Why Gaucelmo?
On our ‘epic’ Camino in 2015, we came across the Gaucelmo
Refugio. Mainly by accident, but we were just exhausted and it looked a really
nice place to stay. They weren’t yet open so we left our packs at the front
door and went exploring, beginning with the chapel opposite.
What a great village! Anyway, when we returned the doors were open and in we went.
The lady on duty was the “boss mkulu” for organising the
annual hospitalero rosters and greeted us warmly in English and then proceeded
to show us to the dormitory. As we began to go up the stairs and elderly
Italian couple arrived and we went into shock. This was the self-same couple
who had re-invented the term snoring and had kept us awake at Leon 2 nights
earlier.
So we very subtlety asked if there were any private rooms or
even a lean-to outside on account of the “forthcoming” snore attack. She
couldn’t help there, but not to worry.
Well, half an hour later and no Italians. So, we enquired as
to what happened and she said that they had arrived without their packs and the
policy at Gaucelmo was quite simple. No pack no stay, as they only catered for
peregrinos who had carried their packs. Well, we then studied their policy and the conditions to
stay were quite explicit. It was a Christian establishment, absolutely no
smoking on the premises, tea was served at 1630 in the afternoons and the
lights went out at 2200 sharp.
Gaucelmo is operated by the British Confraternity of St. James
with offices in Blackfriars, London.
We decided there and then, that if we ever served at an
albergue, this was the place for us.
The Course.
On our return to South Africa, Sylvia advised that the next
Hospitalero course would be in February 2016 and we immediately put our names
down. We hosted a couple from Pretoria and fun was had by all. The course itself was very practical and covered all
eventualities that we might face as a Hospitalero/a. Of the 13 students I think that over half ended up serving
at an albergue – so, a very high success rate.
We applied to the British Confraternity in March 2016 and
the first slot available was in June 2017, which meant a bit of a wait!
Interestingly, the British Confraternity was very interested in our training
program and when the name Sylvia, was mentioned, we were more than welcome!
(In fact, during our stay there, we hosted the Chairman and
founder of Gaucelmo, and he was taken aback by our name tags and study guide
and so we left them with him. He was most impressed!)
The Service.
Well the day arrived!
And we were early, checking into Pilar’s on the Wednesday.
By sheer luck, we walked into our British Hospitalera who had also arrived
early. That afternoon we all visited Gaucelmo and introduced
ourselves to an Australian, Italian and a Briton. We had tea and then stood
duty for the Team as they all went off for dinner together – a rare treat!
On Thursday we got to explore the village better, met the
main locals – shops, hotels and chapel next door and thoroughly acquainted
ourselves with the place. We also moved into the 4 bed dormitory ready for our
baptism of fire the next morning!
Wow! This was hectic……
1.
Breakfast preparation at 0615 and having to
learn how the coffee machine worked!
2.
Open the doors for the peregrinos at 0630.
3.
My duty was to bid farewell outside and make
sure that they had left nothing behind and that their packs looked right before
their walk began. (You’d be surprised how badly some of them put their packs
together).
4.
Last peregrine out was at 0800.
5.
We then had breakfast and then started the
preparation for the next lot.
6.
Each one of us had specific rooms to clean.
Marlene got the main and private dormitory upstairs, the passages and the
lounge. Hope got the smaller dorm outside and the kitchen and I became the
“sanitation engineer”, that is, all the bathrooms!
7.
I also got to handle all the money. We were a
donations organisation and there was a strict methodology to follow in banking
and paying for the accounts. The paying was for the daily bread delivery, gas
refills, cleaning materials, the gardener (huge garden to be cut) and
pleasantly, for a daily meal allowance for the Hospitaleros!
8.
At around 1130, we would have a break and every
2nd day, go and have a coffee break at one of the establishments in
town. We always went somewhere different so as to support everybody in the
village.
9.
1230 was a quick lunch and then we opened our
doors at 1300. Before we let them in, Hope would welcome everybody outside and
tell them everything they needed to know. Fortunately she spoke some Spanish
and French!
1.
1300 the doors opened and usually there was a
cavalry charge to our reception office.
11.
This we calmed down by having a table and chairs
with a very shady umbrella, iced water (with a dash of mint) in jugs and glasses as a distraction. We would
then get the peregrinos to queue on the benches outside and then start to
process them.
12.
Peregrinos were processed 2 at a time by Marlene
and/or Hope. My job was to direct them to the respective dormitory, show them
were the bathrooms were, reinforce the message that Hope and Marlene had given,
and made sure that they fitted a clean pillow slip onto their bed of choice.
That way, we could immediately see which beds were free and take note of the
spare bottom bunks in case we had an elderly peregrine or one that wouldn’t
manage a top bunk.
13.
We also kept an eye out for families, walking
wounded for special accommodation. If a walking wounded wasn’t in good shape
we’d let them stay an extra night to help them recuperate.
14.
Tea, biscuits and sometimes cake, was served in
the garden (huerta) at 1630 and proved to be a smash hit. Everyone went, even
our neighbours next door – the Benedictine Monks. We would deliver the tea and
goodies to a covered area with lots of chairs and then leave them to get to
know each other. They always brought the dirty cups and saucers back for us and
often washed up too. Being a marketing man, we did engineer a couple of
“improvised” birthdays to get the crowd in a festive mood, although we did
actually have a genuine 30th birthday for a Brazilian who was
totally stunned with a birthday cake! We took 8 kilograms of goodies from
Durban, with lots of Rooibos tea – also a smash hit!
15.
Peregrinos were spoilt with our fully equipped
kitchen including 2 kettles! There were 2 restaurants in town plus a “pub” at
Pilars.
16.
We did request that everything in the kitchen
was put away by 2100, but sometimes…….. we’d do the “hospitality thing” and
just clean up anyway.
17.
Lights at 2200 was usually well adhered to, but
every now and then a “reminder” was necessary.
18.
And then it started all over again.
Gaucelmo was unique in that we were an English speaking
albergue. Over half of our guests were English speaking and at least 25% could
speak English as their second language. We were also unique in offering a bed bug service. As the pilgrims
were queuing to come in we‘d keep a watchful eye out for any “possible” bed bug
cases. If we found one the process was very quick. We booked them in and then
took them to a separate bathroom and got them to use clothing from our clothing
bank. Their clothes were then washed and tumble dried at high heat, with their
packs being steam cleaned. Following this, we’d put them in our 4 bed dormitory
which we nicknamed our sick bay.
They were so grateful!
Marlene was the bed bug queen and treated about 8 cases. If
however, they slipped through into the dormitory, we then had to steam clean
the mattress as well.
Being a Hospitalero takes a lot of discipline. Its hard work
and long hours. On top of that, at least 1 peregrino would unload on us a day,
which could sometimes be a bit draining. There were also a small number of
inconsiderates. We had about 8 out of 366, which wasn’t too bad.
However, it’s a wonderful feeling to think that you might
have helped or enthused just 1 peregrino a day to continue their journey. In
short it was a humbling experience and the fact that we’d travelled halfway
around the world to do it, wasn’t lost on them.
Stephen and Marlene Ayling
