Begoña: “We Hospitaleros Look After People's Souls.”

Begoña Valdomar is proud to be a hospitalero (the name given to hosts along the Camino). It's more than just a job to her. For Begoña, the Camino is a passion, and hospitality is her raison d'etre.

“I remember my mother telling me when I was on my way to school, 'If you go past the hayloft, be quiet because there's a pilgrim in there.' Years later, when I was about 13 or 14, I went to O Cebreiro with a group of friends from my village, and we started walking to Finisterre. That was how it all started, and I haven't stopped since. I live on the Camino and it's my life, that's all there is to it.”

It is this passion for the Camino that led to Begoña becoming vice-president of the Asociación Galega de Amigos do Camiño de Santiago (Galician Association of Friends of the Camino), where she is in charge of hospitality. "It is an extremely gratifying experience. You work with voluntary hospitaleros, people who have been pilgrims and want to give something back to the Camino. And then there's the day-to-day hospitality of a municipal pilgrim hostel.”

That day-to-day hospitality has an early start. “You have to have everything ready in the hostel for opening at one in the afternoon. Every time you open the doors, you don't know what you're going to find, so everything has to be ready to welcome in people of all kinds.”

However, hospitaleros are not just responsible for pilgrims' physical wellbeing: they also have to care for their emotional needs. "One day you might be like a sister to lots of pilgrims; the next you might have to be someone's mother, or their psychiatrist, or a nurse, or a travel agent … but the main thing is to give help with plenty of humility, and without judging anyone."

For Begoña, this is what makes hospitaleros unique. “We look after people's souls. On the Camino, pilgrims bare all, emotionally speaking, and that's what you need to be aware of. You have to be really sensitive, because if you're not, it becomes difficult, but the Camino teaches you to manage it pretty well.”

The number of pilgrims visiting the small municipality of Finisterre, which has under 5,000 inhabitants, has grown to such an extent that the feel of the place and the local economy have changed. Tourism and the service industry have replaced fishing as the main economic activities. Begoña is concerned that "this is undermining the most important thing about the Camino, which is pilgrim hospitality."

The Camino is now shared by people who want different things from it. “Pilgrims on the Camino are searching for something; tourists are there for enjoyment and relaxation … the two are very different. Pilgrims aren't looking for five-star accommodation, they just want a roof over their heads, water for a shower, and company to chat to and share their experiences of that day."

She has experienced that need several times, and has completed the Camino on numerous occasions. And she will again: “I really want to complete the pilgrimage from Rome to Finisterre. My family isn't all that keen, but then again they weren't all that keen when I set off aged 14 on the Camino!" she laughs. “They have to understand, and they do understand.”

While she dreams about setting off once again on the pilgrimage, she continues to attend to pilgrims reaching Finisterre, in far greater numbers than 25 years ago. This has an effect on how she deals with each individual: "The treatment you can provide is very different, but we try not to lose the essence of it.”

With humility and diligence, hospitaleros work to keep alive the values of the Camino. "We are from different races, different cultures, different languages, different religions … All those things are irrelevant in our work. We're here to serve, to help, and to make their stay in our hostels more rewarding. Just like in olden times.”