Hospitalera: First day!
The alarm woke me up at 6:30 and I was out of bed in a shot. Becky was already up… since 4am.
Date: 1 Septiembre 2023
Place: Logroño
Sometimes we women just don’t sleep. I hope she gets to bed early. We need all of our energy every day. I said Buen Camino to the last pilgrims at 8:00am. Then we started cleaning in earnest. I did bathrooms. I suspect that will be my job a lot of the time.
For the next few days, it’s going to be a little strange. Tonight we are only have room for 22 Pilgrims, because the big greeting room is being used by the church. Tomorrow night we have a full complement so we can accomodate 36 or so pilgrims.
Then on Sunday we will not offer dinner and We only will have 16 pilgrims that night. That’s because the Bishop will be here for the installation Mass on Sunday. The new pastor will be installed, and so there’s a big party here. I will get some good rest that night. Possibly. The Spanish like a fiesta.
Out of 22 pilgrims today, 19 are Italian. My Italian skills are working overtime today! Every single pilgrim has chosen to stay for dinner! I may have oversold but when the Italians heard lentils and roasted potatoes plus fruit cobbler they were allllll in. If they’ve been eating a ton of fried potatoes and uninspiring macaroni, as I suspect, they’re probably looking for something like home cooking. I mean… one guy was VERY enthusiastic about roasted potatoes. Once I said “roasted” not “fried” he was “SI!”
Dinner had its challenges. While I was at Mass the power went out in the albuergue. Twice. Causing the first “oh shit” moment. But Becky is unflappable. The lentils were a hit. The Italians love us.
And weird bruises are showing up all over my body. My feet are killing me. I am having an amazing time.Being a hospitalero is the flip side of the camino. All the pilgrims—at the end of the day. All the bruises and tired body. No kilometers. All the stairs.
And the japanese pilgrim taught me to make a scallop shell in origami!!
I would say more but I am out of gas. Like the bombola was right in the middle of making coffee.
Oh my! I never really thought about all the hard work that goes into being a Hospitalera – I thought you just gave directions and helped if there was any crisis – like someone forgot to bring their toothbrush or something!