How does the Ecomonic Situation in Spain Effect the Camino?

[DeadFred]

Read today that Spain is in serious trouble economically , possibly worse then the situation in Greece . Wondering if there will be any adverse effect for the Pilgrims ( i'e Hostels shutting their doors, etc )

Joe

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Dealing with the budget deficit is a challenge to some European countries in the same way as it is a challenge in the US! Rising unemployment and cuts in public expenditure are features of many economies In Spain significant budget cuts have been announced but as yet to my knowledge there is no sign of local authorities cutting back on the pilgrim infrastructure. We'll see. It would be a false economy to do so.

 

[peregrina2000]

Just a slight qualification to that generally true assessment -- Leon announced it was closing its municipal albergue (which was not exclusively a pilgrim albergue, but also for youth). Described here: el-camino-frances/topic13378.html (with link to the newspaper report)

Also, along the Vdlp, there was a brief closure of the "albergues turisticos" in places like Fuente de Cantos, Zafra, and one or two more, but they all re-opened quickly, with the exception of the beautiful albergue in the old building with the old oil press in Almazara. I believe that one remains closed.

I haven't heard of others, and agree with Johnnie that as the Camino crowds show no sign of slowing down, closing places would be counter-productive in most instances.

buen camino, Laurie

 

[ward4e]

Just got back and my impressions of Spain during this "depression" wasn't one of major pain, yes things were tight but at all times in the rural villages, bars and albergues the message was clearly "thankyou for being here!". Even though you saw se vende everywhere and there are a large proportion of people out of work and going through hard times nearly everyone was happy to see a pilgrim. Everyone was more than happy to accept your euro's and if you wanted to see a small shop keeper smile and give back the small change as a tip... I did this a quite a few times and over the trip is couldn't have added up to more that 10 euro.

Its the thought that counts and small changes (or change) may not seem like much but gifting along the camino is an awesome trend and it helps so many. In regards to closures and a fragmenting of accomodation along the way I was astounded at the actual number of albergues and refugios not mentioned in giide or just recently opened along the way.

I was joking with my way friends that i should come back and open a small series of "auzzie" albergues because there were still times when another place to stay was needed. I designed most of it in my head and i have started sketching plans... occupational hazzard of an architect. It may never come to fruition but still, an awesome concept to build within a few of the ruins!

Buen Camino!

 

[Abbeydore]

Would it help if we asked Ivar to "float" the forum, seems we'd all become millionaires(& get married (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18135564)); then we could all put the money into the Spanish 'economy'

or

just pave the whole Camino, free beer & tapas every km :roll:

The Camino has existed thru' many upheavals, I'm sure this is just another to add to the list........

 

[Deleted member 3000]

free beer & tapas every km

I have always thought that the albergue that offers a free beer when checking in would be full every night! Of course, maybe they are full regardless...

 

[peregrina nicole]

I was in Galcia for three weeks in June/July. I spent 6 days on the Camino from Lugo to Santiago and then two weeks in the Peregrino Office as a volunteer. We had a steady flow of traffic through the office and no one mentioned any infrastructure problems due to the economic crisis. Nevertheless, in shop and restaurant owners in Santiago (especially those who were not on the key tourist streets like Rua do Franco and Rua do Villar) did comment that people were spending less money in the shops/bars/restaurants. I read the local papers anytime I could get my hands on one and it was clear that the crisis is having an effect on the provision of public services such as the proposed closure of pubic offices in areas of low population and unemployment. In such a climate, the tourist euros that peregrinos bring in are VERY welcome. In the first 6 months of this year, just under half of the peregrinos were from Spain (people whose pockets would be the hardest hit by the crisis). On the other hand there was a significant rise in the number of peregrinos from English speaking countries, which Johnnie Walker thinks might be due to the influence of 'The Way'. In the first two weeks of July, we had over 13, 000 peregrinos arrive at the Office. This is 3000 less than the same two weeks last year. However, for the first six months of the year, we were up 4000 peregrinos from 2011.

 

[Gilespenn]

John is right, Nicole, the Way factor is definitely on the way, so to speak. Everyone I talk with about the Camino these days has either seen The Way (and loved it) or plans to. We are going to screen it for our community center (in the mountains of northern New Mexico) next month and expect quite a crowd. Yesterday I ran into two people who saw the movie and are intent on making the pilgrimage. So Spain can certainly count on more Americans over the next few years...and that will be money in the bank (oops, banks are the problem in Spain!).

Anyway, everyone I talk to seems to have an interest in "The Way" and they are inspired to walk the Camino. This, of course, will help the small business owners all along the Way, which ever Way people choose.

Que le vaya muy buen,
Giles

 

[Carol06]

I completed my Camino on the French route six weeks ago. Before I started walking I was told that"Spain is not a 3rd world country and everything is available here. You can buy anything you need along the way." Not true. Towns were incredibly depressed. Deserted in fact (so sad). I could walk for days without seeing a pharmacy. And you cannot buy even a simple item like acidophilus tablets without a prescription when you do find a pharmacy.

I was not big on albergue breakfasts (you can only eat so much dry bed and jam)and would often just eat a banana when I started walking and wait for the first bar to buy something to eat. There were days when I started walking and it would be nearly lunchtime before I found any establishment where I could buy food or a drink. The situation is not desperate. You will not starve. But you can do a lot of walking before finding supplies.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Spain isn't a third world country ....well not yet. Carol raises a very interesting point. Much of rural Spain in particular has been dependent on small local shops of all kinds for their supplies - from shoes, to groceries to bread, milk and meat. As I walk around small pueblos and small towns shop after shop has closed down in the last 3- 5 years. And of course with the economic situation here still worsening. But on Camino whether the busy Camino Frances or quieter routes with the aid of a guidebook one is readily able to plan meal stops and purchases.

In my view Spain isn't through the worst of the crisis yet. The public sector is obese and yet the population is deeply resistant to the level of deep cuts essential to recovery. Spaniards have a good way of life...good education and excellent systems of health; here in Santiago my bins are emptied 4 times a day (yes 4 times) when 2 people drive up in lorries to empty the glass, then a different 2 to empty the waster paper etc...then a man comes and sweeps the streets before a man on a machine comes to wash the streets. A small cameo of what is repeated in every town hall, railway station and public institution across the nation. Resistance to change is driving the euro to the brink of collapse as other countries who cut back years ago on this profligacy wonder why they should bail out the Spanish economy. Just sayin'!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Spain is not a 3rd world country and everything is available here

However, it is not available in the long, dusty stretches, or wide spots in the road. You have to wait for a village or a town, and you have to plan a bit by purchasing when the opportunity presents itself. Most of the guides and internet sites tell where there is a tienda or such. Bars often will have some additional offerings like fruit and snacks.

 

[Priscillian]

To add to John's comment above and having lived in this counry for 16 years, I can tell you that difficulties within the tax basis are inherent in the Spanish econ omy simply because there is so much "black money" which nevers flows into the system.
I am currectly trying to open a language school not far fro the Camino to Muxia. I have hit one block of red tape after another simply because I am trying to be legal! Most people simply shake their head and ask why I would consider such a thing. Receipts are rare because this avoids one having to pay sales tax (currently 18%). To be self-employed here you have to pay "autonomo"; for me that means I pay a whopping 274 euros a month for social security (which I don't need as I have health insurance) and a pension I can claim when I am 74!!! Rent is increased when it is a commercial property lease. So is electricity...
Most people "stay off the radar". Now I know why.
But of course, it is crippling the economy. This month I made less in my school than I had to pay out.
My own opinion is that - with the exception of Ireland which grew too fast for other reasons - all of the countries in the most extreme financial trouble were formally dictatorships. To avoid trouble you tried to stay out of the government's eye.
I have been unable to get a mortgage for the Little Fox because NOBODY can get a mortgage at present despite (and perhaps because of) the low interest rate. Banks can do so much better investing their money elsewhere, usually overseas.
What's the answer?: I don't know. Nothing will drive me out of this country that I have come to call my home and luckily I have The Little Fox on a rent to buy basis. Hopefully it will be a better economic envirnment when I finally have to either buy or lose everything I have already invested.
Good job I am an optimist...
T

 

[Rebekah Scott]

John, I think your over-abundance of public services may be due to your being in a capital city in a well-endowed region. Out here on the perimeter our weekly trash pickup service (three dumpsters for a town of 23 people) has been cut back to every 10 days. There´s no longer a summertime weed-and-trim employee to smarten up the plaza and streets in time for the fiesta del pueblo. The fiesta´s been cut back to a single day. The doctor still comes weekly, but most of us now must pay for at least part of our prescriptions -- and the doc now does not treat pilgrims who drop in unless they have a Spanish or EU health card, or they´re at death´s door.
Our Sanidad de Castilla y Leon health cards expired in March. We are still on the system ("in the computer,") but the department that sends out new cards has been eliminated. What happens if I get sick outside Castilla y Leon, with an expired card? No one knows.
Two bread vans used to stop here each day; now only one does, and now not on Sundays.
Electricity in July costs 30 percent more than it did in March.
Almost all the reliable builders, plumbers and handy-men who kept the place stuck together through the boom have now gone back home to Rumania, Bulgaria, Poland or Peru.
Most pilgrims never see or feel these effects. They need to guard against feeling too confident their foreign currency is the salvation of the camino town -- dozens of cafes and hostels and albergues have found they cannot survive the massive overhead (and tax and health and safety regulations and permits burdens) with the income gained from 10-Euro pilgrim menus and 6 or 8 Euro-per-person accommodations. (And those who would try to live on a donativo basis must be saints, or delusional!)

Perhaps the economic outcome I have noticed most on the Camino itself is the increased number of pilgrims sleeping out on the porch of the church, and busking, or begging for coins, or asking if they can work in exchange for food and shelter. Are these people pilgrims? Should they be treated as pilgrims, or are they in a class of their own?

 

[Gilespenn]

Many thanks for the excellent reports from all of you. Probably the best information I've read on the actual financial situation "on the ground" in Spain. These insights from people living in the country are quite helpful.
Just six years ago my wife became very ill at Fuente De in the Pico de Europa. The local clinic called in an English speaking doctor from a distant city (20 miles) to treat her. The treatment, consultation and medications were free or next to nothing (the doctor was slightly insulted when we offered to pay her). From what you all are saying, those days are gone (or going).
Best and buen camino,
Giles

 

[Priscillian]

Giles...I don't think they are gone, or even going but as Rebekah says above, these are no longer the norm. I have had pilgrims stay here who have had free medical care even if they are not EU nationals. It depends upon the soctor and the area too I suspect. Here in my little corner of Galicia, rules tend to be looked upon as "just a suggestion"!
And to Rebekah's question about a separate group from "pilgrims", I would have to say that perhaps they are a different group to the credit card, tablet and mobile phone carrying pilgrims we have come to associate with the name, but perhaps they are much closer to the ones of old!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

r Out here on the perimeter our weekly trash pickup service (three dumpsters for a town of 23 people) has been cut back to every 10 days. There´s no longer a summertime weed-and-trim employee to smarten up the plaza and streets in time for the fiesta del pueblo. The fiesta´s been cut back to a single day. The doctor still comes weekly, but most of us now must pay for at least part of our prescriptions.

This sounds very much like life in central London where the garbage is going to be collected every two weeks and people have been paying £7.65 for each item on a prescription rather than the fraction paid in Spain. Oh well Vive la Difference - until the country goes broke.