Camino Cleanup / November 2022

Palencia polished to spotless shine

The Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup was small but mighty this year -- six people from five countries, traveling on foot, cleared Camino Frances litter from Castrojeriz to Sahagun -- and the Camino Madrid down to Grajal de Campos!

That's about 120 kilometers in five days!

Ditch Pigs don't keep track of how many bags or bins they fill, but they labored from dawn to dusk, Sunday through Thursday. Kindly donors paid for gas in the cars and food in the bellies. This year, lodging was covered at Peaceable Kingdom Spain, PPI headquarters in Moratinos, Palencia.

Generally speaking, over the 14 years of been picking up trash, the Camino trail has become a cleaner place. There are still a few dark spots out there, and way too many "pilgrims" continue to leave white tissues behind the bushes, but today's hikers no longer drop dozens of plastic bottles, candy wrappers, cans, and cigarette packs along the trail. The volunteers no longer need to carry shovels and rakes to remove layers of waste laid down over years of thoughtless dumping.

The work continues, but it's not such a heavy job these days. And as the Pigs' median age increases, less lifting a good thing!

This year's crew was Jacques Piguet from Switzerland, Lynda Martens from Canada, James O'Malley from England, Jim Mercereau from US/Madrid, and Michael Matynka (aka "Wise Pilgrim") from USA/Galicia. And Rebekah Scott, chief Ditch Pig, from USA/Moratinos. Patrick O'Gara and Paul Garland held down the fort, and Fred Sheppard lent his Kangoo car to the cause. About 22 Peaceable Projects donors covered the costs of this, PPI's flagship annual activity.

Rebekah Scott
Moratinos Palencia Spain

2020. We were rolling right along.

We went trotting into 2020 in our one-horse open sleigh. Everything seemed so merry and bright and normal. 

Peaceable Projects was feeling good about the great big November fundraiser that brought 12,000 euros of donations and a 10,000 euro legacy to help Albergue Santa Cruz in Sahagun. Work started in the closed-down albergue in February…

Up on the mountain between Astorga and Ponferrada, the tumbledown Templar place got a section of  new roof after a snowstorm broke through the bunkhouse.  We bought a new stone for the Memorial Grove, in memory of Ian Kitchen, aka “SagaLout.” In February we had a big meetup in Astorga with the mayor, two council members, and several PPI volunteers; we discussed plans for a redesign; a Colorado pilgrim architect drew up a nice plan. We were rolling right along.   

And then came Covid-19. Spain locked down hard.  Donors didn’t know what to do, so they opened their pockets and purses, and sent money “to help camino businesses.” 

PPI isn’t outfitted to fund private enterprise. We did what we could, connecting individual donors with people in need so they could pay them direct – a taxi driver, camino guides who were suddenly out of work, four stranded Argentine pilgrims who needed a ride to Madrid airport. 

We paid for downspouts up on the Norte. We anonymously slipped some 50-euro bills into a donativo box on the Primitivo, to help buy new windows, and to another in Zamora, to just keep going. We helped Egeria House help the homeless in Santiago de Compostela.  We bought ten new wool blankets for the refugio at El Acebo. Far as I know, they’re still in the packages. 

We helped small non-profit albergues in La Rioja and Izarra and Zafra survive, even though they never opened this year. The Franciscan albergue in Tosantos re-did their wooden-plank floors, and we bought the shellack. We facilitated the transfer of a car from one non-profit to another, we bought a pair of hiking sandals for a traveling Franciscan friar, we bought a laptop for a convent when theirs went kaput. We funded “GoFundMe” drives for albergues in Burgos, Vega de Valcarce, and Huesca.

Albergue Santa Cruz in Sahagun opened up in July, and stayed open into October. The water is hot and fresh and clear, thanks to all you guys.  Three of the Marist Fathers who run the albergue joined the Camino Ditch Pigs Cleanup Crew in November. In three days we cleared litter from Calzadilla de la Cueza to El Burgo Ranero, and we all slept in our own beds every night. 

“Oso” (Bear) in Manjarin.

Peaceable Projects didn’t do any huge projects in 2020, but we were really not founded for those anyway. We bought firewood, groceries, snow tires, lumber, a ladder, dog food. We translated, we handed out masks and gloves, we washed some very dirty laundry and sleeping bags, we picked-up and dropped-off, and sometimes yelled and cried. Some of what we did was simply hand-holding. A couple of times the money ran out anyway, the albergue was sold or shut down forever, and longtime hospitaleros’ dreams were left to die along the road. 

Some things are dangling loose. We raised 3,000 euro to help buy a camping caravan to house hospitaleros at Albergue Monasterio San Anton in Castrojeriz, but now I can’t track down the guy in charge. There’s something so wonderfully Spanish about that. The renovations at the Memorial Park are stalled-out, the memorial plaques are squirreled away in the Ecce Homo chapel for now, jealously guarded by the mayor of Valdeviejas.  

And the money keeps coming in, sometimes it seems like too much money. I do not like sitting on my wallet. But I have a feeling that will change soon.         

Long-term Investment

Spain is no place for people in a hurry. 

Peaceable Projects three years ago oversaw creation of the Pilgrim Memorial Grove in a little under-used park on the far side of Astorga. We started with a memorial to Denise Theim, an American pilgrim who was killed in a nearby village in 2015. It slowly expanded to include other pilgrims whose journeys ended before they reached Santiago, with five more memorial stones added in the past three years. 

This is one of PPI’s slow-growth projects. Many people die along The Way each year, but letting their survivors know about the memorial opportunity is a unique challenge. Privacy laws, respect for grieving families, and language barriers have slowed our growth, but word is slowly getting out there. I was just about to add another stone this January when I heard from the Parks and Recreation council member in Astorga.  “We’re re-doing the park,” she said. “We’ve added a lot more trees, and some concrete. You need to move the stones so the heavy equipment won’t damage them.” 

“The city of Astorga let PPI design a new memorial wall to replace the old one, and last week approved a design drawn-up by Colorado architect and American Pilgrims on the Camino co-founder Eric Doud. ”

I kept calm, but my mind raced. More concrete? Heavy equipment? What kind of trees? 

“We will rebuild it. We will make it better,” she said. 

Meetings ensued. Corona virus arrived. Spain locked down.  

I didn’t waste the time. I know some talented people. I made some calls.  
Long story short, it’s turned into an opportunity. The city of Astorga let PPI design a new memorial wall to replace the old one, and last week approved a design drawn-up by Colorado architect and American Pilgrims on the Camino co-founder Eric Doud.  A new stone wall you can sit down on. Upright steel panels which will make the stones will stand out better when viewed from the Camino. A re-designed plinth for Denise’s simple memorial stone, and a big steel sculpture that will guide passers-by to the quiet, green grove to contemplate the brevity of life. Astorga will pay for some of it, and maintain the park. PPI will pay for some of it, too, and will oversee the stones and monument.  

I met with the mayor and councilmen again this week, then I went with some Astorga Camino Amigos and PPI volunteers down to the park in the blast-furnace heat. We removed all the memorial stones and stored them safely away. Denise’s tree and marker we left alone, as pilgrims still seek it out.  

Then we went to lunch at Bar Manolin:  Frog legs, pig tails, anchovies, tuna belly atop “neighborhood tomatoes,” and pitchers of Clara. Great company, good ideas, good friends.  

So now the mayor wants detailed plans from Eric the architect. Eric needs the city’s official blueprint of the park, drawn to measure, so he can plot out materials and dimensions. The Parks and Rec lady said “sure, right away. But it’s almost August, you know.” 

Which means, “Spain is no place for people in a hurry.”  

We’ll get there.    

Go with your gut.

Support your favorite Camino business on by giving money directly to whomever you have in mind.

“Go with your gut,” the wise guys say. “Do the right thing,” the other wise guys say. 

“Take my money and give it to people who really need it,” the donors say. “The Spanish economy is in freefall. The Camino people I liked so much during my trip are suffering now! They might not survive! Let me help save them!”  

“But YOU can, if you wish, support your favorite Camino business by giving money directly to whomever you have in mind. Direct giving “cuts out the middle-man,” it’s cheaper, more efficient, and gives the recipient an opportunity to thank you himself, person to person.  

Go to your guidebook or diary, or to Gronze.com or Eroski online, and find your chosen target. Send them an email or phone them up, tell them what you have in mind.  With their bank routing info, you can send your donation via currency transfer services (cheap and fast) or your bank (expensive and slow). With their email address, you can use Xoom or Paypal, which is instantaneous and reasonably priced. ”

I have learned about a lot of great people and places in the last few days:  The coffee shop in Logrono, the bakery in Sahagun,  little family-run albergues in Ventosa,  Tosantos,  Zumaia, Villalba, Zafra.  The baggage carrier in Barcelos. Guide-writers, yoga teachers, innkeepers, traveling paella-making teams…  people I never heard of.  Hard-working, decent, upstanding citizens who eke out a living serving pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.  People who thought their small business season would hit its stride about now, but instead find themselves on indefinite lockdown.

Generous people far away want to help them meet their bills.  They want someone to set up a fund for struggling camino businesses. They asked me to do it, seeing as Peaceable Projects already moves money around the camino.  I said No. 

Why did I do that?  Because those good, struggling people are running for-profit businesses.  

Peaceable Projects Inc. is a U.S. charity that’s set up to benefit non-profit and charitable enterprises on the Caminos de Santiago network. If I give donated money to private, for-profit businesses, I violate Peaceable Projects bylaws, as well as the U.S. tax code.  

I am glad my gut told me No when the money started coming in.  My American lawyer’s hair stood on end when I told him about the idea.  No can do. 

But YOU can, if you wish, support your favorite Camino business on by giving money directly to whomever you have in mind. Direct giving “cuts out the middle-man,” it’s cheaper, more efficient, and gives the recipient an opportunity to thank you himself, person to person.  

Go to your guidebook or diary, or to Gronze.com or Eroski online, and find your chosen target. Send them an email or phone them up, tell them what you have in mind.  With their bank routing info, you can send your donation via currency transfer services (cheap and fast) or your bank (expensive and slow). With their email address, you can use Xoom or Paypal, which is instantaneous and reasonably priced. 

The only thing you lose out on this way is a charitable donation tax write-off.  If that is important, you still can give to Peaceable Projects Inc., and I will pass it on to a needy non-profit on The Way, and send you a tax receipt for your records.  Easy peasy! 

I am amazed at the kindness of Peaceable Projects donors, and the great trust you guys have in what we do. I am sorry I cannot help more with this particular mission, but we gotta stay legal. 

Thanks, guys.

February Update

February in Moratinos.

Back into town at the tail-end of a foggy walk, up Calle Ontanon. It’s 10:30 a.m., and Moratinos is waking up. The sun is trying to break through. 

Paco’s on his way to his garden, he stops to say hello. There’s a tree down along the senda, I tell him. He’ll scuttle over there with a rope and drag it home, cut it up and stack it for next winter. Paco never lets anything go to waste. 

Maria de la Valle pops out of her front gate to call Curro inside. Curro, her little Schnauzer dog, often comes along with us on our morning dog-walk. He doesn’t mix much with our three curs, but he seems to like being a part of the pack. He is a good boy. 

MariValle asks me how I am. I give her the update. It’s been 18 days since surgeons removed my gallbladder. MariValle has been our stand-by neighbor throughout this months-long digestive epic.  She keeps the rest of the neighborhood informed, more or less. I’m sure she tells my story straight, but somehow, by the time it travels to Sahagun, the ladies in the haircut place – people I never saw before in my life -- are asking after my liver, kidneys, pancreas.  

We walk on, up to the crossroads by the carpenter shop. Eric, the youngest farmer, is up among the iron fittings of his John Deere, oiling. We exchange a wave and a smile.  

Back into town at the tail-end of a foggy walk, up Calle Ontanon. It’s 10:30 a.m., and Moratinos is waking up.

A truck rumbles along the N120, we near the drive that will take us home, when something odd happens.  A sound, from somewhere west, and south, squeaking, repeating, honking as it nears.  It is overhead, but invisible.  We stop, we look up into the thin clouds straight up above, and there it is. Or there they are:  a long, scraggly V of snow geese, honking signals to one another as they fly northward, back to Scandinavia. 

I hear a cry from behind us. Eric is standing up on his plow, shouting at the sky. 

“It’s too early!” he cries.   

Aside from a couple of ferocious windstorms, the winter has been mild.  Purple iris are blooming in our back yard, and the jolly orange calendula flowers never stopped their  blooming. Tiny pinhead-size white flowers sprinkle the sendas, the tractor-paths, where we walk each morning. Early, early. Early spring. 

So welcome. So dangerous. 

Peaceable Projects is lying low while I heal up.  This week I meet with two city councilmen in Astorga to learn the fate of our Pilgrim Memorial Grove.  I have two new stones to install, and was told to hold off… they then said the words that bring a stab of fear to anyone’s heart:  “We are from the government. We want to help.”  I have some good people coming along to help me represent. We will see what they have to say.  

The Templar Knights at Manjarin now have a roof overhead, at least in their pilgrim reception area.  Their bunkhouse needs an entirely new roof. No one can say how much that will cost. They will have a meeting, it’s said…  

Over east at Arroyo San Bol, everyone is outraged about the cut-down trees, and everyone is apparently satisfied with the local mayor’s assurances that they will be replanted in the spring. Maybe.  I don’t think we have seen the end of this one. 

And in Sahagun, the plumber contracted to repair and replace the plumbing at Albergue Santa Cruz has injured his foot and is “taking some time off.” (The plumbers of Sahagun are a sorry lot, I am here to tell you.) The project is way behind schedule, but Father Dani is still rounding up  hospitaleros and making plans for the 2020 pilgrim season. The Benedictine sisters who own the place are appealing to government and architectural agencies for funds to replace all the pipes in the rest of the entire monastery (the albergue  is in what was the Novitiate wing), but that means another 40,000 or 50,000 euro. God only knows where they will find that kind of money. Or a plumber whose feet work.  It is a good thing we are people of faith! 

A week ago a pilgrim stopped in to introduce himself. He is JoseMa, or Joseph, owner of the Gite Beilari in St. Jean Pied de Port, the little Basque town in France where many pilgrims start their journey.  We had tea and nattered for a good hour, mostly about our philosophies of hospitality.  It will be good to have a contact way over east… even if his place is for-profit, his heart seems to be in the right place.  

My eyes are ever oriented west.  PPI needs to network up and down the trails. So as you walk, pilgrims, keep your eyes and ears open for needful things, good people, places where we can lend a hand.  Let me know. 

I can’t walk as far as you all do.  

We didn’t sit still for too long in 2019 ...

November also means Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup, this year a five-day slog from Virgin del Camino to San Justo de la Vega, with an extra day at the end for Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos.

We didn’t sit still for too long in 2019. The Camino de Santiago is a needful place! 

In January we bought a bunch of bunks for the albergue at Tabara, on the Camino Sanabres. 

Jose Almeida had duct-taped the old red steel-tube bunkbeds together for the past couple of years, and blocked off a couple of them after the welds broke apart. It was time to invest in something new. Better quality this time – beds that will hold up to steady pilgrim traffic for decades to come. 

“Peaceable Projects bill ourselves as “Doing Good Along the Holy Way.” You the donors done good, too.  None of these jobs would’ve been attempted without your generosity, good will, and trust. ”

And so you did, Peaceable Projects people. 2,000 euros’ worth.  Almeida had saved up enough to buy new mattresses and bedbug-proof covers, so the place got a true renewal. 

In April, two divisions of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims swept in and paid entirely for a new pellet stove installation at the Albergue de Izarra, on the Camino del Norte. That was a big ask, and they stepped right up with 3,000 euros!

In March we bought a washing machine and vacuum for an albergue in Rabanal del Camino, on the Camino Frances:  400 euro. 

In April, two divisions of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims swept in and paid entirely for a new pellet stove installation at the Albergue de Izarra, on the Camino del Norte.   That was a big ask, and they stepped right up with 3,000 euros!  

In May, the Albergue in Ricobayo, a little shelter in an old dovecote in the wilds of Zamora, got a new refrigerator, lamps, books, and chairs.   550 euros.  

Things went quiet during the high summer season. We paid for some emergency car repairs in Leon, and resupplied an albergue on the San Salvador with toilet paper and kitchen roll when all of theirs vanished overnight.   70 euros. 

In September, when the nights grew cold, we sent 10 woolly blankets to Ricobayo:  199 euros. 

October sees many albergues clear out the cupboards when they close up for the season.  Pots and pans and kitchen tools worn-out by months of hospitalero cooks go into the bin, leaving the larders bare.  Peaceable donors sent  Albergue Domus Dei in Foncebadon a new set of stainless cookware.  The parochial albergue at El Acebo got new frying pans. Both places got new knives and an industrial-size box of clothespins:   350 euro.   

I thought things might calm down once the season ended, but November brought the biggest fundraiser ever. The Albergue de la Santa Cruz de Sahagun was facing permanent closure if the Marist Fathers in charge did not tear out all the plumbing and replace it with new.  The job would cost 20,000 euros! 

A kindly soul had just sent 10,000 euros our way, part of a legacy. We had a head start! And you the donors, more than 200 of you, jumped in with contributions from 3 euros to 2,000! We collected the full amount in less than a week, and the Marists ended up with more than 22,000 euros in hand when the works started.  Amazing! 

November also means Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup, this year a five-day slog from Virgin del Camino to San Justo de la Vega, with an extra day at the end for Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos.  We have never worked harder. The project was fully funded, yet again, by one of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims chapters.   We spent 780 euros.   

December saw contributions to Egeria House in Santiago for new chairs, 400 euros worth of firewood delivered to the snowbound Templars in Manjarin, and 600 euros to buy bedcovers for a non-profit albergue in Trabadelo. 

400 euros worth of firewood delivered to the snowbound Templars in Manjarin!

Another nice outcome for 2019 is the foundation of Asociacion Camino Angels, a Peaceable Projects-style non-profit based in Santiago de Compostela that is better able to raise and move funding from European countries to needful places along the Way.    

Peaceable Projects bill ourselves as “Doing Good Along the Holy Way.” You the donors done good, too.  None of these jobs would’ve been attempted without your generosity, good will, and trust. 

Peaceable Projects wishes you all a prosperous and happy new year.  God bless us, every one! 

Albergue Santa Cruz in Sahagun. Let's do this!

Almost 4,000 pilgrims stayed at Albergue Santa Cruz this year. The Fathers offered them a pilgrim Mass, communal dinners, and spiritual comfort. They've become a landmark of Christian welcome on The Way. It will be tragic to see the albergue close, and the sisters lose a major source of support.

Peaceable supporters get a warm feeling when they step inside the Albergue Santa Cruz in Sahagun... not just because the Marist Fathers are there to greet them, but because the pellet stoves flickering away in the corners were a PPI project a couple of years ago!

Back then, 6,000 euro seemed like a LOT of money to spend to heat up an old convent in a backwater town... but it happened fast! Hundreds of pilgrims in spring and fall curl up near the warmth after a long day of Meseta walking.

I am sad to report the albergue is closing at the end of this week (Oct. 31), and may not open its doors again. This summer, health inspectors from Leon came to test the water at the albergue, and found Legionella bacteria living in the old iron water pipes. Their suggested "solutions" proved painfully expensive and impractical in a pilgrim shelter handling hundreds of pilgrims each week, with an average donation of only 5 euros per head. After trying three different "management plans," the fathers are left with only a "nuclear option:" replace all the iron water supply pipes with brand new plumbing, or shut the place down.

The Benedictine sisters who own the building depend on the albergue rent to meet their own expenses and fulfill their vow of hospitality. Their aging congregation cannot live on their cookie-baking business alone.

The Benedictine sisters who own the building depend on the albergue rent to meet their own expenses and fulfill their vow of hospitality. Their aging congregation cannot live on their cookie-baking business alone. (The sisters live in another wing of the thousand-year-old complex. The health authority doesn't care if their pipes are bad, as they're not open to the public.)

It will cost about 20,000 Euros to replace the albergue plumbing. The Benedictines don't have that kind of cash, and the Marist Fathers spent all their income on staying open this summer. ADESCAS, the local grant-finding group, says No Way. The diocese won't, as the Benedictines are independent. Shaking money out of Patrimonio, the Junta de Castilla y Leon, or the greater Benedictine Order can take years.

Almost 4,000 pilgrims stayed at Albergue Santa Cruz this year. The Fathers offered them a pilgrim Mass, communal dinners, and spiritual comfort. They've become a landmark of Christian welcome on The Way. It will be tragic to see the albergue close, and the sisters lose a major source of support.

Unless some other solution can be found.

And that's where Peaceable Projects comes into its own. We can help.

“A Camino priest passed on two years ago, and remembered PPI in his will. We just received the gift: almost 10,000 euro. Father Gerard would be pleased and proud to support a Marist pilgrim outreach in a Benedictine monastery. I can’t think of a more worthy way to spend his legacy.

Can we raise another 10,000 Euros?”

A Camino priest passed on two years ago, and remembered PPI in his will. We just received the gift: almost 10,000 euro. Father Gerard would be pleased and proud to support a Marist pilgrim outreach in a Benedictine monastery. I can't think of a more worthy way to spend his legacy.

Can we raise another 10,000 Euros?

I asked Marist Father Daniel today: "If we can get you 20,000 euros, will you open the albergue in the Spring?"

"Sure!" he said. "And we could start as soon as possible!"

Let's do this!