So, day 2, and we’re already feeling quite at home on the road. I think even the backpack isn’t registering as fiercely with my shoulders and hips. Reminder to future self, by the way: it might seem ridiculously light at home, but don’t get carried away. Not that I did this time, but no, really, it shouldn’t be heavier than 10% bodyweight, it is the truth.
Reminder/ encouragement to all fellow pilgrims out there: for the love of Santiago himself, stop crapping next to the path, what the actual heck? What sort of environment do you think you are in, a theme park that some designated personnel is cleaning every night? This will get us banished from the area for sure.
It is amazing to us how few people we meet along the way. Some pilgrims, yes, but so few locals most places! Those few are super nice to us, though.
There is a lot of satisfaction (and some perks) in being among the first few to arrive at the municipal albergue. So, let me tell you about those.
Municipal albergues are maintained by the authorities and are not for anybodies profit. They are only there to provide shelter for pilgrims to SdC and will turn you down if you don’t have the credencial (pilgrim’s passport). They can’t be booked, first come first serve. Some of them are adjacent to a church or a monastery/nunnery, because that’s where they always have been, historically. Many are in centuries old buildings. They are very cheap. Today we paid 8€ per head. The standard is at least four stars no, it’s a common room usually with bunk beds. Yes, you’re in the same room with, maybe, 20 strangers. Sometimes (more often than not) they try to build some sort of privacy with small separator screens or curtains, but sometimes not – we’ve been to one where there was a gigantic dormitory with beds and some tables and wardrobes, completely open.
There’s usually a common bathroom with showers and some things to wash your gear. Could be a (paid) washer/dryer, most times there’s something like a sink to hand-wash in. Sometimes new and relatively clean, but sometimes there are some stone structures with water somehow running through them that for sure remember the first pilgrims. A good idea is to have your own soap for laundry. And drying line is usually a hard to get commodity, so carrying your own that can attach to a lot of things is very useful.
They give you this single-use bed cloth which is rather nasty to the touch and needs certain grace to not tear holes through when you try to get it on your mattress and pillow. Then it looks like this:
If you’re a smart little pilgrim who isn’t afraid of extra 354 grams (no, actually, I don’t know the weight of mine) you would have a blanket or a summer sleeping bag with you. Mine is quite possibly the nastiest piece of equipment here, but it’s mine and I don’t mind. Together with a light silk cocoon bedsheet this is what we get:
Now imagine somebody snoring (and/or farting) all around, and that’s your bodoir for the night! Pretty neat!
Thankfully, everyone is rather hygienic and polite, so it doesn’t go the disgusting way, like, at all. If you’re a light sleeper, maybe getting used to using ear plugs and taking them with you could be helpful, because snoring can’t be avoided and you do need to get some sleep even if somebody is super loud.
You get up when everyone gets up, and it’s just as well, because most of the time they would want you out around 8:00. Of course, there are always enthusiasts who want to be on the road at five, and if one of them chose to pack their every item in an individual plastic baggie, you will know it and be aware of it. Again, ear plugs or just choose to accept your fate and get up as well. Because again, getting there early is good! You get a place, which is not a given, at all, during high season. You are among the first to use washing facilities and you get laundry line real estate! It all seems insignificant now, but just you wait till when your only shirt is sweaty, then we talk.
