Tea, harmonicas and guitar

My fingers are freezing, as the computer is in an open entrance to El Pilar! Dave and I had tortilla and salad and cafe con leche here yesterday, with Isabelle. I gave her a pin of  the Toronto city hall, and she gave me one of hers. She is great fun - wish I spoke more Spanish!

Yesterday´s tea  was held in the salon for 33  people ( actually only 28 showed up - the rest were eating or sleeping).  In addition to  tea and oatmeal fudgies, it included duets on  harmonicas from a Korean couple, and hours of guitar by Jonathan, and American singer and actor. My favourite was Hotel California, but the pilgrims like the fire in the fireplace best. It is about 8´outside and maybe 10  inside, except in the salon when the fire is on, and the kitchen when there is cooking. About 12 pilgrims cooked yesterday - too cold to even leave the albergue.

We had a pilgrim with bedbugs yesterday - we washed all her clothes, and her bedding after she left, in 60' and hours in the dryer - it is still at work. We sprayed her backpack and hard stuff and left it in a bag. And we sprayed the ísolation room when she left this morning. She was incredibly grateful, and left a huge donation. She said she cried in the shower at our kindness, and from relief that she was receiving help, and she teared up  when she left this morning.

It tell the pilgrims we have bottomless pots of tea and coffee, and they take us at our word. It is unusal to find coffee when you leave in the morning, and doubly unusual to find tea, so they are very grateful.

The highlight  of the day for me was receiving a card from my daughter Aislinn, all the way from Kelowna, BC. What a treat to get mail, and such a special card. Phoning  from  here is very hard, because of the time difference, and people´s busy lives, not to mention our schedules, so contact by mail and through this blog is  so sustaining  for me.  Thanks for reading and commenting. 


Aislinn asked for a picture of the priests, and so far I haven´t found one, but the first link is to this stretch of the Camino, and the second is  to the Monasterio. 


http://www.galiciaguide.com/Stage-24.html

http://en.monteirago.org/camino/rabanal--a-spiritual-centre-on-the-camino-de-santiago

There were 25 wet pilgrims waiting when we opened before 2 yesterday, so today´s notice says we will open at 1 pm. Who knows what or who today will bring.

Dalene la hospitalera

Mochila Nueva!

Yesterday morning we kicked Carl out for a few hours to go to Astorga. We cannot leave anyone in the Albergue when we aren´t there. We went to the bank, the grocery store, and 3 ourdoor stores, and I bought a new backpack!! Dave helped me choose, as he said my old one is sh... It is a Trangoworld 40 litres, and it seems perfect. Everything wrong with the old Gregory is better on this one. I am now excited to leave, rather than apprehensive. It has a camera bag, a rain cover built in, a place to attach jackets, poles and shoes, narrower shoulders and an adjustable chest strap.

We came back and opened at 2, let in everyone who was waiting and locked the door. That made 26, so we opened the barn. So many people make Gaucelmo their destination for the day, and a lot of older people want to stay with us as our comfort level is high. But if they are slower walkers, we have to disappoint them. What a dilemma.

Last night we had
6 Irish, including Carl. They drank a lot of tea at teatime and breakfast.
6 Australians
5 English, including a couple who are interested in being hospitalero/as, and let me tell some stories
2 Germans - young women, one of whom translated the instructions on Carl´s prescription into German, then the other translated it into English
2 Belgians - a brother and sister. It was Luc´s 7th camino, and he usually walks with someone who is afraid to walk alone. This time it was his 79 year old sister, who has only 40% vision
2 Italians
1 South Korean
1 American
1 Canadian- an Italian-Canadian film maker

The film maker, Gian Ceccato, is making a documentary about the Camino. He is interviewing people. and letting them tell their own story in their own language. His pack is 18 kilograms - about 40 pounds! There is a young Korean film student who is following him and making a film about Gian´s journey. The Korean was staying at El Pilar, and though we called for permission, we didn´t hear back, so couldn´t let him film in the Refugio.

When everyone was signed in and had done their laundry, Dave and I went out and picked up garbage in the lane and swept the Plaza del Peregrino Julian Campo, which is bounded by Refugio Gaucelmo, Monasterio de San Salvador del Monte Irago, the guest house for the monastery, and the church, which may have another name. The compost of Father Pierce benefited from the sweeping of leaves and horse chestnuts. I took Father Pierce empty jam jars and some oatmeal fudgies to thank him for the elderberry  jam. It was very cold and rainy yesterday - about 8¨ when the pilgrims set out, and today, though a bit warmer, is still rainy.

We are having tortilla today with Isabelle at El Pilar. Then back to open the doors for 1:30.

Have a buenos dias.

Darlene

I can do it!

It is noon, and I am enjoying a cafe con leche in Pilar´s Alberge. It has 100 beds, and internet,and makes real ccl, as opposed to our strong coffee and hot milk, which we serve for breakfast. Many groups stay at Pilar´s, and one just left after singing several songs on departure. Isabelle, the owner is trying to sell the albergue, but there are no takers. This is a village with 13 residents in winter, when most of the albergues close,  so the only business is pilgrims. This short video shows one of the churches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUZRXy3tKF8

So now Dave and I are in charge. Claire and Keith left this morning, after helping with breakfast and cleaning, so tomorrow will be the test. There are so many cleaning products here, but I know it will be better once I get into the flow, and find my own way to get it all done. There is a great expanse of floor, and string mops to wash them with. They will shortly be reverting to cotton sheets from disposables, so that will add a lot to the job.

Yesterday we had 33 pilgrims. I hope we have less than 24 today - that way we won´t open the barn - 16 fewer beds, and we will have less bathrooms to clean. The pilgrims all have their own story.  Last night we had a couple from Toronto! About 5 young pilgrims left at 5 am this morning in order to be at the Cruz de Ferro for sunrise. More power to them! So we had about 25 at breakfast.

After the cleaning we walk the garbage up to the top of the town to big bins - just like at the Bain!. They only recycle bottles here. We took the crusts of  our breakfast bread to a man on the way and he will feed them to his hens. We try to be good neighbours, so I cleaned the square this morning - mostly emptied the garbage bins and the cigarette butts.

I´m going to try and blog about this time every day, so enjoy this with your morning coffee or hot water and lemon.

Hasta luego
Darlene