• Get your Camino Frances Guidebook here.
  • 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)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

How to avoid the "hospedera loca"?

Sumachado

Member
Hey guys, I am not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I have heard of a hospitalera along the camino that is a bit erratic in her manners and sometimes she decides that someone will not stay at her place. The reasons are always obscure... Please, advise me about this because I am planning my first camino and want to avoid such a person or place... If, for any reason unknown to me this was a joke, I apologize. Thanks, Sumachado. :lol: :) :D
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
Well, you are planning your first camino ... ufff

Most hospitaleros have to pass a course ... about to how to attend the pilgrims, etc.

They use to have to walk the Camino. So, they normally know what the Camino is.

Some associations run their own albergues (CSJ) with their own rules.

The best hospitalero can pass a bad day.

So, in my opinion, most hospitaleros are well prepared to run an albergue, and, being a hard work, and, sometimes, working in a hard part of the year, it's easy to understand a "bad word" to any "special pilgrim".

I've never hear a "bad word".

And I've seen a lot of "special pilgrims". Very special pilgrims.

After supporting any "special pilgrim", if you, normal pilgrim, arrive, can see a "not normal hospitalero". Is not your guilty, nor the hospitalero's guilty.

I have to say, thanks, patient hospitaleros.

Javier Martin.
Madrid, Spain.
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
You know, you might as well be right. If I find a hospitalera or hospitalero loco, I'll deal with the fact right then. Why worry?? Hope to meet all kinds of pilgrims and all kinds of challenges. The secret is not to avoid situations but to face them. ( I'll repeat this to myself every day till next year when I leave for my first Camino...) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
There was only one place I stayed in (in Burgos) where pilgrims seemed to be arbitrarily turned away; there were very few beds and there was a policy that only people walking can stay there. The hospitalero thought that a number of the pilgrims were lying when they said they walked (but they actually took a bus) and told them they couldn't stay there.

It made a lot of pilgrims mad, but I could see where the hospitalero was coming from. There were only 12 available beds and those who walked should get priority... those who didn't walk shouldn't have a problem walking (or taking a taxi if injured/lazy) to the next albergue 2 km away. I'm kind of against non-self-propelled transport on the camino (like cars/buses), but I guess everyone does it their own way.

Pretty much, if you walk and you aren't creepy looking, you won't have a problem staying anywhere. Everything has a way of working out somehow.
 
The hospitalero knows when you have arrived walking. Because your face, because you "look" really tired, because your backpack, because the hour and how many kilometres you have walked this day, because all pilgrims who "have walked" use to talk about any special point they have seen ... they have many experience about. If it's been raining, if it's been not ...

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.
 
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,-
"If you walk and you aren't creepy looking you won't have a problem staying anywhere."
I can see how beds should be allocated to walkers, but to deny someone because of their looks...
 
stephenDevlin said:
"If you walk and you aren't creepy looking you won't have a problem staying anywhere."
I can see how beds should be allocated to walkers, but to deny someone because of their looks...

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it happens- I only saw it once, though.
 
fiddletree said:
I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it happens- I only saw it once, though.

I saw it happen twice - well, sort of. In the first incident, the guy had a bunk next to mine. Things were fine until he took his shirt off and revealed that he was covered with huge red bumps - not sure if they were bug bites or what. Then he got really drunk while in the albergue and acted odd. A Spanish woman complained about his drunkenness to the staff - and also said she was afraid he might be HIV-positive (I found out later she had 5 kids, and so was "extra careful" about that sort of thing). So, the staff moved him to a bunk outside of the main room. I guess he thought I narked him out, because he started yelling at me in Spanish. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, and thankfully he backed off.

The second time (at another albergue down the Way), a guy walked in who was obviously disturbed (he was sucking a baby pacifier and was dressed like someone out of a Mad Max film). He also smelled pretty bad, so they made him sleep outside. He did some sort of a comedy/juggling act for Euros in front of the cafe.

I heard later on that homeless folks will sometimes try to infiltrate the Camino in order to get cheap eats and lodging. Perhaps that's what happened in both these cases...
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Well my dear, I just hope that is all they do: :twisted: :evil: act weird, a bit crazy but no harm. I think the Camino is different for each person and I am trying hard not to bring to reality thoughts of bad things that usually happen in big cities ( I live in Rio, so it's difficult for us not to be suspicious of everybody and everything...)
On the other hand, we must keep in mind that if we deal with probabilities, and for what I have been reading about the Camino, to face this kind of thing is unusual. So buen camino in peace to all of us. :D :D
 
Hi,

I've never had a problem with any hospitaleros/as on either Camino. When I went to Rabe, I couldn't find any albergues open at all and walked back to Tarjados. I've found most of the hospitaleros/as to be pretty wonderful. Wouldn't worry too much about it. I was worried a couple times that I wouldn't be able to stay places because I hadn't walked far enough, 4 kms because I hurt my foot in the Pyrannees and 200 m, because I had caught the pilgrim's virus that was going through the albergues in Aug/Sept, (really hope no one else is getting that.:(), but never was turned away. I think if you try to be respectful, try to speak a little Spanish, most people are kind, or will warm up to you.

Liz
 

Most read last week in this forum

My name is Henrik and I will be coming down to SJPdP from Sweden on March 26 and start walking on March 27. I don't really have any experience and I'm not the best at planning and I'm a little...
When I hiked the Frances Route this happened. I was hiking in the afternoon just east of Arzua. I was reserved a bed at an albergue in Arzua, so I had already hiked all the way from San Xulien...
I'd like some recommendations about where to find the most current and up to date information about albergues that are actually open. I'm currently walking the camino Frances, and I can't even...
I am finalizing my packing list for Frances, and do not want to over pack. (I am 71) I will be starting at SJPdP on April 25th to Roncesvalles and forward. I was hoping on some advise as to...
Today is March 21, 1024 If you’re starting El Francés around this time, be warned that quite a few stretches between Rabanal del Camino and Molinaseca are in pretty bad shape. Lots of mud, and...
First marker starting from Albergue Monasterio de la Magdalena in Sarria (113.460 km) Start: 2023.9.29 07:22 Arrival: 2023.9.30 13:18 walking time : 26 hours 47 minutes rest time : 3 hours 8...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

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