Our stint as hospitaleros, with only four more days to go, may be winding down but there is certainly no winding down on the job. That is an observation not a complaint. Each day's pilgrims have the same needs as those before and some may be have even more. Although the routine and pattern of the day is same old, same old, it never gets old. This albergue is a new experience for each pilgrims and each pilgrim is a new experience for us and too, there are always a few incidences that highlight each day.
Friday I had to, very unwillingly, play paramedic to a lovely lady whose first and only language is German and who was adamant that I should 'pop' all the blisters on her suffering feet. I do not have one iota of Florence flipping Nightingale in me but there I was boiling a needle and piercing it through each and every blisters. And there were a lot of them. An elderly Spanish camino veteran insisted that I needed to enlarge each of the holes in the blisters so that iodine could be put directly into the blister. He insisted, I desisted and so he took over. Between the German lady and the Spanish man, they had a complete surgical kit but not one common language phrase. Tomas set to work enlarging the blister holes. How? I don't know but there were needles, scissors and a small plastic syringe lined up on the table. He used the syringe to inject iodine into each blister hole. He injected. She grimaced. I hid away shaking my head and thinking thoughts of liability and lawsuist and wondering if I could cover my trail after our departure so that I couldn't be tracked down to be supoenaed (sp?).
We also had a group of cyclists who arrived very late. Cyclists usually bike about 90-120kms so they tend to arrive late and then want to sleep in and leave late - not happening at our albergue. Up and out and enjoy your ride! Our late arrivers had only time to get ready for dinner but no time to go to a tienda to buy wine for their meal..................so Dayton and I went to our private wine stash and donated some of our 'vintage' wine (2.45€ a bottle) to the cause. The Italians were suitably surprised and pleased. We also had a Chilean cyclist arrive just as we were about to clean up the dishes. We were able to set him up with salad, pasta, bread and wine. No problemo.
We also had a delightful Canadian contingent Friday, family and friends from Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton: mom and two of her daughters, a cousin and two other close friends. It was fun to speak Canadian for a change, eh?
Friday I had to, very unwillingly, play paramedic to a lovely lady whose first and only language is German and who was adamant that I should 'pop' all the blisters on her suffering feet. I do not have one iota of Florence flipping Nightingale in me but there I was boiling a needle and piercing it through each and every blisters. And there were a lot of them. An elderly Spanish camino veteran insisted that I needed to enlarge each of the holes in the blisters so that iodine could be put directly into the blister. He insisted, I desisted and so he took over. Between the German lady and the Spanish man, they had a complete surgical kit but not one common language phrase. Tomas set to work enlarging the blister holes. How? I don't know but there were needles, scissors and a small plastic syringe lined up on the table. He used the syringe to inject iodine into each blister hole. He injected. She grimaced. I hid away shaking my head and thinking thoughts of liability and lawsuist and wondering if I could cover my trail after our departure so that I couldn't be tracked down to be supoenaed (sp?).
We also had a group of cyclists who arrived very late. Cyclists usually bike about 90-120kms so they tend to arrive late and then want to sleep in and leave late - not happening at our albergue. Up and out and enjoy your ride! Our late arrivers had only time to get ready for dinner but no time to go to a tienda to buy wine for their meal..................so Dayton and I went to our private wine stash and donated some of our 'vintage' wine (2.45€ a bottle) to the cause. The Italians were suitably surprised and pleased. We also had a Chilean cyclist arrive just as we were about to clean up the dishes. We were able to set him up with salad, pasta, bread and wine. No problemo.
We also had a delightful Canadian contingent Friday, family and friends from Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton: mom and two of her daughters, a cousin and two other close friends. It was fun to speak Canadian for a change, eh?
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