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Quite interesting how nudity is dealt with in Spain. I believe it is not actually legal to be nude in a public place, but it is not illegal to be nude in a public place. Subtle difference I know, but that is how it is expressed, you don’t have a “right” to but there is no law against it. However, the law is only applicable to “public places”.falcon269 said:Public nudity is a right in Spain... If the gents want to parade naked, it is legally protected....
elzi said:I made a comment once to someone that I couldn't face any more nights squeezing past Spanish men in tiny G-strings only to be told that "Some people pay for that kind of experience!"
Made me laugh anyway....
Plus I'm not sure it's just the men, I've seen plenty of women of all ages and nationalities strip off and walk back and forth to communally shower on Camino...
You don't really have to watch?!
Anniesantiago said:I haven't seen anything I wouldn't see on a public beach.
Doodles said:There is a difference between acting with class and a sense of respect for others, and acting like you are back in the locker room.
Doodles said:As guess to me it seems like an albergue is essentially a public place where we need to take a conservative approach in order to accommodate the wide range of cultures that use them. Ask yourself how would you behave in your own home with house guests or if you we're a guest in someone else's home. There is a difference between acting with class and a sense of respect for others, and acting like you are back in the locker room.
It's certainly not like they have hard bodies to show off.
Laliibeans said:Doodles said:It's certainly not like they have hard bodies to show off.
Would it have been different if they did?
Tincatinker said:So Doodles, if it's Brad Pitt or an Olympic athlete flaunting their genitalia you are unperturbed. If its some old geezer in his skivvies waiting for his clothes to dry you're out-raged.
I do not seek to criticise you, or the moderators will superglue my keyboard, I am just intrigued by this modern idea that only the young, fit and pretty should be seen in public. Will you extend this concept to the whole of the Camino or can those of us who left "hard" or "pretty" behind a while ago still walk as long as we keep out of sight?
Doodles said:In other words, act like you are in your own home and have house guests from another culture.
Laliibeans said:Doodles said:In other words, act like you are in your own home and have house guests from another culture.
The operative word there is 'guest'. You are the guest. You chose to travel to another country with a culture and ideals different from your own. You show the deference and respect, not them. Why should an entire country alter its ways for one person?
NicoZ said:OTOH I find it strange somebody would watch for ten minutes and then complain about it :shock:
Susannafromsweden said:actually the sad fact is that its not the attractive men who do the parading.
I've never seen one anyway.
Well. If any of you gentlemen out there should wish to win my heart. Then buy me flowers and champagne or something. Write me a poem.
But don't parade in your sweaty dirty underwear.
Its not very romantic. It's just embarrassing.
Thanks.
Hope-ologist said:If someone flashes their family jewels, would it be inappropriate to flash your pen knife back, or perhaps laugh and point.?
Get there first!How does one go about securing the bottom bunk?
It works so well that occasionally all the lower bunks are occupied by twenty-somethings, and the codgers are all in the upper bunks! Hospitaleros have been known to direct younger pilgrims to the top bunks, but most places are more random than that.Ah, so the "dibs" system works on the Camino.
Their time will come. Not to be too judgmental (I was there once, a long time ago), but most twenty-somethings don't see past their 30th birthday, and certainly don't foresee the trials and tribulations that we -- ahem -- more mature folks have to endure. I will sincerely appreciate any younger person who yields a lower bunk to me, as they will appreciate the lessened disturbance when I get up during the night to answer nature's call.falcon269 said:]It works so well that occasionally all the lower bunks are occupied by twenty-somethings
OH I'm so bad! I did peek at this beautiful girl in her underwear, don't worry Tracy, I will go to confession?Well, OF COURSE, I had to post on this one!
Falcon is right: you wanna do the running of the bulls as nature brought you into this world you can do it, though don´t blame me if....
Locker room behaviour is expected and always has been expected on the Camino/in refugios.
Don´t like what you are looking at? Look away.
Like what you are looking at.....?!!!!!! For shame: this is a Catholic pilgrimage, don´t you know! ("Get a room"). :evil:
Happened to me too a lot of times. It always shocked me to open my eyes in the morning to the man on the top bunk nonchalantly fixing (?) or whatever he was doing standing right in front of my face in his underwear. You just have to turn your back & look the other way. After a while you just get used to it and many times they seem to do it without malice so it's probably a cultural thing.I think when you see it so frequently it means there is a cultural norm here that is not necessarily our norm. At first it startled me but no more than bunking beside a man other than my husband. After the 3rd or 4th night I didn't notice any of it....probably too tired.
Ask a Scotsman?What a thread - serious LOL's!!! I wonder what pilgrims 500 years ago would have thought of all this? What did those monks wear under those big brown robes anyway??!!!
.......a fellow pilgrim was there showering completely nude........
I met woman showering in bikinis in woman shower rooms. Strange. But I'm half Finnish and used to nudity among strangers in the sauna.I guess that a majority of us tend to shower in the nude, no?
I'm on the the Camino and can't believe how many men, mostly older European, think its o.k. to parade around in the albergues in their underwear. I might chalked it up to a cultural thing but I've yet to see a female be so indiscreet. What's with this? It's certainly not like they have hard bodies to show off.
Did you have a cigarette afterwards?It was O Cebreiro. I was on a bottom bunk in the afternoon. As I got out and turned around to leave I found I was facing a woman who was doing one of those changing under a towel fidgets and just as I turned she failed miserably and the towel dropped at the worst possible moment for her! 180 degrees called for! Later on she happened to sit opposite me in the kitchen. We exchanged a few pleasantries with no embarrassment or mention of what had happened. She had walked from Barcelona (she was born and lives there). I think what I am trying to say in my clumsy way is that we were both adults, both realised that things just happen, and that you forget about it and just get on with life.
a couple got very 'busy' in the bunk bed above him
I would be grateful they were, at least, wearing their underwearPilgrims come from different walks of life. This issue was clearly depicted in the Way when one asian chap was hanging his clothes. I have experienced both men and ladies who did run loose in their underwear so I suppose this is normal to them back home. So I eventually got used to it on the camino.
Admittedly when I was walking I was shocked by this but came to accept as a way of freedom in some sense. It was the liberation of being out of your walking gear for a few hours. Myself I did it, but I wore either a shirt or a vest with it so it wasn't just the underwear but I can see where you're coming from.
One such example that took me completely by surprise was when I was in the O'Cebreiro in the Xunta Alberque and the male showers were all completely open and a fellow pilgrim was there showering completely nude, it came as a shock even to me, but you just accept as it a pilgrim way, or I did. Although, safe to say that was one of the days where I skipped a full shower and opted for using the water from the sink and my baby wipes to clean myself.
I'm on the the Camino and can't believe how many men, mostly older European, think its o.k. to parade around in the albergues in their underwear. I might chalked it up to a cultural thing but I've yet to see a female be so indiscreet. What's with this? It's certainly not like they have hard bodies to show off.
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