sillydoll
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2002 CF: 2004 from Paris: 2006 VF: 2007 CF: 2009 Aragones, Ingles, Finisterre: 2011 X 2 on CF: 2013 'Caracoles': 2014 CF and Ingles 'Caracoles":2015 Logrono-Burgos (Hospitalero San Anton): 2016 La Douay to Aosta/San Gimignano to Rome:
One of our South African hsopitaleros who has just started working at Santo Domingo de la Calzada sent me this email:
When I arrived i met 2 extremely bone tired hospitaleros - Olga and her husband who for the last 10 days have been working on their own covering 200 pilgrims and a Hectic place. Neither speak English only french and very little spanish. There are meant to be 4-6 volunteer hospitaleros here but Ana has had difficulty finding people for SD and many people have promised and have not turned up. I am trying my best to learn what to do but it is so much and very difficult when there is this language problem.
At 11h30 an interpreter will come to try and show me what to do in a language i can understand. The pace of things here is so fast and furious one has to be on top of things. Needless to say the situation has me very stressed because Olga and her husband leave on Wednesday and there is no replacement!!!!!!.(so far).
I have lost count of days but I do know I have survived 275 pilgrims so far ( in 2 and a half days) and feel very proud of myself. I speak a fluent mixture of Frangish ( french english german and spanish) and have told and retold the story of Santo Domingo countless times. I have also climbed two flights of stairs non stop for 3-4 hours a day taking pilgrims to their rooms. Soon I will be so fit!!!!!!!
Bed bugs are a huge problem and many people have been affected. We had to close one dormitory and have it fumigated. Because there are too few hospitaleros for the huge number of pregrinos, we cannot ( have no time) to treat the people for bed bugs, and so have to turn affected people away. One poor girl has picked it up three times so far since St Jean and was so tearful when she was turned away, it broke my heart. All we coud do was give a sympathetic ear, direct her to the clinic and help her find another place to stay and a washing machine that washes at 60 degrees. It all makes me quite nervous for my walk, i mean these sound like superbugs and they may chew their way through your bed net Sil!"
When I arrived i met 2 extremely bone tired hospitaleros - Olga and her husband who for the last 10 days have been working on their own covering 200 pilgrims and a Hectic place. Neither speak English only french and very little spanish. There are meant to be 4-6 volunteer hospitaleros here but Ana has had difficulty finding people for SD and many people have promised and have not turned up. I am trying my best to learn what to do but it is so much and very difficult when there is this language problem.
At 11h30 an interpreter will come to try and show me what to do in a language i can understand. The pace of things here is so fast and furious one has to be on top of things. Needless to say the situation has me very stressed because Olga and her husband leave on Wednesday and there is no replacement!!!!!!.(so far).
I have lost count of days but I do know I have survived 275 pilgrims so far ( in 2 and a half days) and feel very proud of myself. I speak a fluent mixture of Frangish ( french english german and spanish) and have told and retold the story of Santo Domingo countless times. I have also climbed two flights of stairs non stop for 3-4 hours a day taking pilgrims to their rooms. Soon I will be so fit!!!!!!!
Bed bugs are a huge problem and many people have been affected. We had to close one dormitory and have it fumigated. Because there are too few hospitaleros for the huge number of pregrinos, we cannot ( have no time) to treat the people for bed bugs, and so have to turn affected people away. One poor girl has picked it up three times so far since St Jean and was so tearful when she was turned away, it broke my heart. All we coud do was give a sympathetic ear, direct her to the clinic and help her find another place to stay and a washing machine that washes at 60 degrees. It all makes me quite nervous for my walk, i mean these sound like superbugs and they may chew their way through your bed net Sil!"
