing that I know, the door opens of the same house and a little old lady comes out, walks over to me and says "café?".
Given that there were no cafe's or shops in that tiny village of about 25 houses and that this was the best offer that I have had all week, of course, I replied "Si". She then turned around and disappeared.
About five minutes later she and a very dottery old man reappeared with the guy carrying a tray with coffee and snacks on it.
I watched as they walked towards me and was a bit worried that the man would trip as he was a bit wobbly but he made it okay and they placed this on the seat next to me.
And then they walked off!
I enjoyed my morning coffee that was much nicer than any other option I had, returned the tray to them, thanked them profusely and went on my way.
When I arrived at Grajal de Campos the hospitalero from my previous night was there waiting for me to ensure that I had got there okay and when he was satisfied that I was booked in okay and taken care of he got back on his bike and returned to Santervás de Campos.
I am blown away with how nice these people are!
When some of the Camino veterans describe their early Camino experiences I can relate some of those to how the Madrid has been for me. I will do a bit of a summary in another thread but in this thread I just wanted to acknowledge the fabulous Spanish people that I have encountered.
Today I walked a relatively short 16 kilometres from Santervás de Campos to Grajal de Campos, via Arenillas de Valderaduey.
I took my time and I was in Arenillas at 10am and so I stopped and had a seat in the town square for a rest and morning tea of dry bread and water.
As I was sitting there contemplating my somewhat unappetising fare a lady appeared in a window of one of the houses surrounding the tiny square and so I gave her a friendly wave and a "Hola" and went back to my bread and water.
The next thing that I know, the door opens of the same house and a little old lady comes out, walks over to me and says "café?".
Given that there were no cafe's or shops in that tiny village of about 25 houses and that this was the best offer that I have had all week, of course, I replied "Si". She then turned around and disappeared.
About five minutes later she and a very dottery old man reappeared with the guy carrying a tray with coffee and snacks on it.
I watched as they walked towards me and was a bit worried that the man would trip as he was a bit wobbly but he made it okay and they placed this on the seat next to me.
And then they walked off!
I enjoyed my morning coffee that was much nicer than any other option I had, returned the tray to them, thanked them profusely and went on my way.
When I arrived at Grajal de Campos the hospitalero from my previous night was there waiting for me to ensure that I had got there okay and when he was satisfied that I was booked in okay and taken care of he got back on his bike and returned to Santervás de Campos.
I am blown away with how nice these people are!