Imagine that it is your dream to run an albergue, and then that opportunity comes knocking in the middle of COVID. Do you make the leap? And then imagine that you dive in headfirst, alive with all of the dreams and possibilities of what will be. Even as the pandemic ebbs, though, your reopening is first delayed by family obligations, and then thwarted entirely by necessary repair work. Two years in, your albergue has been closed more than it has been open. This is the story of Giulia Sottanis, the hospitalera at Albergue Izarra in Caborredondo, Spain on the Camino del Norte. This is also the story of the central importance of donativo-based albergues, though, and the philosophy and people behind them.