Two Programs that Offer English-Speaking Volunteers Full Room and Board

By Stephen Bugno

An evening of jamon and vino tinto at Pueblo Ingles

I’m almost as exhausted as they are, but somehow they keep going. This is supposed to be easy for me, right? English is my native language.

They sun is about to set in our small “English Village” but the Spaniards stay positive, excited, and focused despite the long day. We are far from the urban expanse of Madrid, four hours by bus in the sparsely populated region of Extremadura. We are a group of English speakers volunteering at Pueblo Ingles for a week.

Free Room and Board for Speaking English?

That’s right. At either Pueblo Ingles or Vaughan Town, (two different companies that run similar English immersion programs for Spaniards) volunteering as an Anglo-speaker gets you a free week in rural Spain. But it’s much more than that. It’s a great opportunity to meet and form close relationships with Spanish people in a surprisingly short period of time.

It’s also a great way to extend your travels, add something different to your usual holiday, or just save some money on your expensive European vacation. But most of all, it’s an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary in our modern age of fast-paced living and working and just sit down and have a conversation. Well…have lots of conversations, actually.

The Model

in the village of La Alberca

So here’s the concept: pair about 20 Spaniards with 20 native English speakers in a village in rural Spain. Live together, eat together, and speak together about 14 hours a day. It’s exhausting, yes, but universal agreement in the success among the much-improved English of the Spaniards and the satisfaction of happily enriched Anglos.

The core of the program is the one-to-one sessions. During these 50-minute blocks, pairs have the opportunity to stretch past simple and superficial chats. You can sit and drink coffee or go for slow walks. After only five full days, it’s remarkable how open and close everyone becomes, not only with the Spaniards, but even with the other English speakers which come from a diverse range of countries including the U.K., Ireland, Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand just to name a few.

Besides the one-to-ones, pairs sometimes join up to form groups of four to discuss issues or solve mock problems. In addition, an hour a day is devoted to various entertainments. There’s even a special program one of the nights.

Requirements for Volunteers

Spaniards at Pueblo Ingles

Basically, Anglo volunteers need to be native speakers and have enough life experiences to keep them talking for up to 14 hours per day. They must also pledge that not a word of Spanish will be spoken by them the entire week; a promise that is taken seriously. An English-only environment is crucial to the success of the program.

Volunteers are offered a nice, private room and three meals a day in a beautiful rural setting in the Spanish countryside. Volunteers are required to take care of their own travel expenses to and from Spain and for accommodation before and after the program. Pueblo Ingles runs a seven-day course and Vaughan Town a five-day.

For More Information

Further information and applications can be found and filled out on-line at the VaughanTown or Pueblo Ingles websites. Programs run year round but most are available from June to September.

Stephen Bugno attended both Pueblo Ingles and Vaughn Town in the summer of 2008 and remained in Spain for another nine months teaching English. For more than a decade he has worked, volunteered, and traveled his way around the world. He blogs at BohemianTraveler.com

Related posts:

1. Teaching English in Madrid
2. Ask GoMad Nomad: Little money, still want to travel
3. Volunteer in a Himalayan Village in Nepal

Related posts:

1. Camino Frances video

Related posts:

1. Via de la Plata video
2. Along the Camino de Santiago

By Stephen Bugno

a fellow pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

Not a morning passes when I don’t hear the oop oop oop of the hoopoe. Some days I walk through vineyards, other days through centuries-old olive groves.

Usually the camino follows dirt roads, but at times I suffer the unforgiving impact of the pavement. Occasionally my way narrows into single-track, and I savor those moments. Wildflowers saturate the Andalusían spring. The waves of orange, yellow, and red make me smile when the pain in my feet demands otherwise.

When I arrive in Extremadura, free-range pig farms and cork forests compose the land. Later comes the monotony of the plains and the burn of the mountain climbs. I always pass cow pastures, and sometimes a toro stands alone on the opposite side: the road cutting the farm in two.

I can’t fully appreciate Spain’s history until I cross Merida’s 60-arch Roman bridge and slip underneath its triple-tiered aqueduct. Since I am an American, these are the features that imprint my memory and are too often taken for granted by Europeans who have grown up with them. In Salamanca, I ponder the generations of academics who have toiled inside the high walls of the university’s oldest buildings.

In Galicia, I pass through stone-built villages: Laza, Cea, and Laxe, so old they are inseparable from the landscape. The villages here are situated closer together than those in the regions I’ve come from. The green rolling hills are cut into lots by waist-high rock walls. The aging faces and lack of cars expose the sharp contrast between the outdated countryside and the vibrancy of modern Madrid.

view from along the Camino

I walk to experience life at walking pace. I catch what those traveling by car and tour bus miss. Moving at this speed I feel Spain in my tired joints, I hear Spain in the ringing of church bells, I taste Spain in each of the changing regional delicacies as I make my way north from Sevilla on the Via de la Plata.

Instead of pulling over to a scenic view point for five minutes, the view follows me for five miles. I see Spain unfold in front of me—the landscape picture book of back roads, front roads, agriculture, mountains, meseta, and lavender-lined footpaths. Time passes along the way: 38 mornings of café con leche and 38 evenings of tintos y tapas.

When I walk I become part of the environment. When the wind blows and the sky pours I become cold and wet. The warm Iberian sun dries me back to warmth and the thick oak groves shade my rest breaks when it becomes too dominant.

I am happy to say buenos dias to the townspeople in each community I pass through. I appreciate their brief hospitality and the fleeting moments we cross paths. They smile: surprised that I’m so young and walking alone.

I have always been told that the journey is more important than the destination. So, nearing the end, I try to downplay the significance of my arrival at the cathedral in Santiago. But I can’t convince myself that tomorrow will not be extraordinary.

Santiago de Compostela is a special place, and after walking almost six weeks to get there, the magnitude of my arrival will only be amplified by the journey that got me here.

Stephen Bugno walked the 1000 km from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela on the Via de la Plata in the spring of 2008. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

Related posts:

1. Europe: Step by Step
2. Interview with a Retired Traveler
3. Camino Frances video

Bilbao, Spain

Guggenheim Bilbao

In Madrid, when I learned my brother would be going to Bordeaux, France in a few days on business, I immediately ditched my plans to go someplace warm and sunny in favor of visiting him.

The next day I was on a bus five hours north to Bilbao, the largest city of Spain’s Basque Country—a region and people defined by their ancient language, Euskara. A city so proud, they’ve never fielded a non-Basque on their football club. They even refuse to keep corporate sponsorship on their jersey because they regard it as their national team.

I sat down with a young Basque. It is her generation that was one of the first to be educated in Euskara from primary school. Born in 1978, she speaks it with her peers and her pupils at school. She speaks Castillano (Spanish) with her parents, who are part of a generation that was persecuted under Franco. Then citizens could have been imprisoned or even killed for simply speaking Euskara.

Over a glass of tinto and pintxos, in which Basque Country is said to have the finest in Spain, I got a language lesson fit to survive around town, and more importantly, adequate to order the next round.

I inquired more about the Basque ethnicity and what it takes to consider a person Basque. To further prove her point regarding the vital association between ethnicity and language she responded, “The Moroccan immigrants I teach at school—they speak Euskara—they’re Basque.”

What really makes Euskara of special interest is that it’s classified as a language isolate; which means geographically it’s surrounded by Indo-European languages, but isn’t related to any of them. Today it’s estimated that one million people speak Euskara.

***
In 1997, the city of Bilbao put itself on the map with what is arguably the greatest building of our time. The incredible, unforgettable, flowing titanium curves of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao are just as impressive (if not more, in my opinion) from the inside and the building alone is worth the €12 admission price.

The spaces Frank Gehry has created inside, allow the visitor to be easily propelled around the glass-walled atrium through the 19 galleries on three floors. Unfortunately, most of the installments and exhibitions throughout the museum, pale in comparison to the space that was built to house them.

***

San Sebastian

After a couple hours sleep I barely caught a 7am Sunday morning train, transferred at Bordeaux’s St. Jean, and another at the border, and by 2pm I was back in Spain’s Basque Country walking around center San Sebastian.

San Sebastian, my travel guide told me, was the “undisputed Queen of the Basque resorts”. Complete with a nice old town, excellent tapas bars, and a magnificent crescent- shaped harbor with beaches to match.

After enjoying a stroll up and down the promenade, I caught a 4pm bus back to Madrid where I arrived just before midnight and faced the question of what I would do until my job started on the 30th.

Posted by Stephen Bugno (June 2008) for the Blog of a Modern Nomad.

Related posts:

1. The Country that Doesn’t Exist: Transdniestria
2. Teaching English in Madrid
3. Volunteering in Spain with Vaughan Town and Pueblo Ingles

By Emolyn Liden

an English language summer camp outside Madrid

With job opportunities, decent pay, and a fun atmosphere, Madrid is hard to top for an ESL teacher.

For ESL teachers in Europe, Madrid is an appealing city to base yourself for a year or more and there’s no denying it’s an exciting place to live. Add to this: fantastic weather, friendly locals (known as Madridleños), abundant cultural events, world-class art, and unparalleled nightlife.

But take a moment to think. Take a real moment. The first thing to consider is if Madrid is right for you.

Knowing it is possible

The minute you start speaking about your interest to teach English abroad those hearing you will pipe up, “Oh my friend’s daughter just went to Peru to teach English” or “I know someone who is teaching English in Japan and loves it. She just decided to extend her stay.” The fact is teaching English as a second language is the way to make a living abroad. Once you have chosen your location, like Madrid, you have made the most important decision. Location is key because in essence you can teach virtually anywhere. You may only stay there for a year, a glimpse of time in regard to a lifetime, but this place is going to be your home, a base from which you can travel.

Is a certification necessary?

Language academies will expect teachers to have a TEFL degree or at least a certification. You may have decided to live abroad for the experience and to travel, but academies want to see that you are serious about teaching. They won’t be fooled. Many academies will hire with a few years experience in lieu of a certificate. Keep in mind, organizations may choose someone with a certification first.

EBC International is one of the many programs in Madrid where you can receive proper certification. Like most programs, the EBC course lasts four weeks. Upon completion you will receive a dual certification in TEFL and TESOL, and as an alum will have access to EBC’s lifetime, world-wide career support service. This means that EBC will send your resume to academies and be your primary reference. If later you decide to move to another city, they will provide you with the same service, and get you connected to academies. The dual TEFL and TESOL allows you to teach anywhere worldwide. If you stop teaching and begin again in five years, EBC will connect you with academies wherever you choose.

Another credited program is the Canterbury English TEFL Course which claims to be the most affordable option whereby you work for Canterbury after ending the program as a way to cover some of the cost of the course. They advertise that you are guaranteed a job with Canterbury which is enticing in today’s job market. This arrangement is both liked and disliked by those who have completed the program. Some feel it is a way to begin teaching immediately while paying less to become certified. Others feel it restricts the openness and flexibility of their schedule since the main teaching hours are devoted to the service of the agreement. However, this agreement can be viewed as a trial run for a class. Once the hours have been completed you may be able to keep the class which could lead to other opportunities.

None the less, completing a certification program is a guaranteed way to get experience organizing lesson plans and teaching and is recommended for any one who has no experience teaching.

The interviewing process

Once you acquire a certification, the job hunt begins. EBC and other programs will send out your resume and language schools are quick to call. For this reason it is important to have a cell phone to schedule appointments. Academies rarely schedule through email and you want to avoid just dropping by. English teachers are in high demand and what you may find is that academies are eager to hire. Prepare yourself by doing a number of things prior to the interview.

Think about your rate of pay. Depending on the interviewer, pay may be negotiable. Consider how far you will travel to teach a course. Weigh options of working block-hours as opposed to scattered hours with breaks in between. Do you want to work freelance or sign a contract? The two most important items to bring with you to an interview are: a calendar and a city map. The worst scenario as a new teacher is agreeing to teach a class in the north and another in the south with not enough time allowed for travel in between. You do not want to discover the hard way, by running from the metro to the office door, skidding into the classroom with sweat dripping down your face to greet your new students, that thirty minutes is an unrealistic amount of time to cross the city. Not a good first impression.

If you have numerous academies that call to schedule interviews accept as many as you can fit in. You may feel like you are running around but you will learn so much when able to compare work situations. Observe the atmosphere of the office and imagine yourself working among the rooms, making copies, and preparing lesson plans. Does the academy offer teaching resources? Do they provide a book or curriculum? Pay attention to the mood while the interview ensues. Have them describe a typical class at their academy. Are they large or small? Are the students young business professionals? Children? People learning English out of pure interest? All of these things will influence your work and differ from place to place. It may be the style of the academy to approach you like a bookie, listing class size, location, level, etc. and you may never see your co-workers while other schools create a peaceful work atmosphere where the teachers get to know each other through meetings, outings, and holiday events planned by the academy. Think about what situation works best for you.

Once you agree to teach with an academy

Once you agree on a class with a language school, be sure to get proper information to get you started: size, level, and location. Some hire to teach in their facility and provide block hours. As a new teacher you may not have that luxury. It is very likely you will be traveling to a company or household. Companies offer classes before work or during the lunch hour. Get the address and contact information of your students. Look up the address and if you are at all nervous about finding it, make a trip to the location beforehand to see where you will teach. Some larger companies may require you to have an identification tag and code to enter the building or have you sign in with the receptionist. Keep a time sheet and your own records so you can always double check your time.

The ESL decision

When you decide to become an ESL teacher in Madrid you have two options. Do you want to work for a language academy or teach privately? Working with an academy is the perfect way to learn how you handle the ESL life, manage your schedule, and how to organize your teaching agenda to better fit your life.

After some time you may decide you would rather teach privately. There are a number of ways to advertise your services. You can put up fliers around town, post on websites, or sometimes get the word out by simply telling people what you do. Going to one of the many language exchange nights around the city at pubs and bars is a great way to meet foreigners who may hire you to become their official teacher. Judge these situations carefully. Perhaps the person is acting more optimistic after they’ve had a beer or two. First make sure the prospective student is serious about wanting to learn English. Private students are also more likely to cancel if life gets hectic. If you are working solely for yourself, you do not receive any benefits an academy may offer. Consider this when deciphering your rate. Establish early how you would handle canceling a class or rescheduling. Some teachers make a twenty-four hour cancellation requirement. If the student cancels less than twenty-four hours in advance they must reschedule or pay you for the lost class. This policy goes both ways. If you as the teacher cancel you must hold up your side of the agreement.

ESL calendar in Madrid

Many Madridleños take time off during the summer. Whether they are staying in Madrid or traveling, life slows down during July, August, and the beginning of September. During these months you can find work at day camps in and around Madrid. Organizations based in Madrid will hire and place teachers in camps throughout Spain. Generally these camps last two weeks with the chance for a teacher to work two to four sessions.

Children go back to school in late September and locals return to a regular work schedule. In October, life settles back to the normal pace. Companies and families are usually ready to begin English classes again.

Plan on steady work from January to June and October to the end of December. This provides the ESL teacher ample time to travel during the summer. However, be aware that the numerous holidays and long summer break add up and may put stress on your finances.

Wages and living expenses

Most full time English teachers make between 15 to 25 Euros per hour for private lessons or 1,000 and 1,500 Euros per month with a full-time contract at an academy. Rate depends on how much experience you have, if you work in the heart of the city as opposed to traveling an hour to the outskirts, and if the class is through an academy or a private one-to-one. An average contract at an academy might be 1100 Euros per month for 25 teaching hours per week.

Expect to pay anywhere from 300-500 Euros for a room in a shared flat.

The economic crises

The economic crises of 2008 has had its obvious effect on English teachers. A country-wide increase in unemployment and lower wages means less money for non-essential English lessons. So consequently, the job market has been more competitive since then.

Do I need a work permit?

Most language schools will require you to have work permit. Some schools are willing to do the paperwork for you to get the documents in order. That process usually starts in June, and you must be in your home country. Once the academy or school decides to sponsor you they will fill out their portion of the paperwork which you must present with your portion in your home country. Even without a work permit, it’s still worth arriving to Madrid in early September for the best pick jobs. You might find some academies willing to hire you with plans to help you obtain a work permit in the future.

Volunteer

If you’ve only got a week and still want to check out the English-speaking scene, volunteer at Pueblo Ingles or Vaughan Town. These are unique opportunities to spend a week in the Spanish countryside speaking English with Spaniards. But beware: you might be conversing up to 14 hours per day! Don’t worry; its lots of fun and your room and board is taken care of in exchange for your volunteering.

Resources on the web

Madrid Teacher is the city’s definitive website for the English teacher. Check it out to start the job hunt: read in-depth about Madrid’s countless English Academies and browse job listings.

Once you’ve arrived in Madrid check out the free English monthly, InMadrid. It has more job listings and other helpful social insights.

Emolyn Liden spent 2008 teaching English in Madrid. She has lived abroad in England, Denmark, and Spain. While not traveling she enjoys writing and knitting for emolynknits.blogspot.com.

Related posts:

1. Volunteering in Spain with Vaughan Town and Pueblo Ingles
2. Basque Country

by Stephen Bugno

“I started walking in Geneva,” said the light-haired woman with a guitar strapped to her backpack. Surely not Geneva, Switzerland I thought as I asked, “Where’s that?”

This 23-year-old Australian had been walking for 5 weeks now and was just one of the many Spanish and foreign walkers alike I met on the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James, an ancient pilgrimage route through northern Spain.

pilgrims leaving the town of Granon

Background

Not long after the crucifixion of Jesus, the apostle James left the Holy Lands to spread the gospel, attempting to set up the foundations of the Christian church. Although there is no mention of it in the Bible, he is believed to have crossed the European continent, journeying to Finisterre, the westernmost point of Spain. He gathered shells there to prove he had reached the coast of what people then thought was the end of the world. His missionary work proved unsuccessful, and with very few converts, he returned to Judea only to be beheaded by Herod Agrippa.

In the 9th century, while searching for a source of a strange light, a religious hermit found the forgotten tomb of St. James in a dense forest near present day Santiago de Compostela. Apparently after James’ death, two disciples gathered his remains and sailed them back to Galicia in northwestern Spain in a stone boat. It was after this discovery that pilgrims started embarking on the journey to Santiago.

Although the Camino Frances, the most authentic to Santiago’s actual route across northern Spain, is the oldest and most popular walking path through Europe, many others exist. The Camino Portugues and Via de la Plata leading north from Portugal and Seville respectively, are just a couple. Most of the others are paths from the rest of Europe that lead into the Camino Frances. It is sort of an “all roads lead to Rome” situation. Some ultra-dedicated pilgrims start their pilgrimage right from their doorstep, in the manor that medieval pilgrims did. Others start from the Vatican or even Jerusalem. For those starting in any part of Europe, there exist four major arteries in France onto which walkers can connect. The most common starting point today is at the French-Spanish border, where it is possible to make the pleasant 500-mile walk to Santiago de Compostela in six to eight weeks.

Walking trail – unlike the U.S.

This walking trail phenomenon is unlike that which we have in the United States. Our trails, like the famous Appalachian Trail stretching from Maine to Georgia do not stray very far from the wilderness, passing few small towns and requiring the hiker to be self sufficient with food and shelter for weeks at a time. But in Europe, a hiker infrastructure exists in the form of special walker-only hostels and food service in towns along the way. There are very few stretches of more than ten miles without a town to get the necessary food or lodging for the night. So while there is little wilderness along the European paths, there is plenty of agriculture, history, culture, and locals.

elders in the village of Azofra

These walker hostels, known as albergues or refugios are reserved for people traveling on foot. Although most will allow bicycle tourists to stay if at the end of the day there is space still available. There are no reservations—you simply show up and claim one of the open bunk beds by laying out your sleeping bag. Many, managed by municipalities and volunteer groups, charge about $5.00 US, but some just ask for a donation. They are simple and spartan, but usually clean. The highest concentrations of these albergues are along the Camino in Spain, but they do exist in France and less commonly in the rest of Europe. In most of European towns however, there is some form of inexpensive lodging, be it a traditional hostel or a family run hotel.

Two Dutch men I met along the Camino in Spain had left from their home in the Netherlands two and a half months prior. Still happy and healthy, although with blistered feet, they showed us their almost-filled credencial del peregrine, or pilgrim’s accreditation card. The credencial is a passport-like document issued at the beginning of your journey that proves you are a pilgrim, and have been walking on a daily basis. It is necessary for admittance into the albergues. Thus, the credential soon becomes a pilgrim’s most important possession, second only after the official passport.

What’s the attraction?

So what is the attraction to blistery feet, community lodging, and the scorching Spanish sun? Many modern day pilgrims come to the Camino for religious or spiritual reasons. But more often pilgrims are in some sort of life crises, in between careers or relationships, or searching for something more in life. Others come for the centuries of rich history and culture that Spain is so famous for. Some simply come for the joy of walking and the simplicity of a pilgrim’s life.

The Camino doesn’t discriminate—you will find every age and nationality walking. On my journey, I was fortunate to spend a few days with the first Malaysian to complete the pilgrimage. For a week I walked side by side a Brazilian in a mid-life crisis. Separated from his wife with a child, we were walking for similar reasons, but in very different circumstances. Yet we still bonded over a couple hundred miles together.

Despite their reasons, all pilgrims are issued their credencial at their starting point. This gets stamped each night and sometimes at churches and other monuments along the way. I got mine at the Abby in Roncesvalles, one of the two popular starting places for the Camino Frances.

A pilgrim arrives in Belorado

In medieval times

In medieval times, the pilgrim walked from his or her home to Santiago and back. At the end of the pilgrimage, a compostela was issued, which gave accreditation that the pilgrim had reached Santiago, and had done so for religious or spiritual reasons. Many of the pilgrims were walking as penance in order to be forgiven for certain sins. However, other medieval pilgrims may have just been curious about what lie away from home, since traveling was not a practical pastime in those days. Despite the various reasons, they all faced many dangers and hardships along the way. Robbers and wild animals were the biggest concern. Sickness and disease could also easily ruin a pilgrimage. For this, an infrastructure—hospitals, hospices, and fortresses were built—some of which can still be seen today.

Today you can tour the castle in Ponferrada, started in the 12th century by the Knights Templar in order to protect pilgrims. Much of it in ruin now, a climb around its high walls affords nice views of the city and surrounding mountains. Its striking architecture and long history were a welcome mid-day break on a 22-mile day for me. In the hamlet of San Juan de Ortega lie the bones of the village’s namesake, who dedicated his 12th century life to building and maintaining the roads, bridges, and hospitals along the route. Along the way, modern day travelers pass over many of these medieval bridges and there is even a stretch of Roman road preserved.

Memorable characters

Not only are the places along the Camino memorable. So too are the people passed. Some of these characters become famous among the pilgrim community. One Englishman drives his RV from Britain every April in order to make what he calls a “pilgrim pit-stop”. Everyday he parks his RV somewhere different and stops passers-by to offer water, soda, coffee, and beer, collecting only a donation. When October comes, he packs up and returns home for the winter.

Another man—a Spaniard named Tomas—is the most prominent and only permanent resident of the former village Manjarin. Years ago he left his family and career in Madrid to dedicate his life to hosting pilgrims in his mountain-top dwelling known to pilgrims as “the hippie place”. Located near a remote mountain pass where the weather often turns foul, Tomas graciously opens his home to walkers and even serves a supper complete with wine. What Tomas’ place lacks in amenities and cleanliness, sure made up in its character. After eating the evening meal and enjoying conversation in a multitude of languages, I slept on a ripped mattress in the attic next to a 77-year-old Austrian woman, a German, a Swiss, and two young French men.

If all of this sounds overwhelming, don’t panic, there are guidebooks out there, available in several languages including English. Besides this, there’s a wealth of information on the web.

If you go

Getting there: I flew to Barcelona and bused to Roncesvalles, my starting point. But it is just as easy to fly to Madrid. Flights from the east coast range from $500 on up round trip, depending on the season. Try Travelocity or Orbitz, on the Web, to book your cheapest ticket or contact the airline directly.

Summer is a good time to go, since all the albergues are operational. But to avoid the summer heat and overcrowded accommodation, try the spring or fall. Although it is possible, few go in winter. It will not be crowded, but will be cold, and some albergues may not be open.

What to bring

To walk the Camino you’ll need a medium-sized backpack, good walking/hiking shoes, a sleeping bag, and appropriate clothes for the season.

Most people allow six to eight weeks to walk the 500 miles from the French-Spanish border. Because there are not any rules, pilgrims should not feel any shame in catching a bus occasionally between cities if they are fatigued, injured or falling behind pace. The route is well marked so a guidebook is not necessary. However, many pilgrims like to carry one in order to read explanations about the history of the hamlets and cities along the way. A good one in English is: Walking the Camino de Santiago by Bethan Davies and Ben Cole. Knowing Spanish would be helpful, but not necessary if you carry a phrase book.

Check the Web for more information: http://www.santiago-compostela.net Buen Camino!

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

Related posts:

1. Along the Camino de Santiago
2. Interview with a Retired Traveler