Business Opportunities on the Camino!

There are some wonderful business opportunities here on the Camino that we´d like to tell you about:

Have we mentioned the number of cyclists that travel to Santiago, using the same route as the walkers? They whiz by in their spandex with the names of their home clubs emblazoned on their shirts and shorts. They usually wish us all "Buen Camino" as they cycle past. They come from all over the world, mostly Europe, covering about 80 km per day. One man from the USA even had his GPS with him. But somehow, these cyclists have not heard about a BICYCLE BELL!! or they haven´t been taught how to use them! They often come up behind us so quietly we don´t realize they are there until a voice calls out "Hola!" and we realize a cyclist is on our heels! Which way do we move? to the left? to the right? stay in the middle? A little bit of warning that they are coming would decrease our anxiety immensely when we feel their breath on our shoulders! So the business opportunity for you entrepreneurs out there is to sell bicycle bells to every cycling Pilgrim on the Camino. Instructions will be needed in Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and English ... for starters.

Another business opportunity is to sell those laundry spinners to help get more water out of clothes after hand-washing them. We think they may be called "extractors", they work like the spin cyle of your washing machine. We have encountered them twice in our travels to date - once in the albergue run by German volunteers and again in the albergue run by Dutch volunteers. Every albergue should have one!! It´s amazing how much more water comes out of wet clothes using this device - and that´s very helpful when you need to hang up your hand-washed clothes every evening to dry.

The third opportunity is for lots of WD40, at least a dozen cans needed at every albergue. You wouldn´t believe how loud and irritating squeaky doors - bedroom doors, bathroom doors, cupboard doors - even beds! can be during the night when you are doing your best not to disturb the other eight or so people sleeping in the room! If you would actually oil the squeaky doors for the hospitalieros, that would be even better!!

And finally, one for the designers among you - showers! Pilgrim showers need rethinking. They need lots of hooks - for clean clothes, for dirty clothes, for towels and for toiletries. They need privacy. A dry place to stand after showering would be nice. A good showerhead and good drainage help. And all of that would probably be needed within about one square meter of floor-space. Those of you who have travelled in Europe will know how small the showers are here.

So, there´s the challenge. Let us know what you come up with!