The Amazing Bed Race

At the municipal Albergue in Zubiri, we were sleeping soundly in a dorm of 22,  when, at 5 am, alarms started going off, complete with flashing lights from smart phones.   People leapt out of bed, then started packing up, making  loud rustling noises (it seems that every element of modern hiking gear is made of a noisy synthetic or plastic).  The initial group left and peace was restored for a few minutes, then another person decides it's time to bolt.  By 6 am, this had reached a frenzy, as people awoke and realized that the race to the next town to get a bed had begun and like a herd of migratory animals, they must join the race.  It was still  1 1/2 hours before sunrise! Lights from headlamps swept the dark room, like searchlights in a concentration camp.  I wondered to myself what might be next: an air raid siren or fire alarm bell?

About 6:15, the room lights came on and I thought this was an unusual hour for the hostel staff to switch on the lights and then I noticed the other dorm was still dark; so, some individual in our dorm must have exercised their free will to switch them on.  So, I exercised mine to switch them off.  A fellow Jan and I had had a friendly conversation with the previous evening came over and switched them on again.  I went over to talk with him saying people are trying to sleep.  He asked who?  "my wife".  I think he felt a bit sheepish at that point, and I just let it go. The mob mentality had settled in and I could just imagine shouts of "lynch him, lynch him" next.

What is happening almost every morning is known as the bed race, one of the more unpleasant aspects of the Camino when it gets crowded.   Numbers are swelling every year and normally drop during the fall, but this year they had such a lousy spring that many people, Spaniards especially, who are the country of highest representation, decided to walk in the fall. And with 24% unemployment in Spain, people have flexibility.

The other element of the bed race is to phone ahead and reserve a room at one of the private Albergues (you cannot reserve a room at a municipal Albergue.  They are first come first serve, one of the reasons we usually aim for them.).

I'm trying not to let this whole thing bother me and it gives me practice in letting go.  Just yesterday, I was thinking that so far on the Camino, there's a great feeling of camaraderie and I'd not seen any rudeness or loud words, or anger ... until I found anger -- welling up inside me.  

The other compounding factor is that the most popular guidebooks have the Camino mapped out in stages, with specific towns to stay at each night.  So, people tend to move through the Camino as a big migratory herd, bedding down together each night in the same town.  We're basically with a cohort of approx 250-300 such people. These destination towns may have as few as 200 beds.  So, what to do?

Jan and I have decided we're not going to set out before first light and we're not going to phone ahead to reserve.  We walk fast, so usually arrive early and so far have always secured a bed. With our light packs and fitness level we are not struggling, even up hills and tend to pass people throughout the day.  We feel a bit sheepish about this, but always say a friendly "Hola" or "Buenas Dias".  It's often clear from their response that they speak English (or we just ask) and we'll sometimes chat together as we walk.  Even if we don't chat, the standard farewell is "Buen Camino" -- have a good Camino.

To avoid the morning mayhem (let's get ready to rrrRRRRumble!), we're going to try to stop in the small towns for the night that aren't the traditional stopping points.   We've done this a couple times already and it works well.