There was a certain comfort in the simplicity of daily life on the Camino. I would check into the Albergue at the end of a days walk, give them my credential to stamp, pay for the night, and go to my bed. The cost of a bed for the night was sometimes “donativo” which means you pay whatever you feel like donating to keep the Albegue operating. But mostly it was five to seven euros, about six fifty to nine dollars. Occasionally it was as much as ten euros, about twelve to thirteen dollars, for private albergues. I would find my bed, the lower bunk on a bunk bed, with a mattress and a pillow. They saved the lower bunks for us older folks and gave the upper bunks to the younger folks. Sometimes they gave you a paper cover for the mattress and pillow, sometimes not.
I would set Mr Burple on the pillow and say, “Well Mr Burple, this is our home for the night. It felt right, it felt complete. It was simple. Then I would unpack my pack, get my one change of clean clothes, my flip flops for shower shoes, my soap and towel and head for the shower. I have to explain my towel. It was the size of a hand towel, just a little longer. Because it is a camping towel, it is very thin and light weigh, but absorbent. Not absorbent enough, as it turned out. I totally underestimated the size. Often after using the towel, I finished drying off with my dirty clothes. Most of the time the showers had hot water, but not always. The water stayed on for one minute then shut off and I would have to push the button again. Sometimes there was a spray attachment on the rope like metal tube that I could attach to a bracket on the wall to make it like a shower. But often the bracket on the wall was broken, so I just had a spray nozzle to hold and spray myself. When the water shut off after a minute I had to push the button to make it flow again, retrieve my bottle of soap from the floor, open the bottle, pour some soap in my hand and suds myself. Sometime in this process the water would shut off again and I had to balance the soap and push the button. I didn't bring a wash cloth.
After my shower I would gather my dirty clothes from the day, my soap and my clothes pins. There were typically one or more large sinks for washing clothes by hand. Sometimes there were washers or dryers, but they were fairly expensive to use, especially for my small amount of clothes. I washed my clothes by hand every day except two. Then I would hang them on a line to dry.
After the laundry, depending on the time, I would go sight seeing, out to eat or shopping. Markets were usually closed between 1:30 and 4:30 or 5:00. So between those hours, I might go have my large meal for the day or go sight seeing, if there was anything interesting to see. Shopping was usually for yogurt, fruit and granola bars for breakfast, two 1.5 liter bottles of water, and maybe nuts or something for snacks while walking. The big meal of the day was usually the Menu del Día or Menu del Peregrino which would include a first and second course, a postre (dessert), pan (bread,) and either wine or water. Sometimes you would also get a choice of a refresca (soda) to drink. The first course was a choice of four or five things like ensalada mixta, sopa (soup,) espaguetis (spaghetti,) white asparagus and mayonesa, etc. The second course would be a choice of four or five main courses, typically some form of beef, pork, chicken and fish baked or fried. Sometimes local specialties were in this group. The postre would be things like helado (ice cream), flan, tarte (cake), yogur, or some local dish. The meals for the most part were yummy and very filling. I could only eat half of what was served most days. These meals were available between 1 pm and 3 pm or 7 pm and 9 pm. If I didn’t eat at the early time, I would wait until the later time or just grab a bocadilla (large sandwich on a baquette.)
The other part of my routine was to get everything ready for the next day. This included wrapping my knee, if needed, bandaging blisters, etc. I had put on my only other set of clothes when I took a shower and I would sleep in these because it made it easier to get going in the morning and because I didn’t bring a night gown. I would also rinse out my camelback, add two liters of water and put it in my pack. All of this would be done after the big meal if I ate early or before the big meal if I ate later.
At bed time I would stuff everything in my pack back except Mr Burple, my bedbug sack I slept in, a small bag with all my valuables (phone, passport, money, glasses and credential) which went in the bedbug sack I slept in, and a bottle of water. I did this because it made it easier to pick everything up in the dark early morning and take it out of the sleeping area to a lighted area without waking everyone up or overlooking some article of clothing in the pitch black before dawn. Then I got in bed, read Dark Tower on the Kindle App on my iphone, and fell asleep.
This routine became very comforting. I had so few things to worry about. Walk, do the routine, sleep, get up and walk again. Day after day. One day at a time.
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