I worked as a hospitalero in the Villa Gado Albergue from June 15-30. I took lots of photos but unfortunately the blog entry that included photos was lost. Ah, well. Here's a picture of the albergue and the diary entry describing our adventure.
Hospitalero at Albergue de Grado: This is a municipal albergue that is sponsored by the city of Grado and staffed with volunteers. I will work with two others and it will be interesting to see how things will be.
Although our hospitalero duties run from the 16th through the 30th we were expected to overlap for one full day to ease the transition. Two Americans (John and Victoria) worked the first half of the June and I worked with Neil (Australian) and Kent (South African). The albergue will be staffed with three hospitaleros rather than the usual two for the busy season this year. Albergue de Grado has been open since 2016 and is housed in an old two story stone building that was renovated at that time so is quite nice. On the ground floor we have the reception and breakfast common area plus a kitchen with dining space as well. The hospitaleros share a bedroom and bath on the ground floor.
Upstairs is the pilgrim’s toilet/shower and dormitory with space for 16 pilgrims in bunk beds. Beds have fitted plastic sheets as do the pillows. Cotton pillowcases are changed weekly. Blankets are supplied and Pilgrims bring their own “liner sheets” or light sleeping bags. Men and women share the bathroom area but the toilets and women’s shower area have doors so are reasonably private.
A typical “work day” in the albergue: At night, ~9:30pm we set the breakfast table up with dishes and everything that does not need to be refrigerated. I got up at 5:30am, started coffee pot, heated milk for coffee, boiled eggs, sliced bread for toast and finished setting up the table with margarine, juice, yoghurt, etc. Pilgrims would start breakfast at 6am and were supposed to be gone by 8am. This time of year in Spain, sunrise is ~6:45am with sunset ~10pm. Afternoons are typically warm and humid so walking is much nicer in the AM. After the last pilgrims have left we lock the front door, take a coffee break and start cleaning. With three workers the cleaning is usually done by 9am and then we relax a bit and do our shopping for the next day’s supplies. The larger supermarket is open 9am-9pm so we don’t have to worry about siesta closures. In Grado, there’s a large village market on Sundays so Mondays most of the shops are closed and that complicates things a bit. We found a bakery that’s open every day and with bread that we like.
Midday is a nice time for a nap and then we open the front door to the pilgrims at 2pm. Many times there are 6 or so people waiting. We do not accept reservations and on most days we’ve been “completo” (i.e. fully booked) by 3-4pm. Regardless of being full or not we offer a place for the pilgrims to sit plus a glass of water. For those staying with us we check their pilgrim’s credential, put our “stamp” on a page and then record their passport or identification card data (entering that into an online data system later). The pilgrims are given a tour of the albergue and an explanation of operating hours, local shopping areas, etc. Pilgrims who arrive after we are full are also welcomed with water, etc. and we do our best to assist them in locating a place to stay. Typically, they do not want to walk further and there’s a private albergue in the village plus a small hotel. Kent likes to cook so made our hospitalero dinner most nights. The pilgrims might eat dinner in the village or cook for themselves in the albergue’s kitchen. Then at ~9:30pm we’d start our preparations for the next day. Pilgrims were expected to be in bed in the dormitory with lights out at 10pm and we’d lock the albergue and go to bed ourselves.
On June 30 our replacement hospitaleros arrived and we departed July 1st to complete our Camino Primitivo o Santiago.
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