Day 9 - Laundry Service Report

Last night was even busier than the one before. Both the current refugio and the old house were completely cramped. That's over 300 pilgrims staying here just for the night, with a new load coming in the day after. It's pretty bizarre. This activity is more popular than your average Armin van Buuren concert :)

About 70 of those come in by bus from Pamplona: Locals starting the Camino at Roncesvalles. They're actually the most frustrating guests, with their roller cases instead of backpacks, the wrong shoes (noticed three of them on high heels), the biggest attitudes and the least notion of a pilgrim's rhythm (They're the last to go to sleep and the last to get up in the morning when most others have already left). They'll speak only Spanish, they're extremely noisy and insist on wearing their muddy shoes throughout the house even though we ask everyone to wear houseshoes or slippers. They're the complete opposite of people who've been at this a while longer: They're quiet, do everything by themselves, go to sleep early and leave just before dawn.

The ones who start at St-Jean-Pied-the-Port and have already walked for a day before arriving here are totally touching. They're clumsy with their backpacks, carrying way too much weight, stumbling in totally exhausted. They're often inexperienced, wearing the wrong clothes and shoes, but they're ever so greatful to find a warm bed and a hot meal, to be able to get their clothes washed, take a shower etc. Reminds me of myself when I first got here a year ago, I was the same way. We help them wherever we can by providing a few pointers or passing on items that were left behind by other pilgrims. You'd be amazed at the stuff we collect here: Shoes, clothing, raincoats, bucketloads of shampoo, toothpaste and soap, maps and brochures, even blankets sometimes. In rare cases where they totally break down we'll even give them a cup of tea to get them back on their feet (but not too often, we're not a pub :))

I'm still on the laundry service, and amazed at what some people wear on their hike through the mountains. I can't imagine being very comfortable in a long skirt or a pair of glittery disco pants. And I don't think these really thin laced panties will be very warm. Today's most notable laundry submission however, was a Korean boy bringing in a bucketload of just bras and panties. I guess he and/or his girlfriend take being warm-blooded a bit too seriously.

My chief responsibility are bed sheets: There are 183 beds in the new house; We wash 16 sheets every day, so it takes us about two weeks to do them all, and then we start over. We do clean them all out every day of course, removing dirt and hairs - but we can't wash them all every day, there are too many.

It's really nice to see your work is appreciated from time to time. Last night around 8, this girl came in, totally shaking, barely able to stand, unable to get her Credential (like a Camino Passport) from her backpack. We'd actually just shut down laundry for the day, but we made an exception for her. She was soooooo happy to get clean and dry clothes :)

Yesterday morning some heavy snow took us by surprise. Most pilgrims gulped at the idea of having to go through that, in spite of being dressed for the occasion. Weather conditions were still obvious at night: Our laundry service could barely keep up and the machines almost gave out (and so did we) as people came in with ponchos, sneakers (we don't do those), rubber gloves and even a stuffed pillow. Understandibly, their graditude went through the roof when we delived their clothes back to their beds clean and dry, and that's what makes this job worthwhile :)

I added some more pics to the Lourdes report; Hope to be able to add more soon. The Internet is so slow here I might as well send pics over on a flash drive via homing pigeon.