LIVE from the Camino Bed bugs in Azofra

[Martin Cole]

We stayed at azofra municipal last night. All good, cute but cold.
But arriving Redecilla del Camino private alburgue as municiple here closed due to smoking out bed bugs reportedly from Azofra in one of the two rooms.
Just advising anyone planning to use, maybe Azofra will seal the offending room and gas it.

 

[SYates]

How does Redecilla knows the bed bugs came from Azofra? There are an awful lot of albergues, hotels, pensions, etc in between that could have been the source. Did you yourself encounter any bed bugs in Azofra?

Buen Camino sin chinches, SY

 

[Martin Cole]

Private Albergue said that was why municipal closed in Redecilla for smoking/fumigation Assume they asked the right questions.
But agree with your query.
Not so many pilgrims on route at the moment excepting the 40 South Koreans a day or two behind us which has a few people pushing hard along.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

We stayed at azofra municipal last night.

The church annex or the two-bed newer one?

 

[C clearly]

This dispels the theory about early season being free of bedbugs. Fewer, maybe, but I have been bitten in March in a private place that had just opened for the season. Maybe the bug was hungry after a long winter.

 

[RJM]

Actual bedbugs present at the albergue, or is the fumigation simply routine maintenance, so to speak?
Negative hearsay information is not fair to the albergue(s). I would caution against it as there are many non-forum members that read this and that hearsay may cause unfounded fears, which in turn gives the albergue in question an unfair negative reputation.
I am sure there are forum members who have read this and are thinking...."see, I told you, bedbugs are everywhere".

 

[t2andreo]

Given the life cycle and annual dispersion of bed bugs (ES = 'chinches') I suggest the problem with this particular location in March may be that it was not properly fumigated at the end of LAST season.

Lack of blood supply (from humans) and cold weather, over the winter, when most all albergues are closed usually reduces the population. Proper fumigation usually ends the past infestation.

While March is not too early, it is an outlier... just sayin...

 

[Trude]

Is that the small winter Albergue in Azofra or the large lovely one with the twin cubicles?

 

[RJM]

How does Redecilla knows the bed bugs came from Azofra? There are an awful lot of albergues, hotels, pensions, etc in between that could have been the source. Did you yourself encounter any bed bugs in Azofra?

Buen Camino sin chinches, SY

Those bedbugs must have been equipped with a barcode on their backs indicating which albergue they were hatched in. LOL.
but seriously, threads like this that are based on gossip should not be allowed...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

but seriously, threads like this that are based on gossip should not be allowed...

Azofra received fantastic reviews after opening. Recent reviews are becoming very negative -- no heat, filthy showers, minimum maintenance. I think that current reports are useful. I always take bed bug reports with some healthy skepticism, and suggest that others do so, too. They are too mobile to trace to a single place, generally, and spotting a live bed bug means that it did not arrive as an egg. It could have just arrived with the person who spotted it, or been around for days. There is no certainty that it came from the last albergue.

 

[Rhysmike]

We stayed at azofra municipal last night. All good, cute but cold.
But arriving Redecilla del Camino private alburgue as municiple here closed due to smoking out bed bugs reportedly from Azofra in one of the two rooms.
Just advising anyone planning to use, maybe Azofra will seal the offending room and gas it.

My recollection of the municipal albergue in Azofra was 30 small rooms each with 2 beds.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

My recollection of the municipal albergue in Azofra was 30 small rooms each with 2 beds.

In the winter, the albergue is in an annex to the church just up the hill from the 2-bed albergue. Both are so cold that it is hard to imagine that the bed bugs are not dormant!

 

[t2andreo]

Falcon, a dormant bed bug is not dead, just sleeping until either warmer weather or a warm blooded human comes by. Then it is "game on."

 

[tpmchugh]

This dispels the theory about early season being free of bedbugs. Fewer, maybe, but I have been bitten in March in a private place that had just opened for the season. Maybe the bug was hungry after a long winter.

Or maybe someone carried it in from a nice warm airport hotel which I would think more likely

 

[C clearly]

Or maybe someone carried it in from a nice warm airport hotel which I would think more likely

Maybe, but not likely. This was a private facility (apartment) in Villafranca - I believe we were the first customers of the season. Bedbugs are known to survive months without feeding.

 

[RJM]

Hearsay, theory and speculation. No facts.
Threads like this are not helpful to future pilgrims, or even veteran pilgrims seeking information (not gossip).
The subject should be dismissed.

 

[JackyG]

Hearsay, theory and speculation. No facts.
Threads like this are not helpful to future pilgrims, or even veteran pilgrims seeking information (not gossip).
The subject should be dismissed.

Why should it be dismissed? Genuinely interested in your response, I did my first Camino last year and was luckily not bitten, I didn’t spray myself or my things as I’m not great with chemicals and to be honest I’d be more nervous about the content of some of those bottles than the bugs! so am off again in May and hoping being vigilant (ridiculously so) will pay off a second time.. but do you say these threads are not good because it puts people off or..why?.. Thanks. J

 

[RJM]

Why should it be dismissed? Genuinely interested in your response, I did my first Camino last year and was luckily not bitten, I didn’t spray myself or my things as I’m not great with chemicals and to be honest I’d be more nervous about the content of some of those bottles than the bugs! so am off again in May and hoping being vigilant (ridiculously so) will pay off a second time.. but do you say these threads are not good because it puts people off or..why?.. Thanks. J

Because it is gossip. Gossip spreading about bedbugs being in an albergue, without any actual proof they are there, or were ever there. This quote is from the original post:
"bed bugs reportedly from Azofra"
How could anyone know for a fact where the bedbugs, if there were indeed any in the first place, came from Azorfa? They can't know and didn't know. It was idle gossip, but gossip now read by people who come to this forum for information.
Sure, if members want to discuss bedbugs a million times on here, who cares, but when there is gossip spreading that could negatively affect an albergue, that's wrong, or even the various posts that make it seem as though albergues on the Camino are infested with bedbugs. That actually frightens some people and may cause them to change their plans.
Just for the record. I have walked seven Caminos. I never took a single precaution against bedbugs. Have never even thought about it. I have never seen a bedbug on the Camino or met anyone that was bitten. Not saying it does not happen, I have just never seen it or experienced it, and I do not consider that to be luck. More like the threat is exaggerated.

 

[JackyG]

Because it is gossip. Gossip spreading about bedbugs being in an albergue, without any actual proof they are there, or were ever there. This quote is from the original post:
"bed bugs reportedly from Azofra"
How could anyone know for a fact where the bedbugs, if there were indeed any in the first place, came from Azorfa? They can't know and didn't know. It was idle gossip, but gossip now read by people who come to this forum for information.
Sure, if members want to discuss bedbugs a million times on here, who cares, but when there is gossip spreading that could negatively affect an albergue, that's wrong, or even the various posts that make it seem as though albergues on the Camino are infested with bedbugs. That actually frightens some people and may cause them to change their plans.
Just for the record. I have walked seven Caminos. I never took a single precaution against bedbugs. Have never even thought about it. I have never seen a bedbug on the Camino or met anyone that was bitten. Not saying it does not happen, I have just never seen it or experienced it, and I do not consider that to be luck. More like the threat is exaggerated.

Yes but how do you *reeaally* feel?..quit skirting the issue man..just kidding..
Thanks for the reply, I just wasn’t sure if you thought bedbugs weren’t a problem at all or if it was the way it was reported in the thread. Understood now, and I agree re being careful about naming places without absolute certainty. Also reassuring to hear you’ve walked 7 times and not has an incident, makes me less nervous about encountering them on my 2nd.

 

[annali]

We did the Camino twice from Leon to Santiago and both times we encountered bed bugs in two different albergues. Although we kept swopping beds, only I was attacked by the bugs, not my husband! So it seems to me that they have a preference for some blood types

 

[Lillamy]

Because it is gossip. Gossip spreading about bedbugs being in an albergue, without any actual proof they are there, or were ever there. This quote is from the original post:
"bed bugs reportedly from Azofra"
How could anyone know for a fact where the bedbugs, if there were indeed any in the first place, came from Azorfa? They can't know and didn't know. It was idle gossip, but gossip now read by people who come to this forum for information.
Sure, if members want to discuss bedbugs a million times on here, who cares, but when there is gossip spreading that could negatively affect an albergue, that's wrong, or even the various posts that make it seem as though albergues on the Camino are infested with bedbugs. That actually frightens some people and may cause them to change their plans.
Just for the record. I have walked seven Caminos. I never took a single precaution against bedbugs. Have never even thought about it. I have never seen a bedbug on the Camino or met anyone that was bitten. Not saying it does not happen, I have just never seen it or experienced it, and I do not consider that to be luck. More like the threat is exaggerated.

And I have walked one camino, for two weeks okt -17 and saw bedbugs on two albergues... as in saw them with my own eyes when returning from the toilet in the night. Not a nice experience. I get why people who never encounter bb:s themselves think it’s a ridiculus subjekt, but it isn’t for us who do.

 

[AnaRosario]

We stayed at azofra municipal last night. All good, cute but cold.
But arriving Redecilla del Camino private alburgue as municiple here closed due to smoking out bed bugs reportedly from Azofra in one of the two rooms.
Just advising anyone planning to use, maybe Azofra will seal the offending room and gas it.

Eek!!!