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Junta albergue kitchens

Dickwilbur

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Frances, Prim, VF (Twice), VDLP, Moz, Lev
Last walked in Galicia in 2015. At the time most Junta alberges had great looking kitchens, but no equipment provided to use them, I.e. no pots, pans, utensils.

Is this still the case?
 
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
Mostly this is the case but there are a few exceptions such as Monte do Grozo.
 
Is this still the case?
They gave up a decade ago. There were enough pilgrims who took items or left them filthy for the Xunta to lose interest in providing them. Unclean cookware draws vermin, so workers got tired of cleaning the items each morning as part of fighting bugs and rats. Until five or six years ago, all the xunta albergues were donativo out of respect for pilgrims. Pilgrims repaid that kindness with ???????:(
 
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They gave up a decade ago. There were enough pilgrims who took items or left them filthy for the Xunta to lose interest in providing them. Unclean cookware draws vermin, so workers got tired of cleaning the items each morning as part of fighting bugs and rats. Until five or six years ago, all the xunta albergues were donativo out of respect for pilgrims. Pilgrims repaid that kindness with ???????:(

Yes! I saw that over and over.
Can’t blame them.
 
Albergue San Martin in Miraz is still a donativo and provides cooking utensils. The other albergue in the village has a cafe and a pilgrim menu.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
They gave up a decade ago. There were enough pilgrims who took items or left them filthy for the Xunta to lose interest in providing them. Unclean cookware draws vermin, so workers got tired of cleaning the items each morning as part of fighting bugs and rats. Until five or six years ago, all the xunta albergues were donativo out of respect for pilgrims. Pilgrims repaid that kindness with ???????:(

Thanks for explaining the lack of basic equipment. It had not occurred to me that ill-mannered pilgrims were to blame. Had I carried out my original intention of buying some cheap crockery and cutlery and leaving it for others to use I might even unwittingly have added to the problem.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I walked the Frances in 1998 & when we reached Galicia the new Junta alberues had no kitchen utensils. As we had all walked from France we were puzzled by this? I don't think any Pilgrims were stealing the crockery, we felt it was a conscious decision by Galicia to make Pilgrims spend more in local establishments.
By the way, the Camino was not a tourist walk in those days. All the people I met treated the Alberues with great respect.
JR
 
Pilgrims get the blame for a lot of things, not always justly. I remember staying at the albergue in Ourense when a friend asked the hospitalero if there were any more clothes drying racks? Only one had been put out in an albergue that accommodated 40+ people. The hospitalero looked away for a second from the telenovela he was watching on TV and said no, the pilgrims had taken them all. My friend, a sassy German woman, replied: “Oh, that explains why I’ve seen all those pilgrims walking the Camino with clothes drying racks strapped to the outside of their packs!” Now if he had said that the pilgrims had broken them all I would have found that more believable.
There are some good people working at the junta albergues and some who are possibly just interested in doing the minimum necessary which may not include tidying up after the relatively few pilgrims who leave dirty dishes in the sink.
 
I carried my own small cooking pot, a small plate and spork. The advantage of kitchens with minimal accessories is that you can actually have some space to cook!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Last walked in Galicia in 2015. At the time most Junta alberges had great looking kitchens, but no equipment provided to use them, I.e. no pots, pans, utensils.

Is this still the case?
Not specifically Junta, but yes still the case. Should not be listed in guide books as having kitchens, if can’t be used. We would shop in an open market and get there and no way to use kitchen. If going to expense of putting in a kitchen, could there be a payment made to maintain it, can we “police” each other? Re: cleaning up and/or taking things.
 

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