Hospitaleros now being posted!

We now have 13 hospitaleros that have been posted to 8 different albergues in Spain and France for the 2011 season.  Please see the link on the right to see where they will be.  And if you are on the camino, stop and say hi!
We have another training session planned for Toronto for the weekend of May 6-8, so we will be able to provide even more hospitaleros to serve the pilgrims.  If you are interested in joining us for this weekend, please check the links on the right for an outline of the schedule and for the registration form.

Training coming up in Toronto in May

We will be offering another training session in Toronto, the weekend of May 6-8 2011. There has been some demand from the area of Kitchener, Toronto and environs, so we hope that people will be able to take advantage of this session, to prepare themselves to return to Spain to work as a hospitalero/a.  Gib, who attended the training session in Victoria earlier this month has already received his posting to Nájera for the first two weeks of May. If you are interested in seeing some of the albergues where Canadians are posted, click here.
Click here for the registration information.

7 Hospitaleros ready to serve!

We had a terrific weekend at Mary's house, training 7 past pilgrims to return to Spain or France to serve as hospitaleros. The weekend followed the same format as other training sessions, with a reception and dinner on Friday evening, featuring tapas and paella and of course, lots of Spanish wine.  Saturday and Sunday started early (especially Sunday due to the change of clocks) and were filled with sharing, discussions and exercises to prepare the new hospitaleros for every possible scenario that they may meet at their albergue. By 3pm on Sunday, everyone was heading home to Powell River, Comox, Courtney, Seattle, Portland, Calgary and Oak Bay.  We do hope that they will all have the opportunity to serve in this or next year.

After the commissioning ceremony, we took time for a photo that included two Victoria hospitaleros, one who served in Grañon and the other in Corbigny. Their candid comments about their time spent serving the camino were much appreciated.

The next training session to be held in Canada will be in Ontario at the end of May.  Further details will be available in the next month.  If you are interested in returning to the camino to serve as a hospitalero/a, please email and we will notify you of further training sessions.

Hospitalero training offered in Victoria

For those who are interested in volunteering as a hospitalero sometime in the future, we are offering training on the weekend of March 11-13 in Victoria, BC.  Reports from those who have recently served can be found on the right, along with registration forms and a sample of the training schedule.  The cost is $100, and includes meals from Friday night to Sunday afternoon (except Saturday dinner). Billeting can easily be arranged.  We hope you will join us!

Hospitalero Training in November

For those who are interested in volunteering as a hospitalero sometime in the future, we are offering training on the weekend of November 5-7, 2010 in London Ontario.  Reports from those who have recently served can be found on the right, along with registration forms and a sample of the training schedule.  The cost is $100, and includes meals from Friday night to Sunday afternoon (except Saturday dinner). Billeting can easily be arranged.  We hope you will join us!

Welcome

Tom and Mary are happy to present this blog to keep our Canadian hospitaleros in touch with each other and hospitaleros from around the world.  If you would like to see where hospitaleros who have trained with us are volunteering, click here

For those of you new to this page, the question may arise:  What is a hospitalero/a?  For those who have walked or cycled the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the answer is "the angel that greeted me at the door of the albergue when I was tired and thirsty".  And indeed, hospitaleros work at the albergues/refugios/hostels to provide clean, dry accommodation and sometimes provide meals.

Tom and Mary have both worked as hospitaleros in Spain and France and since 2007, we have been training past pilgrims to volunteer in albergues.  The registration form for the next training session in London, Ontario is here.

 

This group shot are the new hospitaleros in Victoria BC, 2009, just before they hosted the November Victoria pilgrim gathering.

 The hospitaleros learn to prepare tasty treats for the pilgrims.