Thursday, July 13, 2017

Gaucelmo Service: Friday 16th June 2017 to Friday 30th June 2017


 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.

Would we do it again. Yes, but not next year.


Stephen and Marlene Ayling