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San Anton Hospital de Peregrinos - a magic Albergue to serve as a Hospitalero.

RENSHAW

Official Camino Vino taster
Time of past OR future Camino
2003 CF Ronces to Santiago
Hospi San Anton 2016.
CAMINO HOSPITALERO JUNE 2016 132.JPG I am going to break my experiences up into chapters.

Smack in the middle of the 2016 summer solstice I was most privileged to be assigned a hospitalero post at what must be one of THE MAGIC Albergues in the world! A no frills 12 bed albergue within the ruins of ancient monastery/ convent. Very little water at that time , no electricity , certainly no WiFi and pretty isolated - Castrojeriz was a good few miles away. When one sees the wooden sign on the Camino that contains the word 'Hospital' one must realize this is no tourist heaven. As a pilgrim you will be privileged to safe shelter , ablution facilities and you will be fed until you can not eat anymore , we made sure of that! - no there is no washing machine , nor was there 1000 years ago. I had been paired with Ollie , a seasoned Hospitalero with many skills and much knowledge. Our digs were beds in a container , commonly known as the roasting oven.
I cannot tell you how long my jaw was dropping but it must have been for a few hours a least! Just taking in this sanctuary and surroundings - but there is so much more to tell;)🙏

San Anton is truly a magical place, Tintin stayed there so what more could you ask?
Unforgettable.

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Ollie and I quickly settled in and found our way. We both had our idiosyncrasies ;) My sleep apnea and snoring soon exiled Ollie to a bed in the common area. Only once or twice did we almost have a full house - get this! We never had a pilgrim complain , ever. We gave each person a rundown on how frugel the facilities were and all was accepted. The huge steel gates were closed at sunset and opened only at 7am - that was the only access to the ruins and it did not pose a fire risk. We could not afford the visits of 100 'Hontanas' pilgrims wanting to use our single toilet , shower and basin or partake in our breaky. Come after 7 and I will even make you a cup of coffee:). Ollie liked to do the cooking , we had an adequate gas stove. - it put me out a little at first. He had German preciseness which was not a bad thing. His Pasta portions were calculated to be a half size larger or more. 'The Pilgrims may have to walk over 30km the next day' he would say. 'A normal portion is not good'. He showed me how to make our own salad dressing from scratch and I was awarded the task of making the salad - but every item had to be sliced in a different way 😂 Bless him.
Ovidio had a large hotel and a popular bar to cope with in Castrojeriz so rather than pop in each day he gave us free reign over purchases and the well being of the Albergue. Cool water was always displayed for any visitors. Every second day or so a tourist bus would arrive , Ollie and I were, I suppose , the custodians of the ruins. Invariably they would buy some items out of our goodies cabinet. The wooden Tau cross was a favorite, but then we had other items as well. We would use this kitty for basic supplies but most of all for fresh bread. At any time of day this little van would park outside our gates and blast it's fire alarm hooter - only in Spain? Ollie or I would then bolt out there with a few €s and be rewarded with warm freshly baked bread. Bread would only last a day or so and then we would gift it to the farm next door for animal feed.
After our general cleaning of the facilities, Ollie and I would empty the bins in and around the ruins. I must say , tourists and pilgrims were good with this. Sweeping or washing the floors , sanatising the shower and toilet while on our hands and knees was just like any other job and to be honest , I was never traumatised by this - many hospitaleros have done it for me.;) My military training and service probably put paid to any airs or graces that I may have harboured. Once the work had been done , that was it , ablutions closed. We had many other pilgrims and tourists that asked to use the loo but that was for our precious 12 souls that were perhaps going to arrive? We told these guys to bless the fields surrounding the ruins. Needless to say , Many were offended but we were not in the ablutions business - perhaps we should have charged €5 each and bought more supplies. 😂 Much more to come.❤️
NOBODY in need was ever turned away from San Anton. We always had food from the night before in our small gas fridge and once or twice we did have some wanderers pop in.
Next , the Donative Pig and other twists , trials and tribulations.

@RENSHAW...could you maybe include a link to your first chapter for those of us who may have missed it & would like to read of your experience in order?
Many thanks. 🙏
👣 🌏

@RENSHAW...could you maybe include a link to your first chapter for those of us who may have missed it & would like to read of your experience in order?
Many thanks. 🙏
👣 🌏
Hi there , it should still be in the search system. I am a little challenged when it comes to computer skills , perhaps a Moderator , mspath or annie santiago can help?

It would be lovely to have all these in one place. So all you need to do, @RENSHAW, is to put your next entry after our appreciative replies! And write a note to the mods, asking to merge your two threads. (You can use the 'report' function.)

It's so good to read of life on the other side at San Anton, because this isn't your run-of-the-mill albergue. Now the bread mystery is solved. And I am guessing more to come! 😊
Gracias!

@RENSHAW...could you maybe include a link to your first chapter for those of us who may have missed it & would like to read of your experience in order?
Many thanks. 🙏
👣 🌏
Here you are


Hi there , it should still be in the search system. I am a little challenged when it comes to computer skills , perhaps a Moderator , mspath or annie santiago can help?
Here you are

Luv you Margaret , thank you.

I worked with Ollie for several weeks as well. We had a genuinely great time working together. He was a great mentor and fantastic chef with the limited resources we had to work with.

I worked with Ollie for several weeks as well. We had a genuinely great time working together. He was a great mentor and fantastic chef with the limited resources we had to work with.
Much younger than you and I bud , but in many ways he has a preciseness and all that experience , he was also a budget man that saved many a Euro.

I also worked with Ollie for a couple of weeks one year.
Interesting fellow. :)
 

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A selection of Camino Jewellery
The Donative Pig and everyday life.CAMINO HOSPITALERO JUNE 2016 082.JPG
The only income was from donations left in our pig and the sales from our goodies cabinet. Occasionally , if we had not seen Ovidio in a few days , we would delve into our pig to fund supplies. Sometimes I wished we had not done this as it was obvious which pilgrims had made contributions. We expected very little from the 'Kids' as we knew that most were on a tight budget - perhaps they will serve one day? There were some monied people that passed though San Anton , some left a few coins. Many played fair but it was never enough to fund the Albergue's requirements. Enough for now on this subject.
We were a few miles from Castrojeriz , the problem was not the distance but the time it took to get to town , buy supplies and get back. If we got there in the morning we could have a soaking bath and use the internet at Ovidio's hotel , this was not an everyday occurance mind you , we were too busy doing other things.
Enter the Hospitalero's mountain bike - jeepers, did that make a difference to our lives. The pictures that I have uploaded are from one of my bike trips into town. It had been the first time in almost 30 years that I had been on a bike. Going there was okay on a slight decline but coming back was never ending. I mastered it eventually but Ollie became super fit - we will go into that later. One can see the existing 'sister convent' to San Anton. The Nuns there have a bakery that boasts the finest individual cakes - each would require at least one visit to the confessional box.
Invariably Ollie and I would have a late brunch - we would share a solitary beer and cook something or eat leftovers. I became very fond of morcilla. It would be the calm before the storm , our quiet time.
No Pilgrim was allowed by car or have their pack sent to San Anton and no cyclists were accepted before 6pm , it was just the rules of the Albergue. The first thing offered when signing in was a glass of ice cold water. I seem to remember dinner was at 7 and there was plenty. The Pilgrims would then do the washing and drying up. All would muck in and we would set the table for breakfast. The water from the washing up was given to the rose garden. After that Pilgrims would have a cup of coffee or another half glass of vino. Most liked to sit on the tables and benches outdoors and due to the Solstice it only got dark at 10pm. Somewhere around then we would light 3 tealight candles and call it a day - they were so comforting. By the way , the flowers were banished to the outdoors , someone had very bad hayfever?

Then one night the sky turned red and clouds moved in - the times they were a changing?
 

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Going there was okay on a slight decline but coming back was never ending.
Funny. On foot I've never noticed the elevation change!
The first time I went through there was a very windy March day - with a super strong wind directly in my face. It felt like a long uphill instead of a slight downhill.
 
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The cold spell , World Cup football and some characters.CAMINO HOSPITALERO JUNE 2016 221.JPG

Yes , during the summer solstice it turned freezing! The World Cup started and Pilgrims were reduced to a mere trickle. We started up our little wood stove which made things very cozy until the wood ran out. Below are some pics of not so warm Pilgrims. The chap with the dog made a bed for the dog to sleep outside. It was then that I learnt that the reason why San Anton always has a pig at his side is that he is the Patron Saint of the Animal Kingdom. Even the baby Owls were cold - yup , baby owls just above our Albergue. The mother brought live food at 4am for the already active birds to hunt on our roof - quite disturbing for some Pilgrims. This Lady painted this lovely scene - note the owls , a 'pigeon pair'. The young lady shown was just so at ease with her Camino and space which impressed me and look at the chap with the monocycle!
 

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Last edited:
Nice pics, brings back memories of this special place. I stayed there in
mid Sept 2016..
 

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