Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago have recently benefited from the installation of a food and drink vending machine on the section between Deba and Markina, specifically in the Laranga neighborhood in Mutriku. This vending initiative has provided unexpected support to walkers during their stage, providing them with access to the food and drinks necessary for their journey.
Every year, thousands of pilgrims travel through the Camino de Santiago facing long days of walking, demanding slopes and the weight of their backpacks.
The journey is so spiritual as well as physical and, in many sections, the wear and tear is noticeable. The stage that takes the pilgrims to owe to Markina on the North Road It starts with a demanding climb to the top of Calvary, which usually tests the walker's legs.
However, for a few months now, this effort has been mitigated by the surprising presence of a vending machine where they can buy drinks and replenish their food reserves on the side of the road, at the height of the neighborhood mutrikuarra from Laranga.
Exhausted pilgrims
Behind the decision to place the machine in such an unusual location is the Pikua, a restaurant and rural house very close to the path along which mountaineers, walkers and pilgrims travel on the way to their destination in Santiago.
In fact, it was this continuous movement of people and, especially, the exhausted appearance of some pilgrims on the climb to El Calvario which led to Goizane Elorza, responsible for the establishment with her husband Luis Ángel Alburquerque, to embark on this project.
«Some of the pilgrims who reach this point are well prepared and advance with a firm step. Others, however, suffer the consequences of the climb from Deba and pass by hunched over by the weight of their backpack, almost without strength. I thought that the latter could use something to help them recover and I thought it would be a good idea to set up a vending machine where they could stop, buy something to eat and drink, and continue their route with renewed strength.”
Provisioning
Another point that Goizane Elorza valued was the possibility of offering walkers an emergency solution in case they have miscalculated the provisions for a march in which they still have to face the climb to the neighborhood of Olatz and Arnoate, before beginning the descent to Markina, the usual end of this stage.
"You may have made some provisions for water and food at the time of departure first thing in the morning, but you may be surprised by a very hot day that may lead you to run out of water sooner than expected. This is where finding a machine of this type on the way can also be helpful."
