How to avoid the "hospedera loca"?

[Sumachado]

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:

 

[JohnnieWalker]

I think this is the thread you are looking for. However there have been differing reports - some good and some bad:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2572&p=13656&hilit=hospitalera#p13656

 

[Javier Martin]

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.

 

[Sumachado]

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:

 

[fiddletree]

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.

 

[Javier Martin]

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.

 

[stephenDevlin]

"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...

 

[fiddletree]

"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.

 

[vinotinto]

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...

 

[Sumachado]

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.

 

[amgirl5]

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