Agapito Trigal López 

                 "Amigo del camino

                     y del peregrino"

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Agapito lives on the (left hand side of the) carretera between León and Hospital de Órbigo,

in the little village named San Miguel del Camino. He places a basket with cookies,sweets

and peanuts on the road, so that the passing pilgrims can help themselves. (January 2010: his basket is still there!)

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 EDUARDO

In front of the main entrance.

Eduardo lives in Villafranca Montes de Oca (near Burgos). He is the caretaker of the new hotel/restaurant and

 albergue (!)  "San Antonio Abad" ***** This very luxurious hotel / restaurant and  excellent "Albergue de Pere-

 grinos" has been  opened in  April 2009.  It took  three years  to modernize  this former monastery,  just off the

 main  road, behind  the church. The bedrooms  are  beautiful  and the  restaurant will be first class.  The Alber-

 gue  is well - equipped  and very clean. The enormous  building also houses a kitchen/dining room for the pil-

 grims. The view from this dining room is magnificent! It is estimated that an amount of three million Euros has

 been  spent  to build  this building as it is today.  Well done Eduardo, amigo!  ¡Muy buena suerte con su hotel!

All rooms are different. They do not have numbers, but, at the request of Eduardo, carry the names of flowers.

The room left above is named "Azucena" . Right above: a view from the pilgrims' dining room.

     Reservations: Tel  947 58 21 49

All pilgrims pass this hotel / refuge. Villafranca Montes de Oca is at 45 kms east from Burgos.

 REMEDIOS AND LAURA at BAR O POIO (8 kms past Cebreiro in Galicia)

Remedios has served the pilgrims for decades. She opens her bar daily to serve food and drinks to the pilgrims.

In case of a power cut (which is a regular event because of bad weather) she uses wood to heat up the stove!

 

           Avelino Pérez Chana

Bar ''Oasis'' - San Justo de la Vega

(A few kilometers before Astorga)

Avelino, and his wife Josefina,

produce the best "tortilla española"

on the Camino de Santiago.

Their secret for success: use only the very best ingredients, do not overcharge

your customers, and work hard.

   Dietmar Völkel

  Veteran Pilgrim (here on his way through Santilliana del Mar, Cantabria in 2007)

Veteran pilgrim Dietmar Völkel (from Dortmund, Germany), a member of the

Handbook Support Team, states on the Northern Road:

"In a few words the road from Bilbao to Arzúa and to Santiago de Compostela:

good shoes, a light backpack, excellent condition!!!

Sleep in the albergue of Bilbao. It is very good. Ask for a map in the Tourist Office

near the Guggenheim Museum. On the coast a lot of climbs are tough!!!!

In the first city in Cantabria, Castro Urdiales, you can obtain a free map in the

tourist office in the harbor. These free maps are very good.Take the ferry from Somo to Santander,

which has a reasonable albergue. Stay at least one day in Gijón; it is a very beautiful city!!!!"

"The road from Gijón to Avilés is not so nice; a lot of industry.

The albergue of Tapia (on the steep coast line) is good for one stay only.

Be sure to check in early at the albergue of Ribadeo; it fills up quickly.

Avoid at all cost the albergues of Cavavedo and the Monastery of Sobrado!!!!!

There are other possibilities to stay the night. Make sure you carry good rain gear in Galicia!!!

Many pilgrims have already been caught out, wet.

The Northern Road is 'wunderschön' with everything you ever may wish:

sea, beach and mountains.

I shall return!!!"

     Dietmar rings his newspaper "Der Westfälische Anzeiger" (Dortmund) from the Monastery of Cóbreces, Cantabria, Spain.

        www.wa-online.de

Veteran pilgrim in HAITI !!

Jack and Anna met a few years ago on the

St. James Way to Santiago de Compostela.

He needed a proofreader for his novel

Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Chronicle of Love.

Within a few days Anna 'organized' the proofreading,

which was done professionally by an American friend of her: Emily Burns Higley

Now Anna is in Central America, helping desperate people, as always. Here is her report:

 

[SANTO DOMINGO: 16 FEBRUARY 2010   3:23 pm]

Yesterday I flew out from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo on a 12 seater UN humanitarian flight.

I expect my 4 days of leave can be called a humanitarian ”project”. 

I arrived in Haiti on day 6 after the earthquake. Norwegian Church Aid called me the second day of the disaster;

I had one day briefing at their office and off I went.

That did not leave too much time to check out from my work, say goodbye to friends and family and pack for a

three months mission to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

It did not give time to mentally prepare for this catastrophy either.  I had to rely on my previous experience,

especially the work I did in Aceh, Indonesia after the Tsunami.

One month has gone and it is amazing to see the changes from the first few days.

The NCA team consisting of Watsan (Water and Sanitation) experts, one team leader,

a nurse and myself, with a Terms of Reference totally unrealistic (as usual). 

My title is Protection and Psychosocial Adviser.  So what does that really mean?

The important part starting off the work was to coordinate with the UN and the NCA implementing partners.

My experience from various UN Agencies was a great advantage.

I had to concentrate on developing structures and networking among partners to be able to get

work started on a overall scale, not focusing on one to one challenges.

But, at the same time individual attention was given to a few vulnerable people.

In a large catastrophy helping one to one will give little overall emergency help.

Saying this, I have experienced some wonderful stories where parent and child have been reunified,

medical help have arrived in time and people are grateful for our assistance. 

Viva Rio is a Brasilian – Haitian organisation that Norway has supported for years. 

They have experience from working in the slums of Rio, hence the name. 

In P-au-P they work in what was – is, a ”red district”, meaning a district where crime

and social problems made it a dangerous zone of the city.

We were lucky to have this partner so the work could be operational very quickly.

The Brasilian workers are the best social workers, water engineers etc. that I have met. 

On top of that they are extremely nice and really know how to work community based. 

They speak Creole and know the culture.  Viva Rio has hundreds of local people that are paid a small fee to do various work.

Without these people I would not have been able to see results so fast.

We work very well together; my ”technical knowledge” and understanding of UN and emergency work, contacts

and networking, connected to their skills make a good base for being operational.

Getting funding for projects is a major important issue from the start. 

Writing proposals to head office; to the UN, f.inst. to Unicef to get funding for the ruined schools;

Save the Children to get funding for Psychosocial activity centers in tents, called Child Friendly Space,

is a job that must be done.  Without working 18 hours a day 7 days a week the first two weeks and now 15 hours days

it would not have been possible. On top of the job there are ”visitors”. 

The press, both within our organization ACT (Action for Churches Together) and outside.

It is important to ”sell” what we do so the donors will give generously.

New staff members come and go and I was the only one with a three months contract from the start. 

New people must be informed and put to work rapidly.

Concrete results like getting supplies for our young female doctor in the camp was prioritized. 

Through UNICEF I managed to get a ”hospital in the box” to treat 3000 people for one

month plus extra medical supplies from various field hospitals I called in to see (all this free of charge).

It is most painfull to see children suffer.  The wounds and the injuries, the cries, the lack of proper

medicine and equipment for the Haitian nurses and doctors in the camps to treat the patients

is hard to be witness to. I can foresee many amputations to come due to totally improper first aid.

At least I could help to get better working conditions for the little clinic in one of our camps.

Shelter, watertank, fridge for the medication and so on.  It was also important to connect

the young female Haitian doctor with the UN World Health Org., so she could attend their meetings and get more support.

At least 250 patients line up patiently in the sun with small kids and babies in their arms to be seen by one doctor

who has worked night and day since the first day. They  all live in tents or on the street,

not a good place to return to when you are sick.

No mattresses, very little food and basic needs. NCA has been busy putting up latrines and water supplies.

Hopefully the rainy season will not arrive early.

I wish I had extra people here to work on the Protection and Psychosocial. 

Protection in the first stage of an emergency is so vital.

Children are seperated from their caregivers; young men and women are at risk of trafficking;

handicapped are especially at risk; many extra handicapped  do not get any time of support. 

I am looking forward to getting one more PS adviser to join us at the end of this week.

This is a former collegue and friend. So much time is spent in traffic. 

The roads have almost all been reopened after the rubble from the fallen buildings have been cleared,

petrol is available and the local traffic have started plus the extra traffic due to the UN and Humanitarian world.

I spend roughly 4 hours a day sittting stuck in traffic, riding on very rough tracks, always surrounded by

horrendous views of the disaster; long food distribution lines and people digging in the rubble. 

You have to try to block the view from your mind to keep going.

It is not possible to take it all in as then you would not be able to do your job.  

Everyone has lost someone. This include the UN that has had a mission here for years.

The UN headoffice collapsed and also the Montana hotel where many internationals

where staying. Husbands, wives, children of the international community died. 

Many of their collegues stayed behind to carry on the important emergency, but what a burden. 

New UN staff are arriving daily to take over.

The Haitians are very religious people and over 80 % are Christians.  This has been a great help. 

From the first night we arrived we could hardly sleep due to the singing at night and the prayers. 

Last weekend it was one month since the earthquake.  The day and night and for all weekend prayers

could be heard and incredible singing. When I asked our driver what he did to deal with his trauma,

he said: "I help people and I pray."  This is what most of them answer. 

The driver had been a security guard at the Montana hotel and just happened to be outside when it happened. 

He spent the next few days pulling out his friends alive or dead.  The worst, he said, was hearing them call

his name and he could not reach and help.

As I said I am now on a few days of rest in a lovely place on the beach in the Dominican Republic.

Free drinks, food etc. 24 hours a day.... But, I cannot enjoy it yet. My energy is in Haiti.

At breakfast this morning I recognized the person who has been coordination the UN and NGOs the last month.

At the meetings he always looked strong and fit. 

This morning he looked 10 years older and very, very weak.  Just like myself.

 

I will no doubt feel fit again when returning on Thursday for two more months.  At least I take one day at the time.

 

All my love!

Anna

 

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Anna in Cambodja, celebrating the New Year with monks.  (April 2006)

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