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

Wed Jan 20 09:58:10 PST 2010

Sanitation and the lack thereof is all a part of the camino. The people who work on the camino talk about these nasty things. If icky things offend you, you may want to stay away from pilgrim hostels, hospitaleros, and pilgrims in general (pilgrims love discussing the gruesome conditions of their feet and toes and bandages.) 

It´s instructive for people who want to be pilgrims to know they should bear in mind these conditions when they are staying in albergues. 

Gocamino is a place where pilgrimage is discussed in all its aspects. There are lots of shiny, clean images of the pilgrimage at Xacobeo and other tourism sites, if "sordid details" offend your sensibilities. 

Rebekah Scott 
www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com

--- On Wed, 1/20/10, hme347 at aol.com <hme347 at aol.com> wrote:

From: hme347 at aol.com <hme347 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.
To: rebrites at yahoo.com, johnniewalker-santiago at hotmail.com, blaroli at aol.com, gocamino at oakapple.net, saintjames at yahoogroups.com, jethess777 at aol.com
Cc: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br, bantonk at msn.com
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 5:03 PM

I applaud your work in Salamanca and your concerns about health and hygiene. But is it really necessary to let everyone know about the shower drains? Get rid of the cleaning lady if she is a lazy or stupid person. Spare us the sordid details of bad drains and slovenly housekeepers.
Howard Mendes, NYC

-----Original Message-----
From: Rebekah Scott <rebrites at yahoo.com>
To: johnniewalker-santiago at hotmail.com; blaroli at aol.com; gocamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com; Joanie Hess <jethess777 at aol.com>
Cc: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br; bantonk at msn.com
Sent: Wed, Jan 20, 2010 8:54 am
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.

As of December 14 the shower drains at Salamanca albergue were still very very slow, and the cleaning lady was still pouring the mop water down the kitchen sink... due to the very very slow shower drains!
Thank goodness for pilgrims who wash up their own dishes. But watch out. These may be the first dishes that particular pilgrim has ever washed in his life. (I am often surprised at the number of hospitalero trainees who know nothing about basic cleaning. And they don´t want to know now, either. Which may explain the several refugios that offer a wonderful, warm welcome, and disgusting bathroom facilities.)

We can try, but we can only do what we can. 

Rebekah Scott
www.moratinoslife.blogspot.com

I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it. —Rosalia de Castro

--- On Wed, 1/20/10, Joanie Hess <jethess777 at aol.com> wrote:

From: Joanie Hess <jethess777 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.
To: johnniewalker-santiago at hotmail.com, blaroli at aol.com, gocamino at oakapple.net, saintjames at yahoogroups.com
Cc: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br, bantonk at msn.com
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 7:02 AM

Hi,
I am back a few months from hospitalera duty in Salamanca.  The gal who came in to help with cleaning was running a string mop over the bathroom floors and then pouring dirty water down the kitchen sink just inches away from a cupboard with a open rack style bottom that was exposed and therefore easily contaminated if one was pouring dirty liquid down that drain.  I disinfected the inside of all the cupboards and taught some "field sanitation techniques" that I learned in the military.  There was also stopped up shower drains.  Fortunately, a guy who is a plumber by trade was taking over for a few days while my replacements were filling in the albergue in Zamora.  All were warned to watch out for breaks in technique.  I never trusted fellow pilgrims to properly wash and disinfect dishes and felt that I couldn't trust how they were done, so I washed and disinfected them myself-- I insisted upon!  Several approaches could work to ensure that a
stay-over in an albergue does not contribute toward diseases in the form of infections.  We all need to be aware of these issues.

-Joanie 

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Walker <johnniewalker-santiago at hotmail.com>
To: blaroli at aol.com; gocamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com
Cc: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br; bantonk at msn.com
Sent: Mon, Jan 18, 2010 11:28 pm
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.

Hola

The water temperature preventative measures being put in place apply to all
albergues in Galicia whether run by local authorities or volutary organisations.
They are to prevent the Legionella bacteria which can lead to the potentially
fatal Legionairres disease. Hot water must be stored above a certain temperature
and the taps and showers in bathrooms must be flushed regularly - all of this
needs to be recorded. These are measure which have applied to hotels for some
time. Albergues will be able to self administer the scheme and will only need to
employ a contractor if through testing Legionella is shown to be present.

John   

www.johnniewalker-santiago.blogspot.com

> To: GoCamino at oakapple.net; saintjames at yahoogroups.com
> Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:50:15 -0500
> From: blaroli at aol.com
> CC: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br; bantonk at msn.com
> Subject: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.
> 
> 
> 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
> 
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