Zamora Sightseeing June 12 - 14 and Albergue Update

Dancers in the street!

 

The number of Pilgrims arriving has dropped off a lot, perhaps it is the weather or perhaps it is just the normal summer slowdown. We have now had under 15 three days running and very few Spanish pilgrims. There have also been more of the pilgrims just starting at Zamora, I guess because the heat in Seville, several hundred km to the south is normally just too hot. Not this week though, it has been quite cool, cloudy and sometimes rainy, although most often it is just rain showers.

We found some stats in the book from 2013:

Jan 13 Feb 42 Mar 180 Apr 425 May 694 Jun 443 Jul 339 Aug 352 Sep 346

Oct 152 (but closed 4th to the 13th for fumigation)

Nov 54 (but one day a group of 14)

Not sure what happened to Dec.

We are right in line with these stats as we have had 214 so far, 2 days short of half a month.

The 2012 stats also include nationalities and percentages. There were 50 countries represented by pilgrims in all, with the Spanish (of course) leading in numbers with making up 45% of the pilgrims. Then (in decreasing numbers) French, German, Italian, Dutch and English (GB). Canada came next with 52 pilgrims that year. Keep in mind that these are stats for pilgrims coming through Zamora on the VDLP route,a much less popular route and often only tackled by veteran pilgrims.

For us, thus far, this Spanish have only represented 40% of the pilgrims, but perhaps peak season has more foreigners. There was one day when we did not have any Spanish pilgrims. As an observation, there are a great many pilgrims who are French speaking as the Belgium, Dutch and Germans often speak French as (of course) did our 5 French Canadians. I am very glad to have Jocelyne here with her perfect French!

They recycle cooking oil here

Anyway, the bottom line is that we have had fewer pilgrims in this 2nd week to clean up after and we have also finished our "deep cleaning" two days ago, which has liberated some time for us to wander the city a bit. I did a walk out of town following the camino route one of the days and enjoyed that a lot. I am starting to look forward to my next phase of holiday and the walking I will start after I finish here.

The way out of town is not as well marked as it might be and also there is a variation which starts in Zamora which results in a potentially confusing arrow if the pilgrims do not look carefully at the sign, since there are two arrows on the sign and the pilgrims may not know that there are 2 routes leaving Zamora. We know that at least one pilgrim took this wrong turn and it sent her kilometres in the wrong direction.

Iglesia San Lorenza

This variation of the VDLP is called the "Portuguese VDLP Route" which is also confusing since there is another route in Portugal called the Portuguese route. This other route from Zamora dips into Portugal for several days before joining the VDLP just short of the city of Ourense in Spain and hence the name. Zamora is only 30 k. From Portugal.

The Portuguese exit from Zamora through a path in a field

 

Plaza de Toros

 

Part of the old city wall

 

Statue in front of the old granary of Santa Ana, now a municipal building

 

Iglesia de San Estaban

 

Plaza Mayor on a busy Sat afternoon

There was lots going on in the city yesterday. I sat and watched the locals for a while. Many had gathered at the town hall to listen to some "Rah Rah" speeches. I am not sure what they were saying, but people were cheering and the person speaking was popular with the crowd.

Only 2 days until I hang up my Hospitalera apron and don my Perigrino back pack! Woo Hoo!

 

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Only 5 days left as Hospitalera!

This is the view of Zamora that is on all the posters

We have been kept busy by our pilgrims and it seems hard to believe that it is our second Thursday and next Tuesday I start part 3 of my adventure. Time passes quickly when you are busy. I must admit though, for me 2 weeks of cleaning all the rooms in the Albergue without a day off is enough. Good thing we only have 4 more mornings of cleaning duty.

Puente de Piedra

I haven't had time to blog in the last few days both because we have spent extra time each day on cleaning rooms with the Vapouretta and because we have had to spend extra time helping some of the pilgrims. A couple of days ago we had 2 pilgrims arrive who were suffering from stomach sickness and they had to stay here an extra day. We gave them a small room to themselves and thank goodness because the one lady was sick to her stomach and was really quite ill. So we needed to locate the medical clinic and that was a bit tricky since it had to be a public not private one (free for Europeans) and there was some confusion about which one that might be and whether it was open. When she went to the clinic she was given medicine and told to stay in bed. Fortunately they were both well enough to continue their walk after a day of bed rest. There was also a second pilgrim with medical difficulties. I had thought his rash might be from bed bugs but he too visited the medical clinic he was advised not, that it was some sort of allergy. They gave him a shot and some cream and the rash was gone the next day. Just to be safe we put him into the one small room we had planned to deep clean the next day. Fortunately, we did not have a full house and so could keep them isolated in these two rooms without other pilgrims.

Another iconic view of Zamora taken from the other side of Rio Duero

We also had a German pilgrim, a younger boy, maybe early 20s who seems to have been walking the Camino for a few months - he had stamps from the Frances route (St Jean PP to Santiago) on his credential and immediately went to Seville and started walking VDLP and had those stamps next. He was a sad case as he seemed to be suffering from depression from his manner and he mentioned he was taking medication. Maybe he was homeless, but he spoke German on his phone to someone in the evening so maybe he was not. We had complaints in the morning for the other pilgrims in his room- he kept getting up and going to the balcony in the room (I guess he had insomnia) and smoking(!!!!). He kept people awake from 3:30 in the morning! They said also he didn't shower and so smelled up the room. Everyone in that room was grumbling over breakfast. He was gone in the morning, so wasn't anything which could be done at that point.

Puerta del Obispo

We have also had two honeymooning couples - one Spanish and one Korean. Both Jocelyne and myself think it is odd that a young couple would choose a Pilgrim's honeymoon. We both agreed that it would be best to walk the camino before getting married as walking together as a couple for 30 or 40 days would be a good test for compatibility.

We have also had a few Canadians. It seems that at the moment the Quebec is winning as to the province representing Canada. Two came yesterday and two came today, which makes 5 in the time since we arrived.

Also today we had a pair of men from Francia who are on a special adventure. The one man was an educator and was accompanying another younger man as part of a journey planned by a French charitable organization. They are on a 3 month pilgrimage, apparently there are a few of these "2 men teams" walking the various camino routes as means to help young men from poor families have a life changing experience and build positive values. They are walking to Santiago via the VDLP route and were winding their way back home via the Frances route to Leon and then going north and from there the Norte (coastal) route to France. Apparently they would be meeting up with other 2 men teams at various points and Zamora was one of the meeting points. Perhaps tomorrow we will see another team arrive.

View from the Rio Duero

In this last week we were able to slip out one day before the Albergue opened and see the Cathedral and the Castle ruins. I also have taken the scenic walk along the Duero River to capture the famous view of Zamora. I don't really feel I have seen too many of the tourist sights but even so feel a bit like a resident as we go to the grocery store, bank and garbage chutes every day.

The Cathedral

Cathedral view from the park by the Castle

 

The Castile (Castle)

Parque died Castilla

Modern sculpture with Castle as backdrop

The storks are everywhere

View from the Castle Wall

 

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The First Week at the Albergue in Zamora - June 1 - 7

In my last blog I told you about our daily routine as Hospitaleras and today I thought I would Give you an update and also tell you about the Perigrinos (Pilgrims) which have arrived at the Albergue while we have been here and provide some observations about life at the Albergue.

Pilgrims are greeted with Frutus y agua

We have been in charge of the Albergue for 6 days now and have had 111 pilgrims stay the night, which is an average of 18 a night. There is a vast amount of difference in the amount of work to be done in a day depending on whether there are 9 pilgrims (the fewest we have had) or 30. It would be very difficult if there were 30 every night, but with 15-20 there is time to take a break for a short while before they arrive at 2:00 and in the evening before getting breakfast ready.

I did a bit of an analysis of the 111 Perigrinos we have had in the 6 days we have been in charge and fully 43% are Spanish. Often we find that the Spanish do not speak another language (and certainly not English), so both Jocelyne and I are giving our Spanish a work out. My Spanish is pretty bad, but Jocelyne's is much better, so she helps with the registration of the Spanish pilgrims if I am having difficulty. It is a good thing that I have Jocelyne here as nearly 20% of the Pilgrims are from France and they don't always speak a 2nd language and if so not often English. Given that there are many others who speak French (e.g. some from Belgium), as well as their mother tongue, her help with French has been essential. There is usually one or two Italians in the arrivals each day and they usually don't have a second language either but if they do it is usually Spanish.

We have some nice picture explanations which we use when explaining house rules if language is a problem. I really wish my Spanish were better, I see from the look on the Spaniard's faces that my pronunciation of some words and usage is pretty laughable. They are patient with me however for the most part.

 

Our Grupo Portuguese Bicyclists

 

Mr Italiano introduced himself as Il Presidente

Interestingly, there are fewer women walking this route than appeared the case when I was walking on the Frances Route across the top of Spain. There it seemed that women almost outnumbered men. Here, only 23% of the Pilgrims have been women in this first week walking on the Via de la Plata route running north from Seville or one of the other routes coming into Zamora. It seems though, that a greater percentage of women walk alone than men. We usually get 2 or 3 couples a day. Groups of male friends are common. Yesterday we had a group of 10 older men from Portugal doing the camino on bicycles. They said they do a bicycle camino route together each year. 27% of our pilgrims have been travelling by "bici". It seems the number of pilgrims arriving via bici is increasing as this hot weather continues. Perhaps the 30+ degrees celcius temperatures are discouraging some Spaniard's from walking but not discouraging others who have planned to cycle.

Using the Vapourette

Yesterday and today we did a "deep" clean of one of the 5 bedrooms, which added about an hour to our work day and also created a few loads of laundry, which has to be dried on the line before the Pilgrims arrive. The "deep" clean involves steaming the room - mattresses (all sides), pillows, bed frames and baseboards with the Vaporette as well as washing the sheets and pillowcases. The Vaporette pours forth steam at force and is supposed to kill chinces (bedbugs) - we hope not necessary. Jocelyne is skeptical that the Vapourette is a useful tool and I am not sure either. At least if there are some bed bugs we will for sure see them scurrying away as we do this "deep" clean. None have been evident to date. We heard that there have been chinces found in an Albergue further along (at Lubian) and we are hoping that we won't have to deal with an infestation. We have to "deep" clean each of the rooms once in the 2 weeks we are here. It is pretty tedious so we take turns when doing the rooms.

Coming back with groceries in our carry cart

During this first week we have established a nice division of labour as we have become more familiar with the work and each other's preferences. We now alternate getting up at 6 to ready and serving the breakfast, as unless there is a full house it is really a one person job. The other person gets to come down at 7 and we eat our breakfast together then while the last of the pilgrims pack up and head out. Because of the heat most pilgrims on foot leave early, but the "bicis" are not in as much of a rush.

We both work on the breakfast prep the night before, but the one getting up early is free to go to bed at 10 while the other finishes whatever needs doing and locks up and hustles the last of the pilgrims off the terrace and into their bedrooms shortly after 10. As to the cleaning, which we start immediately after breakfast, I have a preference for cleaning the kitchen, dealing with garbage sorting and transport and doing laundry while Jocelyne, who is much taller and can reach more easily to the top bunk beds, Is ok to work on cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. Whoever is finished earlier helps the other, so we we end up finishing at the same time.

The Library around the corner from the Albergue

I deliver the garbage to these chutes.

I find the differences in small details of living quite interesting. Here, they do not have door to door pickup of garbage. Instead, we walk to a central spot at the parking lot of the library around the corner where we pitch our bags into various bins for glass, paper, plastics and "organico y resto". If you look into these bins they are bottomless as the bin is really just a chute and the garbage falls below. I haven't seen any garbage trucks and assume that there is an underground street or parking lot where the big bins are located and garbage is picked up.

We were able to grab a couple of hours for sightseeing on one of the days we had only a few pilgrims and also did not need to do groceries. I will post those pictures in my next blog.

 

Adios!

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Zamora Hospitalara Training and our First Days - May 31st and June 1st

The Zamora Municipal Albergue is located in the former headquarters of the Youth Council beside the Iglesia(Church) San Cipriano and built into the wall enclosing the old part of the City. It was been fully renovated in 2009 and I understand with an investment of 307,000 euros. I have heard from more than one pilgrim that this Albergue is one of the best they have been at and I agree.

An Albergue is a special sort of hostel, which only accepts pilgrims. They open, typically at around 2 pm and all guests must leave by 8:00 in the morning. Pilgrims are expected to be travelling each day and so are only allowed to stay one night in each Albergue. The Albergues are very affordable, maybe 5 to 8 EUR per day and some are "donativos" where yo pay what you can. Thismakes it possible for those with limited means to do the 5 or more week journey to Santiago. The Albergue at Zamora is a donativo, and because of that it has access to the volunteer Hospitalaros coordinated through the FEDERACION ESPAÑOLA DE ASOCIACIONES DE AMIGOS DEL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO, which assigned Joceyne and I here.

We are very lucky to be at this Albergue. Aside from being located in a very beautiful and historic city, it is, in my opinion, the best Albergue on the Camino, The Albergue entrance is quite misleading and makes it look very small as the front door is on the top floor with the 2 floors below hidden within the hill. Since it is built into the on a hill all the rooms have windows or a balcony and a great view. There are 3 bedrooms on the top floor and one of these (with a private bath) is assigned to the Hospitaleros. There are also 3 dorm rooms on the 2nd floor plus a men's and ladies bathroom. Many Albergues have only a shared bathroom for both men and woman, locker room style.

The Hospitaleros dorm room, with 2 Bunk beds, has a Juliette balcony with a wonderful view looking out to the Rio Duero. I feel very lucky having seen some of the accommodations given to Hospitaleros at other Albergues. A private bath and a balcony is a luxury I was not expecting.

Let me give you a bit of a tour of our Albergue,

Office for Registering Perigrinos

 

The stairs down are lit with a skylight.

 

 

Both Jocelyn and I arrived on the 30th of May, so we had a day and a half of "turnover time" with the Hospitaleras, Gisela (German) and Lola (Spanish) who were there before us. Fortunately Gisela spoke English, and so we were able to easily understand what was expected of us. We were so glad for the help and encouragement these two ladies gave us and we now have two new people in Europe to visit, Lola who lives very near the Camino Norte and Gisela, who lives in Germany, both very nice and interesting people we will keep up with via email.

Lola and Gisela - Outgoing Hospitaleras

 

View of Storks from our room.

 

Jocelyn and myself - Incoming. Hospitaleras

The routine is pretty straight forward but the amount of work really varies day to day, depending upon the number of guests we have at the Albergue that night. So far we have had 13 on June 1st, 30 (a full house) on June 2nd and today we have 20.

The job itself involves 1) registering pilgrims upon arrival and explaining house rules; 2) preparing and serving breakfast for up to 30 Pilgrims, 3) cleaning the Albergue from top to bottom 4) Shopping for breakfast items and other stuff needed to run the Albergue, 5) managing the money and banking the surplus, (which is used to pay the bills).

Setting table for Breakfast

Before bed we must set the breakfast table and prepare as much of the breakfast ahead of time as we can. We serve the pilgrims coffee con leche (coffee and hot milk) and juice. There is bread, margarine and jam and cookies on the table for the pilgrims to help themselves. This is a standard Spanish breakfast.

We get our breakfast once the pilgrims have eaten and then at 7:30 start to clean the house. Sheets are not washed every day, but we "sweep" them free of any dirt or crumbs and wash those which are stained and of course look for any signs of bedbugs. All bathrooms (4) are cleaned and floors swept and washed. The kitchen is cleaned and disinfected daily and floors washed. Once every 2 weeks the rooms (mattresses, pillows, furniture and floors) are "deep cleaned" with the vaporette, which is sort of like a power washer but with steam rather than water. It is very effective at keeping bedbugs at bay.

Cleaning is generally finished by 10:30 and we count the donations and do the bookkeeping. After that we shower and then go to the bank and the supermarket for anything we need. By then it is 12:30 and we have lunch. I am so very lucky that Jocelyne likes to cook and she has been cooking both lunch and dinner for us daily. I am sure to gain back any weight I may have lost while walking in May. I am happy to be in charge of doing our lunch and dinner dishes.

The Albergue opens at 2 pm and we register the pilgrims as they arrive and assign them a bed and help them with any information they need. Joceyne is from Montreal and is great with the French Speaking pilgrims, there are many Spanish pilgrims who do not speak English or French and we are working hard to improve our Spanish but it is a struggle, less so For Jocelyne, who has better Spanish than I do. It is pretty interesting when we have pilgrims who speak neither English, French or Spanish but we have been getting by. Pilgrims on bicycles usually arrive after 4:30. Depending on how many pilgrims arrive it can keep us pretty busy until 5 or 6 or even later. We try to have our dinner before the kitchen gets to busy with pilgrims cooking anytime from 8 until 10:00 even sometimes. The Spanish like to eat late. After the pilgrims finish making their dinner the cycle starts over again as we prepare for breakfast.

Cutting bread for breakfast

Getting coffee ready

We have a 12 cup coffee maker to serve up to 30 people in and out in a 30 minute window, so we make all the coffee the night before and heat it up on the stove in the morning. There is also milk to heat as the Spanish like 50/50 hot coffee and hot milk. We also cut and ready all the bread the night before. It is so hot in the daytime the pilgrims are anxious to get on the road. It wouldn't do to keep them waiting.They do not linger over coffee.

Happy pilgrims eating breakfast

Happy pilgrims eating breakfast

After they eat each pilgrim is expected to wash their own dishes. The Spanish men do not have a good track record for this.

Happy Hospitareras having dinner

View from the Dorm Room balcony

As you can imagine there is not a lot of spare time, but I will continue to blog when I can as interesting stuff happens every day. Stay tuned.

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