Day 10 Camino de Santiago July 15, Ventosa

We're now in the heart of one of the most prolific wine growing regions in Spain and if we are walking about 6.5 hours a day, 6.49 are through vineyards.  The grapes are beautiful, but green as green can be. Probably need to come back in a couple of months.  Along one fence, someone had made countless crucifixes out of sticks and twine and tied them to a fence.

 Towns are between 2 and 10 kilometers apart and can often be seen from about 5 k away.   The first thing you notice is the cathedral.  Lot's of people in Spain bicycle and since the Tour de France is going on, people are biking on the trail constantly.

 




  And now for a lesson perspective.  This is a picture of snail all over anise plants.  I thought, "Hmmmm....I wonder if the farmer planted the anise plants an little did he know that he would also make a little money off of the snails, or did he know that snails love anise plants and he makes a little money off of the anise plants?"

  These are the hiking poles that Luis left for me.  Kevin says they make walking easier by 15 - 20%, however, I think it's more like 16 - 21%.  Actually, they've been a life saver for me.  

 






 Simple pleasures for a simple person - sucking on straw.  Actually, it tastes good and keeps my mouth moist while walking.

"Once in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew and had to live on water and food for countless days!"  W. C. Fields

Day 9 Camino de Santiago July 14th, Logrono

I give you a Liverpoolian - Kevin.  Great guy.  Social worker traveling for about six months.  Sounds more Irish than what I think English sound.  Great stories and storyteller.  For example:

People from Liverpool are called Scouces from an old word that means stew which the locals eat.  People from Newcastle are called Geordies because the coal miners in Newcastle and only Newcastle use a type of head lamp made by Geordie, but here is the best one- the people from Hartley are called Monkey Hangers because during one of the wars with France a French ship crashed off the coast of Hartlepool and the only survivor was a monkey who the locals hung...as a spy!!

Today was a nice short walk, only 12 k to the town of Logrono, the third biggest on the Trail.  It's a city of 150,000 and is extremely clean.  Which doesn't explain the Restaurant Bacteria.

Right next to the Restaurant Bacteria was the Bar El Dorado, which is cool, but why have a picture of the Duke from his movie, "The Quiet Man"???  

    




Along the trail, many reminders pop up now and then to remind you that it is a religious Trail, regardless of the other reasons people have for hiking it.  This was a shrine to the Virgin Mary. 

It was right after this that we saw a guy named Raj, who we had had dinner with the night before, walking toward us, toward Logrono, but without a pack.  I figured that he had said, "Bugger this stuff!!!"  Thrown his pack away and was off to catch a bus. He had left his wallet in the Auberge and had to walk back two hours and get it!  

There is a beautiful lake on the trail, which is odd, because the day before I had just said to Kevin, "Kevin, I haven't seen a lake yet!"  

   









After the lake there was a "famous" pilgrim who was stamping people's credencia and giving away fruit and walking canes....just because he was a nice guy!   People do nice things like that on the trail for no reason.  

The other day, I saw a guy sitting outside my hotel that I had passed by many times in the last week and he is traveling with 10 other Germans.  He saw that I was tired and said, "Sit down and have a drink!"  I told him that I would as soon as I got checked in.  After checking in and showering, I went outside and he was still there.  I got a drink and then after awhile, went to the restroom.  When I returned, he was gone and one of the girls said, "Walter paid for your drink."  I'm going to have to remember this trick!!

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

Sir Winston Churchill