Hospitalera Day 13 Part 2

Well, that was an adventure! Apparently all of Spain and part of Portugal was without electricity for about 17 hours! The rumours in our small village expanded on that, with speculation that power was out in almost all of Europe and even Turkey!

We were actually better off than most, I guess. We have gas power for our stove and hot water. So pilgrims could have a hot shower and we still had our afternoon tea, ☕️ with water heated by the stove instead of the electric kettles. Restaurants were open with a limited menu, as long as you could pay with cash. Our local tienda was open, also for cash transactions.

Apparently in Astorga all shops and restaurants shut down completely when the power went out. Here it was business as usual - except no phone internet, or lights. And no way to charge the phone. I am very grateful for our situation here in Rabanal.

The worst was being unable to find out anything about what was happening, as cell service was cut off as well, except for the occasional signal. So we just speculated, and bonded over candlelit dinner and fireplace chats.

As usual, we had some interesting pilgrims. There was Valentin and his dog Aria. Aria had to sleep in the garden but Valentin got a bunk.

Regine and her daughter Coline started their Camino in Sarria, walked to Santiago de Compostela, then turned around to walk back home to Belgium! 🇧🇪

There was a young woman from Hungary who is walking the Camino in 17 days! That’s about 50 km per day. And less than half the number of days I used!

Everyone went to bed fairly early, hoping for electricity to arrive by morning.Read more