Gaucelmo – routine

We are up early to feed & caffeinate our peregrinos and then send them off with a Buen Camino hug and (hopefully) all their belongings. (One day I found three black bras that had been left behind. In different places. Honestly!).

Don’t forget your bra!

Once they all are gone – ideally by 8:30am ¡Vámanos! — it’s  for Peter and me to eat our breakfast. Susanna at our neighboring tienda gives us organic eggs from her chickens and I cut some herbs from our garden to make some unapologetically delicious huevos revueltos.

We get their eggs, they get our old bread. We are all muy contento.
Well we need our strength for the cleaning frenzy which follows.
But first we get our daily delivery of muy delicioso pan from the bakery in Astorga

We also get a visit from the traveling cleaning supplies van.
Pedro has been delivering to the small villages in the area for 35 years

The dorms, bathrooms and kitchen are cleaned to a sparkle. Maybe not quite up to a German hausfrau’s standards but certainly clean enough to have allowed me to use nearly all of Pedro’s products.  


If you visit Gaucelmo, the barn is the place to stay

The main dorm sleeps 24 and the “barn” sleep another 16. We also can accommodate campers in the jardín.

Still too cold for all but the most intrepid campers. Summers must be crazy.

The outside gate is locked until we open again and we can hear the peregrinos lining up and rattling the door as we clean.  ¡Estamos cerrados! ¡Vete!

Ack! The punters are queuing up!

We check them in, get them settled into a bunk (hey you young and heathy folks! take a top bunk, por favor), serve up a tea time, send them off to vespers and pilgrim blessings and hopefully have time at some point for an hospitalero happy hour. It’s all much more fun than it sounds.

A polish father and daughter check in. Many peregrinos travel with family members.

Tea time scones get devoured

Father Pius brings us his homemade currant jam at hospitalero happy hour (the best hour of the day)

One thought on “Gaucelmo – routine

  1. Wow…seems like a lot of work….but fun too! You are really making an impact on people’s lives, as they follow their own personal journey. Wonderful work, Jan. Can’t wait to hear more stories when you return.

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