Day 13: Life in Albergues

It has been a novel experience to sleep in albergues. One can only stay in them if you are a pilgrim. When we arrive we present our peregrino passport at the reception desk where they are stamped. The albergues--dormitories--charge somewhere between $6 and $8 a bed. We've stayed in places that have been run by the church or municipalities, or privately operated. Tonight we are staying in a restored 14th Century pilgrims' hospital that has been converted into a hotel and an albergue. We've discovered this is the best combination.

The number of beds in a room varies greatly. Typically we have slept with a dozen or so roommates but we have had as many as 30 and as few as 2.

We sleep in a liner (think sleeping bag without the stuffing) and sometimes we are fortunate and are provided with a blanket.

The showers always seem to have plenty of hot water, toilets are clean and have toilet paper, and areas for washing clothes are provided.

We usually arrive in the early afternoon and often greet other peregrinos we have gotten to know along the way. It is like a gathering of a small chapter of the United Nations. People from all parts of the world are on this walk, and all for their own reasons. The first task is to remove one's shoes--not so easy when you are stiff from a day of walking--and place them on a rack outside the albergue.

Typically we make our dinner in the common kitchen with others. Ours usually consists of pasta with sauce but our new found favorite is a bowl of lentils. In either case the meal is always accompanied by fresh bread and a bottle of wine, most recently Rioja wine costing a couple of dollars.

Lights out at 10 PM after which everyone remains very quiet. Some nights we sleep better than others, depending on number of roommates and the symphony of snoring. A full hour before sunrise, one wakes to the sound of creaking beds, closing and openings of doors, running of water, and rustling of backpacks. And another day gets underway.