Day 37 Camino de Santiago Aug. 11 Arzua

If you want to eat before 8:00 PM, then you eat in a bar. Only, they don't really have lots to choose from.  Bocadillos - sandwiches with very little mean and LOTS of bread.  This is the bar that I went to after getting tired of a poor connection and a hard seat on the ground.  Not the most hygienic, to be sitting on a curb typing on a computer.  This bar had a very friendly bartender who actually came to the table with a tapas of french bread, good cheese and a fish.  A slimy, ain't been cooked fish.  But it was the gesture that counted!   Is that Ed Asner ponying up to the bar??!?!

     The town I stayed in last night was Palas de Rei, or Palace of the King.  T'wernt a palace, and t'wernt a king in sight.  Town was nondescript...which means I won't bother trying to describe it.  Dinner was nondescript as well.   Looks like they're gearing up for a big festival.  For a country with no money, they sure like to party like they've got money.  I can hear the Germans as they continue sending the Euros....
German - "Vas its das?   Eine party?!?! Again! Nein! Nein!!
Spaniard - He's right!  SIESTA!!  Everyone take a break!!

    Okay, remember these cute little silos they build here in Galicia (the Irish state in Spain)?  I saw this one today and thought, "Tupperware!"  Tupperware needs to quit dabbling in the little 1 quart size and kick it up to the 300 gallon size.  They could make them fit inside these silos so the tourist still go gaga, but they would be so much more efficient.
      Within 50 miles of Santiago.  Don't know what to expect or what to feel.  Part of me is happy to have that feeling of accomplishment and another part of me is sad to have a great learning experience end.  I guess it will never end, if I don't let it.  Listen to me, waxing on like I'm done.  There's still 50k more that a lot can go wrong.  I'll get all sentimental at k maker 0!!

    In the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere, (sounds Dickenish) was a woman washing clothes in a public water basin.  I was looking at her thinking, "Is this a tourist attraction?  Did I just walk into a Galicia Colonial Town, aka Williamsport?"  In all of Spain, this is the only one that I've seen.   They way she was scrubbing, I don't know how the clothes last??

    Okay so here is a very practical way to use the old silos.  As a mail and milk box!  Clever.

      I realize that it's a bit blurry...okay, a lot blurry, but I loved the reflection.  The purple blur is a family that has been biking the camino for the past few days.  They go ahead of me then, because of the little girl on the back, they fall behind.  I usually see them at dinner and Bien Camino them.  It's a good feeling!

     Yes, pretty colors, but you have to know why I took the photo.  There was a 12 year old boy walking with his family and he would get ahead or behind them and to avoid being lonely/scared, he would play his radio.  Loudly!!!  I would pass him to get away from the radio and he'd run to catch up. I'd let him pass, and then he'd wait for me at some point along the way.  He finally got the drift and turned off the radio and then stayed within eyesight as I walked....in quiet!

    Another albergue...that was 'complete'.  No problem... Just uphill 2k more to the big city.... Found a great little hotel, which cost more than the albergue, but I'm not sharing a room with 40 folks.  It would have been nice in the pictured albergue as I would have been able to soak in the river.  No problem...I soaked in a shower.
     This is the river.  Not too deep, but deep enough and cold to bring the old knees around.  Actually, the body seems to have adjusted.  I've named my backpack/trip - "Walk n Roll".  I have to admit, I have a nasty habit of naming inanimate objects like cars, backpacks, houses, etc.  Also learned to quit trying to change my feet.  If I wear a band -aide, I don't get blisters.  I was trying to toughen them up.  They won the fight.  Now it's a morning ritual, four band-aids and start walking.

 
 One of my favorite scenes is the grand panorama.   It's so.... so... Arizonaish, isn't it!!  Here it is in color and in black and white.