The sunrise was beautiful. Niall and I left together and walked and talked all the time. He is very educated, an engineer. 45 years old, a very nice man. He assisted me with my water (note to self: obtain pack with water more accessible - or find a nice person to get it for you all the time). We walked about 10 kms to Viana and had a breakfast there. Egg and ham sandwich and a coke (feels funny drinking a coke and seeing people drinking wine even in the early hours). Now it´s getting hotter, real hot. We walked and stopped frequently to drink some water and rest in the shade. I peed and it was very concentrated. I drank all my water by the time I got to Logroño and it was hot hot water. We stopped in a bridge tunnel and Niall wrote graffiti, one of many there, mostly dedicated to pilgrims. But his was dedicated to a French friend, Didier. Something related to a girl they both have the hots for. (rolls eyes, lol) I took his pic in case Didier does not see it and we run into him at a later date.
The road turned to asphalt now and the sole of my shoes were so hot it burned my feet!! We stopped at Señora Felisa´s, whose sello reads "Higos Agua Amor" (Figs Water Love). She died years ago and now her daughter took her place, sitting in her roadside stand, under the umbrella. She was one of the Camino´s well known figures. She could not read and write. She wanted to know how many pilgrims she saw every day so her daughter placed a jar and a basket of beans and each time Doña Felisa saw a peregrino she placed a bean in a jar. Then the daughter counted them for her each day and it was recorded. We sat under her fig trees. The little stand on the side of the road reminds me of a kid´s lemonade stand. We had something cold, rested our feet awhile and walked into town. I checked into a very nice albergue for only 3€ and Niall went to a pension to find a quiet place for the night. I did the usual... everyday thing... shower, wash clothes by hand, hang them up, settle up the bed situation, dressed and look for food. We are meeting at 7pm for dinner. Everyone at this albergue is walking funny. Everyone´s hurting. There is a foot pool here where we dunk our feet in very cold water and chat.
Niall came and we went looking for restaurants that his friend had test-messaged him about. They were closed down. We went to a bar and I had a Shandy, something I had never heard about. Here they call it a Clara. It is half lemonade and half beer. Very refreshing. I think I may have found a new drink! We went to a very nice restaurant. They had a sidra (alcoholic)barrel where you serve yourself. See picture, because it is hard to describe. You squirt it into your glass. It was fun.
Niall got us both of ours. We ate sooo much! For starters, croqueta balls, yummm. Then little individual lettuces with anchovies. Yum. Then bacalao (cod) in peppers. Awesome. Then rock-salted prime rib for 2... exquisite. Dessert was cheese with membrillo and walnuts. I could not finish it. So Niall tells me it´s a couple of minutes before 10pm and that is my curfew. The albergue is now closed. So, what the hell!! We went to look for chocolate con churros and the only place we saw was closing. So we went bar to bar to have a Patxaran. Had 1 over ice and then went to look for a place to dance. Useless. Nothing much on a tuesday night. So we went back to his place. It has 2 beds, therefore I was not homeless that night. He bought a new backpack and had stuff strewn everywhere. Went straight to bed. We chatted awhile.. Sailing, yurts, panthers.... he told me a story and I don´t remember falling asleep. He doesn´t either. The street below was noisy and by morning there was a singing dog that wouldn´t stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment