O Pino

  

 Today is a shorter day and we are grateful, actually we are a little giddy!  

We did however encounter rain, rather heavy rain in fact.  And a thunderstorm in the distance.   Lucky hikers that we are, we managed to get soaked a few times.  Did I already tell you rain is wet?  During the stretches of heavier rain we stopped in cafes and ate and talked, it was a wonderful time to engage with other pilgrims. We met a delightful young couple on their delayed honeymoon, who are taking a break before heading to Mayo Clinic, a residency in ENT for him, while she plans to work as an OT and do further training.  There are some bright and beautiful souls in the younger generation! 

It was also another opportunity to indulge in the wonderfully comforting Spanish tortilla, which is a potato, egg and cheese tart.  Delicious!  And of course a pastry or three…we feel obligated to help keep the small cafes in business.  And we are always grateful for their servicios!

                 Some of us don’t need to utilize the cafes…this is one of many WC’s along the Camino!

 

           The house is decorated with abandoned shoes, the cafe with hundreds of beer bottles!

  We have met several women traveling alone.  Rita (Texas) has been traveling for a month, and after reaching Santiago, plans to continue to Finastarre.  Rita is very independent and matter of fact.   She says her kids don’t worry about her, they know she can take care of herself.  She told us of arriving late to her alburgue one evening only to find they had given her room away. ( Not uncommon, there are so many people seeking lodging right now that they could fill beds twice!)  She asked for fellow pilgrims advice about how safe it would be to sleep on a bench, or worth going to another town, but finally the Municipal alburgue told her she could sleep on their porch after midnight.  Yikes!  We also witnessed a reunion with Rita and Desiree, a little Asian woman with large round glasses. Desiree was  lost on her first night in Roncevalles and was in tears when Rita rescued her and helped her find her alburgue.  Every time Desiree ran in to Rita on the trail she would grab her hand, burst in to tears and tell everyone that Rita was her hero.  “She save me!”  It embarrassed Rita, but is a perfect example of the many small (and large) acts of kindness along the way.  

The rain stopped by afternoon, and we were pretty much dried out when we checked into our alburgue, a lovely little compound complete with a restaurant and a pool.  Only Ron went in for a swim, even he admitted it was freezing..oh wait, he said refreshing!

The restaurant was interesting, one waiter and an assistant with very little English.  They took our order, then came back to explain they were out of pork, out of mushrooms, out of the dessert.   The dinner was very good even without the missing ingredients.  This alburgue is out of town a bit, how they can even get food and keep help is a mystery.  I suspect most of it is family, there is little else to do in these small hamlets except for farming.

Dick counted up his steps for far on this trip..pretty impressive!

Tomorrow will be the last day, I must admit I have mixed feelings.  Dick does not.