Hi Laurie, yes this was just last week. I don't know if the hospitalera was new, but she was definitely a mix of helpful and stern! So maybe it was the same person? But there was no sign of the food concession.
I was walking with a group of Italian men who always wanted to cook their own meals. When we stopped at the bar just before Ponte Ulla, the woman there asked us what we were going to do about eating at Outeiro. And so that is when we realized that we were going to have to get creative about getting food and getting it cooked. If it had just been me, I would have bought picnic food to eat cold - but my companions would have none of that! They wanted hot food, and bread and wine and coffee. So - we made it to the supermarket in Ponte Ulla a little before it closed in the afternoon. But there was no point buying food if there were no pots or other kitchen supplies at the albergue. So the main cook (who speaks no spanish, but some french) and the people from the supermarket (with the help of a customer who spoke french) decided that - we would fill a shopping cart with what we wanted to buy. We would then walk up to Outeiro and check out the kitchen situation. If the cook thought it would be possible to make dinner with what was there, we would phone the supermarket and they would get the food delivered to the albergue, where we would pay for it and the delivery. So that's what happened. (There was no plan B - and I don't think, at that point - it was a very hot afternoon - anyone would have felt like walking another couple of kilometers to the bar down the road). There was almost nothing in the kitchen - so we also had to buy plastic plates and cutlery and cups. With two small pots and very little else, Claudio cooked a really great meal for 10 people. A nice camino miracle for the last night before Santiago.
ml
