Memories of internet cafes from 2004 and 2005

[Tony S]

There have been a lot of posts about how much the Camino has changed. Here is one of my memories. I walked the Camino Frances two successive months of May in 2004 and 2005. The first year there was this amazing new thing available: email. In 2004 there were scattered bars and albergues that had computers where you could send and look at your email. Mostly only in the larger towns. Sometimes four or five days would go by without such an "internet cafe". But when there was one it was a treat. Usually there was a line of people waiting, but it was a great opportunity to talk and visit with other peregrinos. Then you got to write home and read something from friends or family! Because of the line of people, you usually only spent 10 minutes, or at most 15 on the computer. You paid by the minute, dropping in Euro coins as needed. The second year, May 2005, the internet cafes where everywhere. Literally everywhere. They sprang up over night in that little window of time. I'm curious as to how long these internet cafes lasted on the Camino. Does anybody know when they started to disappear?

 

[lovelyshell]

That sounds lovely. I remember when I traveled Europe in 1999 after graduating college we had to visit Internet cafes. I think we went like 4 times over the course of 2 months!

 

[Bradypus]

My first Camino was in 1990 - the year before the world wide web escaped from the research labs at CERN and became accessible to the general public. Also too early for digital mobile phones which only began to operate commercially in 1991. I walked my second Camino Frances in 2002. No particular recollection of using internet cafes or computers in bars or albergues on that trip either. I do remember that a number of fellow pilgrims had brought laptops with them which I thought was odd given the general lack of connectivity and the bulk and weight and comparative fragility of laptops at the time. By the time of my third Camino Frances in 2016 mobile phones and tablets with good data connections were everywhere and I had no need to look for internet cafes and the like. I do remember seeing old desktop PCs abandoned and gathering dust in a few places along the way on that walk so the decline was probably well underway by then .

 

[LTfit]

Even in 2010 on the Francés and in 2011 along the Vía de la Plata I used computers in libraries and in albergues to send emails home. It wasn't until late summer 2011 that I got my first smartphone. I remember my son saying at the time, "why do you need a smartphone?!?" . Seems like a lifetime away.

 

[lalaone]

Internet cafes still existed along the Camino Frances in 2007. By that point, many albergues offered access with the same one-Euro coin devices. I do not recall seeing either when I returned in 2012.

I remember how each albergue was different. Roncesvalles had two desktop computers with long lines, so pilgrims chatted while waiting, very similar to your experience. One Euro bought 15 minutes. At Puente la Reina, there was an upstairs room with many desktop computers, where one Euro bought 30 minutes. With more desktop computers, people did not have to wait long. It felt like luxury. Some small albergues would also sometimes have a single computer for use, also for one Euro, usually with no lines and more time per Euro. Great memories… definitely a different time!

That sounds lovely. I remember when I traveled Europe in 1999 after graduating college we had to visit Internet cafes. I think we went like 4 times over the course of 2 months!

Lovely indeed. Those early Internet cafes could be so quirky, too! For my study-abroad in 1999, it was the top floor of a nightclub in Paris – blacklights, house music, and a couple PCs off to the side. It was one of the only Internet cafes in Paris, at a time when the French Academy was still debating the proper term for “e-mail.” It was advertised in a student magazine; e-mail users were the only non-partiers there but we were welcomed all the same. Surreal...but special, also very good memories.

 

[SabsP]

Internet cafes still existed along the Camino Frances in 2007. By that point, many albergues offered access with the same one-Euro coin devices. I do not recall seeing either when I returned in 2012.

I remember how each albergue was different. Roncesvalles had two desktop computers with long lines, so pilgrims chatted while waiting, very similar to your experience. One Euro bought 15 minutes. At Puente la Reina, there was an upstairs room with many desktop computers, where one Euro bought 30 minutes. With more desktop computers, people did not have to wait long. It felt like luxury. Some small albergues would also sometimes have a single computer for use, also for one Euro, usually with no lines and more time per Euro. Great memories… definitely a different time!



Lovely indeed. Those early Internet cafes could be so quirky, too! For my study-abroad in 1999, it was the top floor of a nightclub in Paris – blacklights, house music, and a couple PCs off to the side. It was one of the only Internet cafes in Paris, at a time when the French Academy was still debating the proper term for “e-mail.” It was advertised in a student magazine; e-mail users were the only non-partiers there but we were welcomed all the same. Surreal...but special, also very good memories.

I still saw those 1 € coin desktop computers in 2011.
Must have been the last year.
I remember one particular cafe in O Cebreiro where the coinslot did not work and we had some free use. Soon our honesty took over and we told the owner .

And yes , the waitinglines and the chatting! Bit like my days at university when we went to a telephonecell and waited in line to do our weekly call to home.