For example, we often give little thought to whether or not it is raining, other than perhaps to have an umbrella to get from the car to your destination. But when you are walking, it changes everything. Day before yesterday, we were pretty miserable as the rain caught us in the open and we were forced to slog along.
The weather forecast was for rain up until after lunch, with some clearing then, but we were awakened very early by the sound of very heavy rain falling. I had given some thought to what we might do if it were raining when we got up, but the heavy rain had slacked off and by the time we walked across the street for breakfast at 8 a.m., there was only a little mist in the air. We carried our mochillas over to the place where the transport service would pick them up and had the traditional coffee, toast and jam for breakfast. We finished up and started out and I told Sharon it would probably clear up pretty quickly. Probably. But as we walked away from the cafe, it began to drizzle, and I had a mental image of slogging the next six miles in the rain again.
As we walked away from Ligonde and Eirexe, we remembered the little dog that had greeted us at the hostel door this morning, the tiny church in the village and the pretty flowers growing near a doorway:
Santiago, or Saint James, was becoming a more frequent sight, and he bade us farewell as we left the village.
We hiked the Camino for a couple of miles, across more hayfields, gardens and small hamlets. Finally, we saw our first patch of blue sky! I pointed it out to Sharon but she wasn't sure if it was blue or just another shade of gray. But sure enough, it was soon joined by another patch and another. By the time we arrived in Brea at the five kilometer mark, we stopped for our first walking break at a little cafe and the sun pointed a bright ray through the window of the little shop and hit me square in the face. It was such a joyful sight I had to snap a picture!
As usual, there are more beautiful sights than you could ever photograph and ever hope to arrive at your destination. A simple garden gate, a little chapel, just a clearing in the Camino up ahead all beg to be memorialized!
Before you knew it, we had arrived in Palas de Rei, a town of about 4,000 people and one of the major etapes, or stops, in the Brierly guidebook. That meant the small town was filled with hotels, albergues, restaurants, pulperias (octopus restaurants!) and pizzerias. None of these existed in the eighth century when the town came into being. Wikipedia states: "According to tradition, the city owes its name "'Pallatium regis'to the palace of the Visigothic king Witiza, who reigned between 702 and 710."
As it usually does, the Camino lead us right by the church in Palas, and the door was open with a kindly old Spanish gentleman inviting us to come in and have our credenciales stamped. He was so kind that we couldn't resist, and as we entered we heard soothing, peaceful music playing and dozens of candles lit. The place just beckoned you to sit and reflect for a while, and so we did.
The gentleman carefully stamped our pilgrim passport and even rubber stamped the date, which not every place had been doing. He invited us to sign the daily register of pilgrims and we were glad to make a small offering to the upkeep of the building. We were pleased with the stamp, which proved we had been in the Saint Tirso Parish, Diocese of Lugo in the city of Palas de Rei on July 2, 2014. Here's the proof!
After a brief stay, we wandered back outside and I snapped a few photos of the church. It sits almost in the middle of this town, which is built on the side of a hill, so there are plenty of stairs and inclines.
Again, there seemed to be a monument to the invention of the bowling ball here in Palas too, so I have to say I'm not certain at this point where it actually did come into existence. It seems to be revered in many places in Spain!
We stopped in a small cafe for a glass of agua con gas, or bubbly water, and for the first time we were offered tapas to go along with our order. It sounds fancier to call it that, but it was simply a thin slice of bread with a piece of cheese or ham or presunto on top. There was no charge for ours, or for the small slice of chocolate cake that the pilgrim next to us had consumed.
We headed back out on to the Camino and as it curved along, from the old door of a farmhouse came a mid-sized black and gray dog with the biggest dog grin on her face you have ever seen. You can usually tell if a dog is friendly by whether or not it smiles at you, and this one definitely was! First she got a scratch from Sharon, then a rub, then a belly pat. She then demanded the same from me. Have you ever heard a dog purr? This one did! Until we stopped petting and began to leave, when she first began to give a friendly growl, then a bark of protest. Finally her owner came out to grab her so we could leave unhindered!
This was a dog who knew what she wanted and how to get it! We've seen all kinds along the Camino, but this was by far the happiest to see us!
We knew our hostel was just about a mile outside of town, so we continued following the Camino. Little did we know that if we had gone straight down the Avenida de Compostela we would have arrived pretty shortly at Ponterroxan Hostel. But the Camino crossed the road once and made a big curve, then crossed back the other way and did the same thing. Think of a dollar sign. $ The straightest path is the upright line, but the Camino seems to enjoy making the "s" part of $! We wondered how many miles we would have cut out if we had simply gone straight down the highway. But there we were again thinking like Americans, and not like pilgrims!
I think the point of the Camino is illustrated pretty well by this statue we came across not far from our hostel. I've been given instructions like this before, and they don't always work out well!
I thought I might could clarify things just a bit for future pilgrims, so I asked Sharon to snap my picture as a visual aid:
We had both lunch and dinner at our little hostel and we enjoyed another first. Before dinner we ordered a couple of bottles of fizzy water and sat in the cafe portion of the restaurant sipping our drink. The waitress brought over a plate of olives, and I was so sad that Sharon doesn't eat them because I had to eat them nearly all by myself. They were delicious!
The only other "adventure" we had was after lunch and a nap, I was selected to go to town in search of a couple of long sleeve shirts. This 50 and 60-degree weather with rain has been cold and we hardly get warm before bedtime! I found a couple of little clothing stores and the first one had just what we needed. However, in the men's selection, the shopkeeper told me they only had L or XXL. She encouraged me to try on the XXL, which is NOT my size, but Spanish sizes run a bit small it seems and this was a perfect fit. I feel a bit like Jost in the movie The Way. I noticed that my shirt's label said it was made in Spain. You don't see that much back home!
We finished dinner and I spoke to the man who ran the place and asked if he could recommend a good hostel in Melide. He recommended the Sony, and even called ahead and made the reservation. When a Spanish person pronounces my name, the hearer understands it pretty quickly, and if it has to be spelled out for clarity--no problem. But when I try to do the same, you would think I was speaking Japanese! Which we might be doing tomorrow night at the Sony!
So we have perfected the system for travelling the Camino. Instead of paying 20 euros and getting two bunk beds and common showers and toilets with 30 other pilgrims, pay an additional 10-15 euros per night and get a private room with a private bathroom and some of the most wonderful showers ever seen! Pay the three euros to have someone drive your bags to your next night's lodging, and as long as it doesn't rain, you're going to enjoy your Camino. One of the most frequently heard phrases out here is "It's your Camino, do it however you would like."
This is our Camino, and we are enjoying doing it!
Buen camino, peregrino!
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