Please help me to continue to help my neighbors here in Santiago (background story here: https://egeria.house/egeria-house-version-3-or-so/ to have a great feast for Saint James Day and also to provide food security for them in the weeks and months to come. Every little helps – a lot!
What your donations will be used for:
Most importantly, good food like fresh fruit and vegetables plus stables like milk, pasta, rice, canned pulses and the like.
Daily box for one family … Covid-safe pick-up for up, four families a day at the moment.
One of my neighbors has special dietary needs due to diabetes and related complications (heart/kidneys) so a lot of special food (salt and sugar free mostly) is required.
Basic house cleaning products (washing up liquid, bleach, floor cleaner) plus face masks, hand soap and sanitizer to keep them and everybody in the neighborhood safe.
Diapers/nappies, baby soap and so on for their (grand) children.
I also want to move furniture, again!, to free a bedroom in the flat and to create a better storage space (the hallway is getting crowded!) and I would like to add more shelves to it to accommodate in kind donations of clothes, books, and toys etc that are already coming in via various sources.
Decent clothes are very important to maintain people’s dignity and to increase their chances of finding a job. Like it or not, clothes make the (wo)man – that is the reality.
I also want to continue to grow plants (herbs, flowers and edibles) for my neighbours to cheer them up. Low income families simply don’t have the resources to do that themselves but they really do appreciate the possibility to just pick up some free plants from the box on my door step. So far I have distributed 250+ plants this year, hopefully enabling kids to observe and learn how plants grow.
As it is the feast of Saint James this Sunday, I really want to add some extra ‘treats’ like Tarta de Santiago and children’s toys because I strongly believe that if you live in Santiago, you should be able to celebrate and enjoy this day, especially in a Holy Year!, no matter your income level.
As for pilgrims, I continue to help them online plus I have given those that ‘knocked at the door’ gear and food as needed since the pandemic started. Granted, very few did so, but those I helped were in need.
Once I am fully vaccinated, which should be end of August, I plan to offer again hospitality to pilgrims in need aka those without resources. I do NOT plan to make any competition to existing albergues/hostels/hotels and the like, as they are already fighting for their survival and that of their families. But if it will be the choice between ‘under the bridge/on the streets’, or Egeria House, I will be open for them in future with no questions asked.
Or on this same website, go to the top right corner and you’ll find the donation buttons that allows you to donate directly with your debit/credit card or PP account.
If you prefer to use (Transfer)Wise just just contact me for my details via any of this ways: https://egeria.house/contact/
If you can’t donate, please share this post via social media.
Thank you in the name of my neighbors for all your ongoing help during this, continuing, challenging times for all of us, SY
I started something new, to help pilgrims, please help me spread the word about it:
Santiago cathedral as seen from Alameda park.
A very simple set-up that I hope proves to be useful for future pilgrims:
* Anybody interested can message me via this Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Caminopreparation and we set up a one-to-one Skype or Zoom appointment. * We chat about your Camino plans and any questions you might have, be it gear or fear. * I will not give you absolute answers, but rather help you to discover what is the best answer for YOU. * After the chat I send you an email with the relevant information to take your Camino plans further. (Apps, Packing list, useful websites, really anything we have chatted about). * Cost: Donation at your discretion via Paypal or (Transfer)Wise. * Lack of funds is NOT a reason not to contact me, if you can’t make a donation, just give me a smile 😉
Who I am: My name is Sybille Yates and I walked my first Camino in 1999. Since then I have walked many pilgrimages to Santiago, Assisi and Rome in a variety of countries like Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and the Czech Republic with a rough total of 12 000km/7500mi. I also have volunteered as a hospitalera in a variety of albergues. I now live in Santiago and try to help pilgrims as good as I can. And last, but not least, I have written a book about preparing for the Camino https://amzn.to/3ysiu0y and whilst I still think that it’s a good book, our times are so fast changing and challenging that I am putting this offer out here so that you can get the most relevant and correct information in real time.
Like many other pilgrims I had planned to walk a Camino during these days. I wanted to start in Roncesvalles and reach Santiago on 24th July 2021, for the vigil of the feast of Saint James. My first Camino was in 1999, also a Holy Year, but as I walked it in winter I never experienced the ‘craziness’ of a such a year. So, I have always said: I have experienced a Holy Year (2004) as a hospitalera, now I want to experience it as a pilgrim, before I am too old to sleep on the floor! So, why I am still here in Santiago? As it’s a while since I wrote the last blog post, here some random updates and tentative lookouts in the future.
These statues mark the spot from where pilgrims can see the spires of the Cathedral for the first time. Monte de Gozo – The Mountain of Joy.
Covid, the Caminos and Spain
Good news first: Vaccination seems to work very well and prevents serious illness and death in most people, even with the Delta variant being now firmly established here in Spain.
Unfortunately there is also a bit of bad news, it doesn’t seem to protect 100% and that means that people that are vaccinated can be also asymptomatic carriers and continue to spread the virus. Also, case numbers are the highest among unvaccinated young people and teenagers, those who, sadly, seem not be willing, a lot of the time, to adhere to the guidelines. But whilst case numbers are rising steeply across all of Spain, hospitalisation and death rates are increasing only very slowly but sadly steadily.
For entry requirements to Spain, Portugal and France, please follow Marion’s blog here: https://santiagoinlove.com/en/ She updates it at least once a week, usually on Sundays, and her information is always spot on and backed up by official sources.
Also, follow the guidelines of your home country regarding travel to/from and check if your airline or similar has any additional requirements like a negative test and the like.
As for the Caminos, all of them are open, there are no movement restrictions at the moment that affect pilgrims and they arrive each day here in Santiago (see https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/).
Not all albergues are open and those that are, operate at reduced capacity, 30-75% depending on their layout and local/regional guidelines.
So, yes, walking or biking a Camino is perfectly possible BUT it is recommended:
To bring your own sleeping bag as pretty much all albergues have put away their blankets. It’s simply too expensive for them to wash them after each pilgrim.
To reserve a bed. Even most of the albergues that operated in the past on a ‘first come, first served’ base, allow now reservations.
Note: Xunta albergues here in Galicia have just done away with this and are back to the ‘no reservation possible’ system.
On the more frequented Caminos I would recommend to reserve 1-2 days ahead, on the ones with less infrastructure, more planning is necessary to avoid too long stages.
If your next travel destination requires you to have a negative test, you need to book them well in advance and also ask them how long it will take to have the result. Sergas, the Galician health authority, maintains a list of laboratories here: https://www.sergas.es/Saude-publica/VIH-Entidades-probas-rapidas?idioma=es plus the tourist office here in Santiago has also a current list.
I know now of several pilgrims that struggled to get their test in time to be allowed to board their flight home, so book your appointment early and make sure you book the right test with the correct time frame for your home country/next destination! Additionally to the list mentioned above, you can also try http://www.laboratorioclinicocompostela.es/#Contacto
Face Masks
The guidelines here in Spain have been relaxed and are now:
Indoors – Face masks have to be worn at all times, except when eating, drinking or sleeping or if you are in a space like a dormitory or hotel room where only members of the same household are present, for example if a family group of pilgrims has a dormitory all for themselves.
Outdoors – Face masks don’t have to be worn anymore IF you can keep a social distance of at least 1,5m from everybody that doesn’t belong to the same household as you. Which works well on the Camino but becomes more difficult to judge when you enter a village, town or city. Please err on the side of caution and wear your face mask if in doubt.
It is still important to follow the local news as the situation can change quickly, especially when it comes to at which capacity restaurants and cafes are allowed to operate and what their opening hours are.
Pilgrims also report that a lot of the ‘in between places’ where you stopped for a second breakfast and the all important Café con Leche in the past, are closed. So make sure you have enough water and snacks with you to get you to your day’s destination.
Pilgrim Numbers
This week the pilgrim’s office registered record numbers, with up to 1626 pilgrims (11th July and the highest number this year so far). This is most likely due to larger groups now arriving in Santiago, often school and/or college kids that come as an organized group. And here might emerge a problem.
Walking a Camino is still one of the safest activities you can do in these times, alone, in small groups (preferable from the same household). But take a bunch of kids, sometimes several hundred at once, load them in a bus and bring them to a starting point and walk the Camino with them?
In my opinion it’s completely unrealistic to expect that they stick to guidelines like face mask wearing and social distancing. We have already seen this here in Spain (off the Camino) when several school groups made end of year trips to Mallorca, had parties there and spread the virus among themselves and others.
They needed to be brought home by special buses and ambulances and are now in home quarantine, together with several hundred others that they came in close contact with. Sadly, a similar scenario, for big groups, is also possible on the Caminos, which would be devastating on so many levels.
It has now been months since the doorbell wasn’t ringing at least once, more often it rings two or three times, a day.
There are now 4 families, with a total of ~16 people, depending on my little neighbourhood pantry for food and other essentials.
Recently there was a steep increase in cost of electricity here in Spain, so many of the low income families face now the impossible choice of paying their electricity bills or putting enough food on the table.
Add to this that school holidays have begun, this means also that school lunches have stopped.
So, I plan to move some furniture around (again!) to create a better and bigger storage area in one of the bedrooms.
Current storage area.
Friends of mine are continuing to collect things like books, toys, shoes and clothing among their own friends and bring them to me. I sort them and distribute them among those of my neighbours that need this kind of help.
People are judged by their clothing far to often, so having access to good outfits is important to people’s self esteem and to how they are treated by those around them. Sadly clothing and dignity go hand in hand in many of our societies.
Sorted and ready to go …
If you are interested in the whole topic of ‘neighbours helping neighbours’, have a look at https://www.littlefreepantry.org/ Lots of excellent information there!
And if you want to support what I do here in Santiago for both neighbours and pilgrims, you can find the donation button at the top right corner of the website 😉
Balcony
Last year I started far too late with growing plants on my balcony but earlier this year I promised myself, and silently my neighbours, that it will be a riot of colours this year to cheer everybody up. And so far, I think I have succeeded!
Colour for the neighbourhod.
The balcony is not only incredible helpful for my own emotional well-being but also produces things I can share with my neighbours and flowers to brighten up the neighbourhood in general and hopefully lift everybody’s spirits a bit.
Apart of flowers, I am able to grow:
Enough chives, parsley and rucola/rocket salad to share around.
Cherry tomatoes are looking extremely promising and should provide an excellent harvest in a few weeks.
Top row: Calendula, parsley and chives. Bottom row: Cherry tomatoes and Padron peppers.
Other things that I grow (and hopefully will provide a good harvest):
Padron peppers (looking also good and are about to flower), Brussel sprouts, butternut squash, cucumbers, lemon basil, Calendula (also to make oil for my hands that suffer from too much soap and sanitizer), garlic (more for fun and mainly to keep pests off the other plants), mint and a variety of little house plants that I grow for my neighbours like loquat and Swedish Ivy (which is not Swedish, nor an ivy ;-).
Plants for my neighbours, I just put them before the house door for pick up.
In short: I am surprised each day how, with a bit of planning, I can grow not only enough produce for myself, but a surplus to share with others, on a balcony that roughly measures 1x3meters. The climate here in Galicia is a huge help with this!
Yes, you can grow cucumbers on a balcony.
Plants I found less ideal for the balcony:
Radishes and carrots (they need too much space for the harvest they produce) and the word on the papayas is still out 😉
Peas, they should be ideal for growing in the Galician climate, but after a short burst, they just died on me ;-( I need to experiment with bigger/deeper pots for them.
Personally
I am emotionally and mentally exhausted by the ongoing need for social distancing as I am still not vaccinated.
The good news is that I will receive my first jab on Wednesday 14th July and the second one around 8 weeks later. That means that from beginning of October I might be able to hug my equally fully vaccinated, by then, friends again. I haven’t touched or being touched by another human being since beginning March 2019 and I crave hugs and just normal social interaction. It has been such a long haul …
This Year’s and Future Projects
I have been asked if Egeria House will ‘open’ this year, the truth is that that it never has really closed. But yes, most of my Camino related activities have been, and will be for the time being online and/or socially distanced.
There have been pilgrims over the last 16 months that came to the house for food and/or replacement equipment and pilgrims that needed help to navigate their journey back home (test, travel restrictions etc).
I also still do Zoom meetings for pilgrims for a Facebook group and help with a CSJ (Confraternity Saint James, London, UK) Zoom meeting.
If vaccines, and their boosters, continue to work and if everybody that can get vaccinated gets vaccinated we might see a Holy Year 2022 that is as ‘normal’ as possible in these strange times. Which means really busy and crazy (in the good sense). Let’s hope and pray that this happens.
Update in progress! There have been a lot of questions how to help people that live on and have their business on the Camino. So I decided to compile a list as those cases come to my attention. Choose your case and donate directly to it and if you know of another place that needs help, please contact me: https://egeria.house/contact/
Camino Associations and Charities
The following organisations maintain albergues on the Caminos and/or help albergues to stay afloat in this difficult times. To see what each one does additionally, click through to their website.
Some time ago Dave Whitsun from the Camino Podcast contacted me and asked if I would agree to an interview, and, after giving it some thought, I said yes. Below the result. The Podcast is entitled ‘Tales from Two Houses’ because it first features and interview with Nate and Faith from Pilgrim House and then my bit regarding all the different versions Egeria House has gone through over the last few years. After the Podcast, you find a very short list of links that you might find helpful.
I wrote this during the first wave of the pandemic, but for reasons unknown, never published it. Today I came across it again and thought now might be the time to share it:
We live in a world of shattered dreams:
Shattered dreams of walking a Camino any time soon again.
Shattered dreams to keep our loved ones close and save.
Shattered dreams of a normality as we used to know it.
In that shattered world we now live in, I remember the words of a priest friend here in Santiago:
Be brave, tell somebody: I care about you!
Be brave, tell somebody: I forgive you!
Be brave, tell somebody: I hold you and yours close in my thoughts and prayers.
Because that is all we can offer each other just now:
A thought
A prayer
A dream that we might meet again.
The whole world is shattered and we don’t know where we go from here.
The yellow arrows are hidden.
We have to take the yellow arrows we learned about in the past now into the sad reality that is today’s world – and make the best we can out of our past experiences, for a better future for all of us.
What we have learned on the Camino we now need to apply in this strange world we woke up to.
To share what we have.
To discard what we don’t need.
And, most importantly, to forgive ourselves and others.
This is not a time to hold grudges, but a time to hold hands, virtually and safely, to confirm one single thing:
We are pilgrims and we are in this storm together.
We can build a better world together.
If we stick and work together.
This is the time to stay physically apart so that when we meet again, nobody is missing.
Since my first journey in that winter of the Holy Year 1999, fellow pilgrims have kept asking me: “But if you’re not Catholic, why do you make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela?”
And for more then 20 years my answer has always been the same: “Because Santiago was not a Catholic either, he was a follower of Jesus Christ, simply a Christian.”
The Apostle Saint James, the friend of the Lord, lived before the sad separation of the churches, at a time when
“All the believers lived together and had everything in common;”
Acts 2:44
That sounds like the experience we have had as pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. And that is why I believe that the Camino de Santiago is an opportunity par excellence for ecumenism.
On the Camino we can have conversations about our faith that we rarely have in our daily lives. Conversations about our different experiences and practices but more than anything else about what we have in common: The difficulties of living our faith in an increasingly secular world. The miracles of every day. Our trust in God.
The simple practices of living each day with Jesus and how we do that on a very practical and personal level.
But with this joy of sharing always comes a deep mourning that we cannot share the sacrament that all Christians have in common – the Eucharist.
I know, there are good reasons for this, but it hurts, it hurts a lot when I am in the cathedral and, just before the distribution of the body of Christ I hear those words: “That only Catholics can come to receive.”
I have a dream – That one day we can all participate in Holy Communion in the cathedral and in all the churches of the world, no matter what church we come from, because it is the Lord who invites us and who knows our hearts. And He makes us worthy to receive Himself.
I have a dream – To hear those words “All Christians are welcome at the Lord’s table!”
Paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. …
The first Christians were known as the ‘followers of the way’ as Saint Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles and the word pilgrim comes from the Latin ‘peregrinus’ which means he or she who crosses foreign lands as a free citizen – another thing we have in common.
We are all pilgrims to the eternal homeland – the heavenly Jerusalem, the new world where there is no mourning, no tears, only eternal joy in the presence of God!
At the end of his days on this earth Jesus prayed:
“… So that they may all be one. Like you, Father, in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ”
John 17:21
How can we tell non-believers that following Jesus is the best Way if we don’t walk together? For more than 20 years, each of my pilgrimages was dedicated to that: The unity of all Christians. Each step of my pilgrim feet was a prayer for that …
After this year that we have lived through, full of losses of loved ones and dreams, my prayer is:
Lord, help us each day to grow closer to you and to each other, do not allow the division between the churches to deepen, but help us to grow each day closer to our brothers and sisters, so that one day we can all participate all in the same Eucharist that nourishes us all.
Today I had to make a heartbreaking decision, but the announcement by archbishop Justin Welby didn’t leave me any other choice.
I hereby resign from my post of lay coordinator for the Church of England Camino Chaplaincy here in Santiago de Compostela as well from being a member of the Church of England.
The reason: Archbishop Justin Welby announced some days ago that he will take a sabbatical of three months starting July next year.
For those that don’t know this, a sabbatical is a combination of vacation and study time for, in this context, clergy that they are entitled to have every ten years.
Don’t get me wrong, I wholly approve of clergy taking time off to re-charge their batteries. But for the primate (leader) of the Church of England, this is not the time. Yes, take a holiday, spend time with your loved ones and re-charge your batteries, +Justin. But not for THREE MONTHS! And NOT during the worst time humanity has gone through in ages, and will go through for a long time to come!
By planning to take THREE MONTHS off you show a blatant disregard for Jesus’ teaching. Jesus took time off for a few days, retired to the wilderness BUT then he came back to serve those that needed him most. And he never took time off the cross …
By indulging yourself in this amount of time off and personal study of your favourite subject, +Justin, you show me just one thing – That you don’t care.
You don’t care about your clergy struggling to provide pastoral care in any safe way possible.
You don’t care about Matthew 25, because if you did, you would have established a food bank at Lambeth Palace a long time ago – and volunteered in it.
As a church leader you are called to lead, announcing that you’re planning to take a sabbatical during one of the most challenging times we all, in the UK and everywhere in the world, are passing through shows such a disregard for your own ministry – and it makes me furious.
One more thing: How many people that work in the frontline can afford to take three months off? Nurses, first responders, any emergency stuff. NONE of them!
So, take your sabbatical, take your time off, and discover that when YOU are back we’re gone because the sheep don’t follow an unfaithful shepherd, they follow one that cares about them. Or, even more importantly, they follow a shepherd that doesn’t treat them as sheep …
I am committed to following Jesus, are you +Justin?
In one short sentence – You failed to help to build the kingdom of God and I can’t be anymore a member of the church you are the archbishop of, nor to support it as I have done in the past.
Egeria House Future
I don’t know really, I still will strife to facilitate services for pilgrims that are hopefully coming this next year. I hope to welcome them and, perhaps, it is time to think about an Ecumenical Camino Chaplaincy. I will continue to provide any practical help I can to both my neighbours and pilgrims. And with the help of God, as long as I live, there will always be an Egeria House here in Santiago where those to ring the doorbell will find a helping hand …
Keep safe and sane everybody, tired and sad hugs from Santiago, SY
Yesterday was one of those rare days, for this time of year when the sun was shining and the sky was a gorgeous blue. So I went for a walk through town to take some photos …
Allotments, town hall and cathedral.
As I walked I noticed how quiet the city has become again. There are many reasons for this:
Perimeter Confinement Like in many other parts of Spain, non-essential travel in and out of Santiago isn’t allowed anymore. This means that there aren’t any tourists and other visitors coming into the city. The only ones allowed to travel to/from Santiago are people that work here and live somewhere else or vice versa, need to visit a doctor, an office, schools, and other educational institutions. As for …
Rua do Villar, only us locals around.
Pilgrim Numbers There is one exception to the ‘no non-essential travel rule’ and this was made for pilgrims that started their Camino before the 30th of October and can prove this with stamps in their pilgrim passport. These pilgrims are allowed to continue to Santiago, collect, if they wish so, their Compostela, and then must travel home. And no, they can’t continue to Fisterra and/or Muxia. That means that pilgrim numbers have dropped considerably, the last few days <50 pilgrims arrived each day and the number is dropping each day more. For the moment the Pilgrim Office is still open, but Pilgrim House has already closed for this winter.
Nobody is waiting before the Pilgrim Office.
Nightly Curfew From 23:00 to 06:00 we have now a curfew, meaning we all need to stay at home unless we have an essential reason (health, work, care for others, and the like) to go out. That is the one restriction that affects me the least, in these times and with our winter weather, I prefer anyway to stay home in the evenings.
Closure of Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants Whilst albergues, hotels, and pensions are allowed to stay open but have very few clients due to the travel restrictions, all bars, cafes, and restaurants are closed until, at least, the beginning of December. They are only allowed to offer take-away and home delivery services. Needless to say, that will be a death blow for many of the smaller ones that have already suffered so much.
Many places decided to close (left), whilst others decided to offer take-away (right).
No Socialising That is the hardest one for me, as I am living alone. Officially we aren’t even allowed to meet up with someone, that doesn’t live in the same household, for a walk. No idea how that can be controlled but that are the rules. Visits to each other’s homes are also prohibited unless you provide care for an elderly relative and similar cases. With Pilgrim House now closed for the winter, my real-life interactions are pretty much reduced to chats with the neighbours from my balcony and chance encounters in the street. As much as I appreciate Zoom and similar platforms, it is simply not the same.
Other Restrictions There are some more restrictions in place like the number of people allowed in a shop at the same time, for example, but all non-essential shops and services are, at the moment, allowed to stay open. But with close to no visitors to the city, many small shops that rely on tourists for their trade, have decided to close down. Some might never open again. Also, masks must be worn at all times outside our own homes, only exceptions small children under six.
Camino Situation Bearing in mind the ever-changing restrictions and perimeter confinements, many albergues have now closed down earlier than usual for the winter. Whilst the Camino isn’t officially closed, the travel restrictions and insecure accommodation situation make a pilgrimage very difficult, if not impossible, at these times.
Holy Door and Holy Year The only thing we know so far for sure is that Don Julian, the archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, will open the Holy Door on the 31st December 2020 to inaugurate the Holy Year 2021. How many people will be allowed to attend will depend on the pandemic situation at that time. Also, so far, the question of if the Holy Year will be extended into 2022, something the archbishop has to ask from the pope, has always been answered with: “That will be decided closer to the time.” Which could well mean that this will be decided some when in the first half of 2021.
The renovation of the cathedral continues.
Sorry that this is a bit of a doom and gloom post again, but that is the situation here. Stay well, safe, and sane, and keep your distance from everybody that doesn’t live in the same household as you. So that, when this is over, and we can see each other again, nobody is missing.
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