March: The First Pilgrims Drop By
Slowly pilgrims start their walk from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela. We have a few pilgrims in March. Two days in a row Italian pilgrims. In Italy it is popular to walk the caminho since a comedian there made a movie about it. The first man, was a returning guest, 1,5 year ago he was here too. And the second man, told us that he heard it from a friend who stayed here. It looks like it is not the apps like BuenCaminho or WisePilgrim where they find us, but it is word of mouth!
There were also three Korean people in March. A couple and a young guy. The couple were so glad with the dinner we made. In the restaurants they ordered typical Portuguese dishes but couldn’t eat them because they were too salty. With all the vegetables, salads and healthy home made meals, they felt good.
The caminho still popular in Korea, also because of a movie. A Korean woman told me it is good to mention finalizing the caminho on your CV in Korea.
April: It is Getting Busy
There are several solo American Pilgrims visiting us. One said he experienced on the caminho in France that he would like to stay in the middle of the route described in the books. So not at the regular stages at the end. The places to stay in the middle are very nice, special and quiet. Not so full like it is at the end of a stage. He called running to the next albergue to get a bed, a rat race. He is just escaping the rat race in America. He is right and at our place he was happy to enjoy his pilgrims meal, not with other pilgrims because he was the only one, but with us in the house. Sometimes it is just too windy to sit outside. It is not summer yet!
Five Pilgrims Fit!
We have five pilgrims. Two friends from Sweden, two from Italy, and one woman from America. It looks good, it fits in the casinha with two bunks. The two chairs went out and a extra bed came in. We always said no to groups of five because we thought it would be too small for a 5th on the floor. Last Thursday we had too improvise, because there was a double booking. Via the website booking people can reserve and arrange, and when that is exactly the same time as we say yes to a pilgrim on the phone or WhatsApp, we need to house them all. So that was what happened.
The women were happy with it, and didn’t mind the extra bed! They really enjoyed the communal dinner. And the three groups, already met each other on the caminho. They had a nice time with each other and it was a really nice evening! Because the men were arriving late, and the women were already at our place in the afternoon, they had dinner separately. Jaap-Willem cooked two different meals! I stayed at home to serve them while Cinta and Jaap-Willem went to their swimming in Ansiao.
