[Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.
hme347 at aol.com
hme347 at aol.com
Wed Jan 20 17:40:18 PST 2010
Mentioning it is OK, but dwelling on it is irritating and unnecessary.
Don't be so defensive; just change the subject instead of beating it to
death. So you witnessed some unsanitary conditions caused by faulty
drains and poor housekeeping.
By the way, the recent stories about bedbug infestations were
informative. I had no quarrel with that. I have never proposed any
limitations here for "shiny clean images" when more general information
was the topic.
Let's move on! Howard
-----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; jethess777 at aol.com;
hme347 at aol.com
Cc: acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br; bantonk at msn.com
Sent: Wed, Jan 20, 2010 12:58 pm
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] About Santiago 3; albergues; 2009 pilgrims.
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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