Day: April 2, 2022

I think of slate as an expensive building material but they use it all over the Galicia and the parts of Leon we were just in. And you see it by the side of the road. I guess it is not expensive here.

We have had many wonderful experiences on the Camino but if we think of social experiences two stand out. The first was on the Portuguese Camino. We stayed, without knowing its reputation, at Casa Fernanda. We got there in the afternoon and had a good time talking to the 15-20 pilgrims there in the back yard of the albergue. Fernanda was moving from group to group chatting, going off periodically to work on the dinner. We kept hearing that she was waiting for a ”family” to show up. When they did show up it was a group of young bicyclists some of whom might have been brothers. They were traveling with a van to carry their stuff. That evening we had a very good communal dinner, with lots of food and lots of wine which made everyone more friendly. Their ”stuff” included several guitars. They proceeded to sing traditional songs from their region, they had good voices. Then other Spanish songs. Then more songs where we all sang along, culminating with “Imagine” and ”Hallelujah” with people getting the lyrics from their phones. An evening to remember. We learned later that Fernanda is a legend on the Portuguese Camino and the communal dinner usually include group singing.

The second great experience was at Anabel and Bernadino’s place eight years ago. They make a famous communal dinner of vegetarian paella. There were 15-20 people there and the conversation was wonderful. We were sitting at a table speaking English but with people from four different countries: the US, Australia, Canada and England.

The force that created these experiences was two dynamic, friendly, outgoing, and enthusiastic hospitaliers: Fernanda and Anabel, and their husbands, who, while not quite as outgoing, were important to creating the experience. People like this create environments where people can have fun and enrich the lives of thousands of pilgrims. We realized this when we stayed with Anabel and Beradino and she showed us dozens of letters from people thanking her for the great time they had at her albergue. She also had a guest register with literally dozens of drawings people had made to express how appreciative they were. You could see the love. And clearly Anabel was touched by their responses. It is nice that she gets that back for all the effort she puts into the albegue.