LIVE from the Camino Santo Domingo de la Calzada Oct 15-31, 2011

[renegadepilgrim]

My sister and I are serving as hospitaleras in Santo Domingo de la Calzada from Oct 15-31, 2011 and will be posting any fun stuff that comes along.

Today we had a woman walk through town with two horses. She is English and has walked from Greece. Didn't get a chance to talk to her for long because we had pilgrims to check in.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

We are looking forward to the stories. I'll watch out for her in Santiago. Why two horses I wonder?

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Judging from the amount of gear involved and the size of the horses, it seems like 2 horses is just about right for her experience. The horses were kinda small, maybe 10-12 hands (I could be wrong, I'm used to bigger draft horses) and she had just picked up grain for them both that one of the horses was carrying, while the other had all of her camping gear on it. She seemed really nice and I hope you get to meet her in Santiago!

The old albergue is currently being used, the cofradia closed the new albergue three nights ago and we have been running at or above capacity (51 with overflow of about 6...or more) all three nights. I have to say, even though I've been in both albergues now, I kinda like the "homey" feel of the old albergue. Feels like I am in a cabin in the woods. The gas stove isn't working right now either, so pilgrims aren't able to cook. No idea when it will be fixed either...

 

[sam2santiago]

the lady with the horses is great I met up with her over 3 days, she is unsure if she will make it to Santiago, most of the time she is walking with the horses, she is actually an author who started with the horses in Greece. I will try to find her website for you guys

 

[renegadepilgrim]

That would be awesome. I gave her my info...but I am sure she is meeting a ton of people on her walk.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Well, we are now past the half-way mark of our service here in Sto Domingo.

Two days ago, we had the fortunate experience (insert sarcasm) of having a "crazy Frenchman" come through who didn't want to follow the house rule of no boots in the albergue. He was mad because he was getting his white cotton socks dirty from walking around. No comment. Anyways, he and had words at one point, which was completely pointless since I don't speak French and he doesn't speak Spanish or English, so there was a lot of yelling (on his part) and a lot of hand motions (on my part) until I finally had my amigo, Julio, of the cofradía confront him and he finally complied. He proceeded to leave the next morning yelling more in French at me, and saying "Viva La France!!" as he walked out the door...and because I was feeling particularly spiteful (not because I am a patriotic American), I responded with a "Viva America!!" right back at him...so if any of you see a short, old Frenchman talking to himself with a pack about as big as he is...run the other way, no good can come of it.

Last night we had the pleasure of hosting many English speakers from various countries. They livened the place up and had us laughing so hard, it made up for the negativity of the other day.

We were also able to help two French pilgrims who had been without luggage for THREE days! They had the airport deliver the bags here because they had planned to sleep here, but then when they arrived yesterday, the bags hadn't. So they sat here for two hours, used the phone and whatnot trying to figure out what they were going to do. They finally decided to stay at a hostal with sheets and towels. Well, later in the evening the bags arrived!!! I was so happy for them, I ran over to the hostal a few blocks away and let the woman at the front desk know. They came over shortly afterwards to retrieve their bags. It was good to see pilgrims reunited with their belongings and also now they can start their Camino!

 

[renegadepilgrim]

This will probably be my last update...we have two days left...

Had a group of 19 French pilgrims, 13 of them were 11-12 y.o. with 6 adults (including a priest) and the are walking stages of the Camino for their Catechesis class. Two of the boys found a human skeleton in a vineyard outside of Azofra...that caused a bit of a ruckus!

Got yelled at AGAIN by a spanish man for not understanding or speaking enough spanish...after almost two weeks, I don't care anymore but talking faster and louder is not going to make me understand any more than the first THREE times I said "No hablo español, no entiendo, no comprendo, lo siento." Usually, when we have the "deer in the headlights" look, people understand a) this isn't the tourism office and b) you don't understand Spanish. The funny thing is, I actually do understand quite a bit when I am yelled at and when people speak slow enough...

Once again, I am encouraged by the generosity of the pilgrims. We had a group that wanted to feed us, which was a nice gesture. I've seen pilgrims cook huge meals and share with one another the food. We have had plenty of pilgrims with achilles tendonitis who I have tried to help. I've shown them videos on how to use kinesio tape to ease their symptoms, as well as encourage them to RICE their injuries. I also have a sneaking suspicion people aren't drinking enough water.

Yesterday we did a quick 3km walk to a local ermita and then onto the Camino for a bit....today, we tried to go on a 4km walk to the ermita of the bees. We got lost...so tomorrow, we try again.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

We wrapped up our time as hospitaleras on Oct 31. Our final full day on the 30th, I finally snapped. I had a lovely woman who pushed every single one of my buttons (I sincerely hope she has pilgrims act the same way she did to me when she is a hospitalera again...karma), and I lost it. For some reason, this woman felt she was more of a pilgrim because she had walked the Camino a few times before and had also served as a hospitalera before, so this entitled her to request us to save 4 more beds for her friends who were an hour behind her....she made some disparaging remarks about the group of 11 Spanish pilgrims (aka weekend warriors) who had just walked into the albergue like she was somewhat better than them because she had walked sooooo much farther than them. She didn't leave on time in the morning either (which normally would not have been a problem, except we were also trying to leave to catch a bus!).

I refuse to let this woman tarnish my whole experience, because overall, it was fabulous. I felt like we did a good job with the resources and decision-making abilities we were given. The cofradia of Sto Domingo de la Calzada will always have a special place in my heart. They welcomed us with open arms and we left feeling like we were a valuable part of the Camino family. I had the good fortune to meet two forum members, which was awesome. I plan to volunteer again. Probably at a smaller albergue...but maybe again in Sto Domingo...one never knows.

I am planning a much more detailed blog post about our experience in the next few weeks.