Update on training weekends

The London Training weekend is now FULL. 

The Kelowna training weekend has been moved from April 17/19 to June 5/7. Please contact David at Kelowna@santiago.ca or Mary Virtue at mary@victoriacamino.ca fo more information and a registration form. Information on the course can also be found in the sidebars. 

Training also offered in Kelowna BC

Training will be offered the weekend of April 17-19. For mor information and a registration form, please contact David at kelowna@santiago.ca. 

Information about the course, the schedule, seeing where Canadians are posted this year and other trainings, can be found further down in this blog or on the sidebar. 

Training offered in London, Ontario

We are pleased to let everyone know that as well as the Training in Calgary in April, there will be another training session in London Ontario. Please contact Tom Friesen. Please see the registration form below. If you cannot print the form, please send Tom the information by email. Thanks

Camino de Santiago
Hospitalero training
April 17-19, 2020
London, ON
                                                                                     

Thank you for your interest in training to be a hospitalero/a.  We guarantee that it will be a weekend of fun, learning, and reinforcement of all those things you learned and felt on the Camino.  Some folks will be coming from out of town and will require accommodation.  If you have room to billet a single or couple, please indicate below. You will have great fun reliving the Camino!

Please complete this form and return it with a cheque for $125.00 or your donativo (what you feel you can afford) payable to Tom Friesen, 1403 – 22 Picton Street, London, ON N6B 3R5 (or return by email and send the cheque separately). E-mail tomfriesen@hotmail.com  Any money left after the expenses for the weekend will be donated to an albergue or hospitaleros voluntarios which staffs many albergues on the Camino.

Name:

Address:

Telephone:                                                email;

Will you require billeting for the Friday/Saturday/Sunday nights?

Can you provide billeting for the Friday/Saturday/Sunday nights?

Any food restrictions we should be aware of?

When did you walk/cycle the Camino?   Month and year(s) please.

Why do you want to be a hospitalero/a?

Are you prepared to volunteer for 15 days in 2020 or 2021? (The Federation assigns volunteers from the 1^st to the 15^th of the month of the 16^th to 30^th/31^st . You should show up a day early to “learn the ropes” and for a smooth transition at the albergue.)

Thanks, Tom Friesen,  Darlene McKee

Training offered in Calgary in April 2020

In preparation for helping out in Spain for the Holy Year 2021, we are training more volunteers. 

Calgary will host another Hospitalero Training Course on April 24 - 25 - 26, 2020. So, if you are interested in volunteering on the Camino de Santiago, this course is for you! It is comprehensive and fun and it is required by the Spanish Federation of the Friends of the Camino to be placed as a volunteer in their hostels.  Criteria for course acceptance are that you must already have been a pilgrim and stayed in volunteer run hostels supported by donations.

To enhance the learning experience, registration is limited to 16 people. 

If you do not live in Calgary you can be billeted by former pilgrims in their home. 

Complete the registration form and don't miss out!

Monique Rigole 

Course Coordinator 

Calgary Chapter, Canadian Company of Pilgrims                           Hospitalero Training                             April 24 - 25 - 26 2020 Calgary

If you have walked a camino and are interested volunteering as a hospitalero in a pilgrim’s hostel, this course is for you! Please complete this registration form and return it with a cheque made payable to Calgary Chapter, Canadian Company of Pilgrims in the amount of $125.00 by April 15, 2020. Unfortunately e-transfers can not be made therefore, mail your cheque to Monique Rigole #306, 4 Hemlock Crescent SW Calgary AB T3C 2Z1 (or, e-mail the registration form to Monique and mail the cheque separately). 

We promise a weekend of fun, learning and, reinforcement of all those good things you valued and felt on the Camino. Participation is limited to 16, don’t miss out by being late!

Training begins on the Friday evening with a Spanish dinner and ends on Sunday at 4pm.

Name:

Address:

Telephone:                                                      email:

If you do not come from Calgary do you require billeting Friday and Saturday? 

If you are from Calgary, could you provide billeting Friday and Saturday, for out of town participants?                                                   If yes, for how many?

Are there any food restrictions we should be aware of?

Which Camino(s) did you walk/cycle and when? (Month and year)

Did you stay at Municipal or parochial albergues? 

Why do you want to be a hospitalero/a?

Are you prepared to volunteer for 15 days in 2020 or 2021? 

As soon as your registration and payment are received, you will receive confirmation that you are registered. In early April, participants will receive a detailed training schedule, addresses of training venues and a pre-course assignment which you will bring to the course. 

Contact me with any other course questions. 

Meanwhile, the training team is looking forward to seeing you.

Monique Rigole

Hospitalero Training Coordinator, Calgary

Calgary, April 2019

Hospitalero Training in Victoria and Winnipeg

We have now confirmed that there will be a Hospitalero Training weekend on Friday November 29 to Sunday December 1, in Victoria and November 22-24 in Winnipeg. If you've ever wanted to give back to the Camino, this may be your opportunity. Please click the links on the side to see the schedule for the training (Friday dinner to Sunday 4pm) and also the registration form.

Hospitalero Training offered this Spring in Calgary, Victoria and Ottawa

If you had a wonderful time on the Camino and would like to give back, consider becoming a Hospitalero/a and working for two weeks in Spain of France. The training we provide is the same as is offered in Spain, Australia, South Africa and the USA. The weekend is lots of fun and at the end, you'll feel confident about being in an albergue, welcoming and helping pilgrims.

Training in Ottawa will be on the first weekend in March, 1st-3rd. (starts Friday evening and ends by 4pm on Sunday)Victoria will be on the weekend of April 5-7 and Calgary on the weekend of April 26-28.

Please contact Tom Friesen, tomfriesen(at)hotmail.com regarding training in Ottawa
Mary Virtue, maryvirtue(at)shaw.ca for the Victoria training and
Monique Rigole mrigole5(at)gmail.com for the Calgary training.

Final Report from Helen in Salamanca

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

What a shame it is to be leaving Salamanca, the most beautiful city in Spain (according to guide books, & I concur) just when I was learning to navigate my way around this maze of calles and ruas without the use of GPS (10% of the time). I had it all: the good, the bad, and the ugly: the homeless guy who, as we know, is not allowed to stay at albergues (this saga includes a peregrino telling him where he could obtain a credencial, a visit by the police, and me staying up till 1 a.m. waiting for him to come downstairs, which he did twice, my eyes boring into him as if to say "I'm watching you, buddy);  a juvenile delinquent with anger management problems who demonstrated this in a horrific outburst while his handler was out buying groceries (a lot of shouting and swearing in German that evening); the "ugly" Spaniard who went ballistic each time I explained one of the hostel rules to him - he even demanded the gate key so that he could return at night after the albergue was closed (needless to say I didn't give it to him). Thanks to Mary et al in Victoria, who prepared us for every possible situation. (I wonder if Kickboxing-for-Dummies could be added to the curriculum).

But then there were those magical moments that made it all worthwhile: the famous Korean author (who is the reason why so many South Koreans walk the Camino) who stopped by for a visit just so that she could lie one more time in an albergue bunk bed; sharing a bottle of wine in the evening with peregrinos while discussing art and politics in three languages; the young German woman who had absolutely everything she owned strapped to her bike, including her viola - she entertained us in the evening with some of her own compositions; taping together a raincoat (or more accurately raindress) from the thick blue plastic bags that are used for storing knapsacks (but which are then thrown out, not recycled) and giving a fashion show for the peregrinos complete with runway walk (the runway being the bicycle ramp into the albergue). I called my new line Helen's Camino Fashions. All this and more....... I had it all.

In concluding, I would like to share with you things they don't teach in hospitalero training:

1) The hospitalero hug is hugging on the left side (heart to heart) and holding it for 3 seconds.

2) Italian Stallions give you a kiss on each cheek when they leave. Try to pick yourself up off the floor with dignity.

3) The charming Spanish will hold your hand in theirs and kiss it, their liquid black eyes making you melt. Pull yourself together!

4) Beware of the French with their make-me-swoon accents. Try not to follow them out the door.  (Next time I am definitely going to request an hospitalera gig on the French side of the Pyrenees).

5) And on a more practical note, the police will courier a forgotten passport or ID card to the next albergue.