The Pilgrim's Passport
The pilgrim's passport is necessary for all who wish to
stay in refugios, which is also where you can
obtain your passport. It is important to get your
passport stamp at each refugio along the way.
The stamps will be your documentation that you
have completed your pilgrimage when you arrive
in Santiago. When everything checks out you are
given your Compostelana, with your first name
written in Latin. |
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The Pilgrim's Refugios
Staying in a refugio is part
of the Camino experience. The purpose of the refugios
is to provide a place to sleep and bathe; it is
a place of refuge. Because they are simple and
cover only the basic human needs, they put you
in touch with the fact that all you really need
in this world is you.
There are no separate sleeping
quarters for women or men, although showers and
bathrooms are often divided. |
The majority of the refugios
are free, but a donation of 3 to 5 dollars p.p. is always
appreciated. The pilgrim's are granted their space in
a refugio on a first come first serve basis. We usually
checked in before 4 p.m. and were always able to get a
bed.
Unless the times when we
had a room to ourselves, we often were woken up or kept
awake by snorers. Ear plugs gave us some relief. Another
irritating aspect of sleeping in refugios was that pilgrims
would often be getting up and start packing already at
6 a.m. Even though some would try to do this quietly,
most of the time the cumulative and continuous noise would
wake us up far too early for our taste.
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