[Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.

[Rosina]

About Santiago 3
ALBERGUES.
Non-private albergues will now charge 5 Euros per pilgrim per night. Those sponsored by religious orders will continue their “voluntary contribution” (donativos) practice of centuries . Private albergues may have to increase their charges since the Xunta has requested new compliances from them that include fresh bed sheets, fresh pillow-cases and fresh towels. It has also been recommended that storage facilities with a lock and key be provided to pilgrims as soon as feasible.  These new requirements are estimated to increase by 40% the cost of running private albergues and, by logical consequence, what they will need to charge.
Further, there have been other provisions required of the albergues related to the prevention of salmonelosis (?).  Recently Health officials visited several albergues and informed them that they will have to install water-temperature controls and will need to engage a private contractor to thoroughly clean and sanitize the bathrooms once a week.   A Xunta branch called “Administracion autonomic a” (Autonomous Administration?) is in charge of overseeing compliance with the new requirements.
The largest aggrupation of pilgrims is expected during the upcoming Holy Week. Municipalities throughout the Camino had announced their intention to provide sleeping facilities in their “polideportivos” (gyms, sports arenas and the like); they have now stated that there will be a charge of 3 Euros for the use of such sites in exchange for which the pilgrims using them will receive a sleeping mattress and facilities for a hot shower.  The municipality of Portomarin has said, however, that they will only charge 2 Euros for a stay in their polideportivo.
 
VOLUNTEERS.
The 86 units of Proteccion Civil (Civilian Protection) throughout the municipalities that the Camino traverses have adopted a “Plan de Atencion al Peregrino 2010” (Plan of attention to 2010 pilgrims).  The plan provides for engaging one thousand volunteers from their ranks to help and assist the thousands and thousands of pilgrims that are expected to cover the various Camino routes.  800,000 Euros have been allocated for this effort the focus of which will be prevention of mishaps or injuries.  (the number of medical students, podiatrists and nurses throughout the Camino that will provide whatever assistance may be needed has been tripled).
As for the rest of us would-be volunteers, I would strongly counsel that we do so fully expecting to pay for our room and board ourselves. The set-up is still lacking in organization and the people in Santiago seem to have much too much on their plates to consider where and how they may be able to use volunteers.   I myself had offered to spend the entire month of August in Santiago, at my own expense,  doing whatever I could do to help , but I really could not discern that my help would be needed (sigh!). Even although I was told that they “would find something “for me to do, I just can’t see it. But then, one never knows, do one? 
 
2009 PILGRIMS
Since our esteemed techie guru Grant has taken off to Germany and thence to the Camino, he probably won’t be back for a while, so I’d better post the 2009 Compostela-awarded Pilgrims data.  They are classified into:  a)  nationality; b) profession; c) month of arrival; d) age;  e) means of locomotion; f) motive for the pilgrimage; g} itinerary followed and h) point of departure.  The data are for the years 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.  I will post the 2009 numbers followed by their equivalent 2008 figures in parenthesis.
I will only post the nationality of the pilgrims here.  If you have any questions about the other classifications please let me know.
 
NATIONALITIES.   Pilgrims that earned the Compostela in 2009 came to Santiago from 110 different countries in addition to Spain as follows:
Spain  79,007 (61,112);  Germany  14,789 (15,746);  Italy  10,341 (10,707);  France  7.459 (6,618);  Portugal  4,854 (4,341);  USA  2,540 (2,214;  Canada  2,194 (1,933);  Austria  1,995 (1,847);  Holland  1,916 (1,864);   Ireland  1.722 (1,535);  U.K.  1,700 (1,559); Belgium  1,410 (1,291);  Poland  1,321 (1,102) Brasil  1,248  (1,365); Switzerland  1,208 1,246);  KOREA  1,079  (915) [***** only 84 in 2006]; Denmark  1,061 (986);  Sweden  1,039 (929);  Australia 1,015 (1,022);  Finland  825 (619);  Hungary  710 (730);  Norway  647 (718);  Mexico  638 (653);  Czech Republic  618 (554);  Japan  526 (412);  Argentina  461 (360);  Slovakia  413 (249);   Slovenia 357 (239);  Venezuela  278 (210);  Colombia  273 (196);  South Africa  262 (274);  New Zealand  200 (162);  Chile 120 (83);  Estonia 110 (129);   Rumania 104 (78);  Russia 94 (72);  Uruguay 88 (77);   Ecuador  85 (61);  Lithuania  83 (54);  Peru  82 (64);    Andorra   69 (67);  Israel  61 (59);  Bolivia  56 (23);  Croatia  55 (45);  Puerto Rico  54 (48);  Bulgaria  52 (25);  Greece  37 (26);  China  35 (20);  Costa Rica  35 (25);  Lithuania  35 (29);  Ukraine  33 (29);  Cuba  27 (11);  Dominican Republic    27  (21);  Turkey  16 (13);  Guatemala  15 (37);  Philippines  15 (22);  Taiwan  14 (11);  Faeroe Islands  14 (8);  Islandia  13 (28);  Paraguay  13 (9);  Morocco  12 (16);  Singapore  12 (9);  Malta  11 (16);  India  11 (12);  Panama  10 (5);  Thailand  9 (2);  Cabo Verde  8 (1);   Iran  7 (14);  El Salvador  7 (9);    Honduras  7 (8);   Serbia  6 (5);   Indonesia  6 (4);   Algiers  5 (2);    Nicaragua  5 (5);  San Marino  5 (3);  Egypt  5 (2);  Cameroon  5 (2);  Belorussia  5 (1);  Jamaica  5 (1);   Lebanon  4 (8);  Malaysia  4 (6);  Liechtenstein   4 (4);   Moldavia  4 (4);  Nigeria  4 (2);  Bosnia  4 (1);   Macedonia  4 (1);  Congo  4 (0); Albania  3 (1);  Ethiopia 3 (1);  Ghana  3 (1);  Jordan  3 (1);   Dominica [?]  3 (0);  Vanuatu [?]  3 (0);  Trinidad and Tobago  3 (0);  Cyprus  2 (8);  Togo 2 (2);  Zimbabwe  2 (2);  Equatorial Guinea  2 (0);  HAITI 2 (0);  Kenya  2(0);  Namibia  2 (0);  Vietnam  2 (3);  Angola  1 (4);  SriLanka  1 (1);  Monaco  1 (1);  Oriental Timor  1 (1);  Dutch Antilles  1 (0);  Botswana  1 (0);   Mauritania 1 (0);  Senegal  1 (0). 
 
More later.     Hugs!
Rosina


Rosina