It was only 1°C this morning when Jake and Patricia from Ireland left. They were the first to leave, with headlamps ready, because it was still dark. By late afternoon, the temperature had swung dramatically, reaching a perfect 22°C for afternoon tea in the garden. It was our busiest day so far, with 25 pilgrims checking in from 13 countries.

A beautiful festival took place with ladies dressed in traditional clothing this afternoon. We’re still not sure what the significance of the parade was, but it started at the church and looked lovely. We would have enjoyed following along, but the procession began at 12:30, which is when we open the doors at Refugio Guacelmo.

Several pilgrims were already waiting for us to open the door, so off to work we went. With so many pilgrims streaming in, there was no time for lunch so thank heavens for the cookies we haven’t served because we always served delicious, freshly baked cakes instead.

Tea, cake, and watermelon in the garden was beautiful, especially since we celebrated yet another birthday—our fifth one since September 1st.

After tea, Janine and I were interviewed by Mary from the Victoria Chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims for hospitalero training which is taking place this weekend. We hope the future hospitaleros benefitted by hearing about our recent on-site experiences. A two-minute video was shown that Janine created showcasing snippets of a day in the life of an hospitalera: serving breakfast, farewells, cleaning, washing clothes, etc.

Chris, Annie, and Shawna arrived in the afternoon. They are the hospitaleros who will take over our responsibilities on Monday. Tomorrow is handover day when we’ll show them what we do. They might decide to do things a bit differently and that’s okay. We are happy to hear that Shawna would like to keep up our baking tradition. Baking muffins is what she has in mind.

Janine and I had planned to introduce Annie and Shawna to our bartenders during our beloved (and very British) G&T break, but as often happens on the Camino, things didn’t quite go according to plan. Nigel swooped in and whisked Annie and Chris off to dinner before we even had a chance to raise a glass. We were a bit disappointed since we were really looking forward to sharing this little tradition with our new hospitaleras. Thankfully, Chris made it back in time to join Shawna, Janine, and me at the bar—just before closing. Whew!

It was almost 10 o’clock when we returned to Refugio Guacelmo to set up for breakfast, with Shawna and Chris jumping in to help and learn the ropes. Both Canadians, they already seem like a fantastic team. It feels like we’re passing the baton to them!