Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[WanderingBull]

Hello...

Perhaps you will find this a strange question, but I am wondering how easy it might be to find some work and odd jobs along the way at the small towns?

Also, is it possible to do work for stay/food arrangements at the albergues/refugios and restaurants?

Has anyone heard anything about this? I recognize it's a non-conventional question.

Any thoughts besides "save up beforehand" are welcome!


Thanks...

The Wandering Bull

[Janeh]

Hi Wandering Bull,
I read the blog below a little while back - the girl who wrote it did some volunteer work during her camino -(not to be confused with all the other volunteer work she does for organisations), not quite sure where she did the work (sorry you'll have to read thru the camino entries) but she worked in a family run restaurant along the camino for room and food. That may be an option for you?
cheers Jane

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/gigirtw/2008/05

[Annette]

Hi WanderingBull,

First: I dont want to put hopes down... just letting you know how it works for foreigners in Spain.
I am sure you will be able to find some nonpaid jobs along the way where you as a salery might get room and board. - If you are looking for paid jobs (money) you should know that a N.I.E number is required (Numero de Identidad de Extranjeros) Also you should be aware that if you are looking for paid jobs... they would probably like you to stay for a longer period of time or you will find difficulty finding jobs.

Good luck

[viajero]

I walked the Camino Frances in March and met a couple of people at private albergues who were staying on a few days to help out in exchange for accomodation. In both cases, it seems, it wasn't planned in advance, just sort of happened.

[sillydoll]

I don't think the camino is only for those who can afford 25€ a day.
Pilgrims have managed on far less and I think you will too. Seek out the small, church sponsored, donativo albergues. We met a Frenchman on and off the entire Camino Frances last year who had started in Le Puy and who offered to help with the cooking in every albergue in return for a bed and a meal.
Most of the private albergues have paid staff so you might not find one willing to pay you, but you might be able stay for free.
In the middle-ages, the Confraternities often took up a collection for a pilgrim going to St James: some villages in need of heavenly intervention sponsored a pilgrim to go on their behalf: proxy pilgrims walked to St James on behalf of wealthy people who did not want to risk the journey themselves. Perhaps you could offer to be a proxy pilgrim! Maybe you could carry photographs of wanna-be pilgrims across the camino for a small fee, say 10€ each? If you can find 30 wanna-be pilgrims who will pay you 10 € each, you will have enough money to sustain you on the camino for a month.
Suerte - where there is a will, there's a way!

[MermaidLilli]

In Villafranca del Bierzo I met several people who were picking grapes for a bit and Jato let them stay in his albergue for free, inlcuding food. All were foreigners. Grape picking season would be in September.
Lillian

[Rebekah Scott]

I can reply with an unqualified YES to this excellent question.
We live on the Camino Frances, and we´ve employed several pilgrims (some may call them "drifters") for up to two weeks at a time, doing carpentry, painting, and other big projects we couldn´t handle on our own. Perhaps because it is "under the table" and unskilled work the going wage is rather low: about 5€ an hour plus room and board, but we´ve never had anyone turn it down who needed some money to keep going. There is an entire "underground economy" like this along the caminos, and we see a couple of these workers returning now and then when they need a spot of work. Up to now, they´re really good, hard workers, too, long as we don´t give them beer to drink early in the day.

I wish the Camino would sent us a gardener!
Rebekah

[WanderingBull]

Thank you for all the helpful and hopeful responses thus far. I will look into all the tips you have offered.

FYI, I am a citizen of the UK (and the US) and therefore, believe I have the right to work in Spain. So an EU citizen, do I still need to go about getting an NIE or would my citizenship suffice?

Doing work at the albergues is something I would enjoy. I suppose it is just about meeting people and making friends. I speak fluent Spanish and I imagine this will help too.

Any more thoughts are welcome!

Thanks again!

[Annette]

WanderingBull

Yes, you still need the NIE number... being a EU citizen allows you to work in Spain. However, no employee... may or can hire you for a paid job as the NIE are for tax reasons... Unless you take a job like the one Rebekah mentions or if you choose to help out on voluntary jobs... then no... then you do not need it.

But, if you choose to take a paid job... where you paid taxes you will need the NIE number... you can apply for that at the Spanish embassy in the EU country where you live/have your passport... (might take 4 weeks) or you can apply for one on a Spanish police Station (can take 1day - 2 weeks - depending on the city where you reply). - Also you shoold know... a spanish salery is low. This was one thing I had to get used to. I Denmark, I earned almost 4 time what I earn here. In Barcelona an average salery BEFORE taxes is 800-1000 euro a month. - Luckily I make more than that... otherwise I wouldn't make it as Barcelona is an expensive city to live in.

[Rebekah Scott]

To get a Spanish NIE you first need to have a Spanish address. You can use your friend´s apartment or whatever, but it´s got to be a Spanish address they can send documents to. Even though they won´t send anything there...you´ll have to go back to the Extranjeros section of the police station to pick up your NIE up personally! (unless things have changed. Again.) And then there´s the matter of the NIF, or the Numero Fiscal...

I´d say if you don´t want to have a "real" serious wage-earning steady job, do the drifting thing and skip all the runaround. The work you get won´t pay into your pension or social security plan, but you will still (as a UK citizen) have the right to use the medical system. The Spanish right-to-work paperwork system is a nightmare bureaucracy, and if you want to live easy and low-to-the-ground (ie "camino-wise,") why go looking for headaches?

...Aside from all that, the "real" jobs with benefits and security are in VERY short supply these days, you´d be incredibly lucky to find something, especially up north here. (Barcelona of course is always different!)

Rebekah

[ivar]

...Aside from all that, the "real" jobs with benefits and security are in VERY short supply these days, you´d be incredibly lucky to find something, especially up north here. (Barcelona of course is always different!)

That is sooo true, I am still looking for something "steady" in Santiago, and there is nothing.... My solution is to start doing my own IT consulting... but finding something paid for just a few weeks in the Santiago area would be complicated I think.

Greetings from Santiago,
Ivar

[johnnyesparto]

I can reply with an unqualified YES to this excellent question.
We live on the Camino Frances, and we´ve employed several pilgrims (some may call them "drifters") for up to two weeks at a time, doing carpentry, painting, and other big projects we couldn´t handle on our own. Perhaps because it is "under the table" and unskilled work the going wage is rather low: about 5€ an hour plus room and board, but we´ve never had anyone turn it down who needed some money to keep going. There is an entire "underground economy" like this along the caminos, and we see a couple of these workers returning now and then when they need a spot of work. Up to now, they´re really good, hard workers, too, long as we don´t give them beer to drink early in the day.

I wish the Camino would sent us a gardener!
Rebekah

Now that sounds like Camino Love!! I will be walking the camino in late september, october, i garden, paint, cook or do whatever is needed. I have been to 5 National Rainbow Gatherings in the Sates here, and all of us pitch in to help the "Family". I hope i have a chance to meet you on my journey. Much love johnny