***This is a warning about the place that is advertised in the picture I've attached***
My friends and I had a pretty awful experience there.
The man, Andoni, has a place that could be a lovely place to stay. But unfortunately it was FILTHY. There isn't much stuff around, so it isn't messy, and so it's hard to notice at first, but it's just DIRTY. The floor, the sheets, the bathroom, the kitchen, pretty much EVERY INCH of the place was dirty.
We were disappointed because we had been so grateful to find a nice place with a seemingly nice person in a city where it's hard to find enough beds for all of us pilgrims.
But my friends who arrived first had needed to completely bleach-clean the bathroom because they said it smelled VERY STRONGLY of PISS and they couldn't stand it.
And then UNDER THEIR BED they found dirt, lint, hair, SPIDERS, SOCKS, A HAT. They were cleaning the place during the hour before we arrived and continuing to find the place in a really bad condition.
Then what would have been our bed was really dirty as well. Dark specks all over it and a really obvious YELLOW STAIN and MORE SPIDERS attached between the sheets and the comforter. There were more spiders in the corners of the room and A LOT of dirt and lint on the floor.
And our other friend was supposed to sleep on the couch, which looked big and comfortable at first, until you looked and found dust, dirt, and DARK STAINS all over it!
Then the kitchen. First of all, there was a pan on the counter that was covered in BLACK CRUST. It looked like it had been used 100 times and never been washed. And there was a cutting board near the sick with SPOTS OF BLACK MOLD all over it. There was also dirt on the floor there and crumbs in all of the cupboards.
YET EVEN WITH THIS, we were still willing to pay fairly. We were TIRED and as I said, we were grateful for the beds and the place to crash.
Andoni had it for $15 per person. Based on the condition, we did not find this a fair price. But he had been kind enough to throw us a refuge of a place to stay so we decided to ask if based on all of this, we could pay $10 per person.
We figure he would still make 50 euro off of the place for the night and we wouldn't want to be disrespectful.
So we called Andoni, explained what we had had to do in terms of cleaning and what we thought was fair in terms of pricing. And he shushed us with a quick "chut-chut-chut" sound and just said to "just get out of his house"
He WOULDN'T LISTEN or consider that his place was in a poor condition and that the price for it was NOT FAIR based on ALL WE FOUND.
A few of these things would not have been a problem. We are PILGRIMS, all of us have been on MULTIPLE CAMINOS and we aren't expecting luxurious hotel conditions. We are fine with the occasionally questionable sheets and we will work our way through dirty bathrooms and spidery floors and walls.
But a place charging 15 euros per person does not have those things.
When we finally found a refuge for the night after SCROUNGING for a place to stay after being kicked out, our new host heard us talking about the condition we had found the place in and the way we had tried to be respectful to the man in spite of this, HE ASKED ME to write this review, saying that that kind of behavior is BAD FOR THE CAMINO.
Most of the people who host pilgrims are proud of their ability of provide a safe haven from the road, understanding that we really only ask for a bed for the night.
But other people just try to make money off of pilgrims, especially those who find themselves in towns that don't have the capacity to house all of us, and don't really care about treating the people doing this trek with fairness. THIS MAN, ANDONI, IS ONE OF THEM.
On top of this, what he's doing isn't even legal. This was an apartment that he is renting himself and he's renting out spaces on top of this. It's like an Airbnb for pilgrims, which would be nice if he provided nice conditions for people to stay in. But he DOES NOT own the space, he IS NOT associated with Airbnb, and he IS NOT connected with the Camino network of places to stay.
If he were doing this because he cared for the welfare of pilgrims, he would make himself into a real albergue, AND/OR provide decent conditions for people to stay in. If people haven't had a problem before, they weren't looking at the place clearly.
Maybe they accepted the price and the conditions because the lack of accommodation in Gernika makes pilgrims a little DESPERATE, which is perfect for people like ANDONI who can make a profit by TAKING ADVANTAGE of these worried pilgrims.
Please, if you've posted this picture or recommended this place to anyone, take it down and don't encourage this kind of thing. Some people really do have their hearts in the right place and want to help pilgrims find a bed for the night, but THIS is the way you take advantage of pilgrims, not how you help them.
