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Bed bugs

C

Chris3

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
The French Way 2018
Camino del Norte 09/23
Hi. My wife and I are currently doing the Camino del Norte and just wanted to bring to people’s attention to avoid hostel Galerna Aterpetxea in Zarautz due to a bed bug infestation. We stayed there on September 19th.
 
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Chris3 said:
Hi. My wife and I are currently doing the Camino del Norte and just wanted to bring to people’s attention to avoid hostel Galerna Aterpetxea in Zarautz due to a bed bug infestation. We stayed there on September 19th.
Click to expand...


Did you inform the owners / hospitaleros of this place? Bed bugs tend to travel you know, so they came from somewhere else. And if the owners of this place are not informed they are not able to tackle the issue and most probably the bed bugs will travel to the next place.
But I really hope you could get rid of the nasty creatures quickly!
 
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The owners have been advised.
 
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I don’t think there is a single albergue on any Camino that has not had bedbugs at least once. An albergue whose Hospitalero knows there have been bedbugs is possibly freer of bedbugs than another albergue where there might be bedbugs the Hospi doesn’t know about. When you say ‘infestation’, do you mean there were signs of bedbugs being there or large areas being affected? By now, the people of the albergue may have taken action whereas further down the line….
And did you make sure your own kit was free (eg putting it through a hot tumble drier for 50 minutes)?
 
Yes our kit has been washed and dried at hot temperatures. My wife is covered in bites and during the night the bugs were visible all over the sheets. We squashed so many.
 
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Chris3 said:
Hi. My wife and I are currently doing the Camino del Norte and just wanted to bring to people’s attention to avoid hostel Galerna Aterpetxea in Zarautz due to a bed bug infestation. We stayed there on September 19th.
Click to expand...
Always do an inspection immediately upon arriving. Below are some signs:
  • Smell: smell of mildew or dampness or sweet musty. If yes, be more thorough in your search.
  • Specks of blood on bedding, mattresses, or upholstered furniture such as couches and headboards.
  • Exoskeletons. ~1mm pale yellow skins: nymphs shed outer skins as they grow
  • Tiny, blackish specks. Look on sheet, mattress covers, mattress (undo cover) and especially the edges.
  • Eggs: Whitish to yellow in color and the size of a pinhead. Sometime one but often in clusters.
Look around edges of the mattress, underneath the mattress, the edges of bed. Look high and low. Look well. I do this even when going to regular and expensive hotels.

You did well to notify the albergue and other pilgrims. Sometimes it's how you deal with the hardships that determine how beautiful of an experience your personal camino will be.

Buen Camino
 
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To this I will add, look under pictures hanging on the wall. One of the worst infestations I found was on the Norte - and when I checked the room I found quite a community of bedbugs hiding in the dark under a painting on the wall!
 
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