(listen to audio recording of the text below, here).
I'm leaving the town of Pontedeumo, a river town with the sea kelp built up on the shores that smells fresh and cool and very much like the sea, and I'm now coming down the other side of the mountain. I couldn't leave a message earlier because it was about 45 minutes of upward ascent before we leveled out. And now we're leveling out. Now we're entering what feels more like the interior of Galicia and what I am more familiar with from my Camino Francés Walk: old stone houses, surrounded by so much green, everything is overgrowth and greenness and ferns and forests, and there's even maracuya trees, trees that I associate with South American rainforests, growing here.
And I’ve passed two sweet little fruit stands already, “donativos,” where people have laid out fruit and bracelets and blister medication and water for pilgrims to help themselves to on a donation basis. Very sweet. Sort of makes you know that someone or someones are welcoming you as you're walking, which in some way makes all the difference.
There's an incredible morning light right now. It's a little after nine, and the sun is rising between nine and 915 so there's like this filtered quality of early morning light that's really, really beautiful. I slept at an albergue last night in Pontedeumo. It was a private albergue with little pods for each person with a curtain that closes. The pod was like being in a womb, and I slept more deeply than I have in months, and I didn't want to get up in the morning. It was so delicious. I was also the only person in the room! The entire Albergue was filled with men who were put in another room, with the exception of one American who was put in a room adjacent to me, because, by his own confession, he is a snorer. And then there was a wonderful, really wonderful owner, incredibly hospitable. I had a delicious lunch of fried calamares, and albondigas, (meatballs), some local bread. The bread here is just so good. It's so hearty. And some delicious, delicious extra virgin olive oil to go with the bread. And some pimientos de Padron, which is usually the only vegetable on any of these sort of tavern bar menus. So it's a great way to get some veggies that are super tasty. And I had a glass of Albariño, so now we're getting closer to Albariño and the Ribeiro territory.
Today I'm walking to Betanzos, which is the town that I transferred to catch a train to come here
amd start the Camino. So there's kind of a nice full circle in that. I'm walking
behind some Spaniards and an Argentinian that I met on the first night. at the municipal Albergue. There's this beautiful light kind of glowing on them right now. As we walk south on this morning's path today is super, super mountainous, at least according to the topographical rise that was presented. And it's unclear if there will be places to eat food between here and the time we arrive, there are towns, but the towns on this camino in general have a lot less infrastructure. So there may be a town, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's a place to eat or to buy something, especially because some of them are really, really small. Yesterday night, I went to the grocery store and got a ready made “arroz” with mariscos, already made rice with seafood, bought some high quality olive oil and small, little portable packets that I now have in my left hand pocket of my backpack should I need them, and should the right piece of bread come up as I walk. And I had some fresh gazpacho, which here is pepper based instead of tomato based, which I love. I swirled a little olive oil in it, and had some little biscochos, little cookies for dessert with a mug of chamomile tea as I was talking to this man from Barcelona, who was walking about double the distances that I am on a daily basis.
Now I am 10 minutes just past the town of Minos, a couple hours later. I had a delicious second breakfast with two fried eggs and a piece of bread with olive oil and fresh squeezed orange juice. Such a treasure when I find these pieces, because finding protein as you're walking and especially warm food. To give you calories, to keep on walking is not a given at all. And so when you find it feels like a gift, I'm on my way out of Miñas right now. It's always getting in and out of town that's the trickiest in terms of staying on track and following the signs. And then once you're out of town, you're usually in home for y'all but this is where you have to pay the most attention. I walked with three people this morning from Toledo, Spain, a daughter, a father and an uncle. And father plays in a band. He plays version of Portuguese viola in a sort of folkloric group with 12 people, and we listemed to some of their videos as we walked. So I gave him a guitar pick with the Songs of Santiago emblem on it. And then I met up with an American guy from Florida with a German wife. This is his first Camino, and he has a week off between jobs. So he literally just bought a plane ticket to Spain and showed up, and he didn't have a pole, and he's really struggling with hills. So we found this store close to where we had our breakfast. We bought a pair of poles; I took one and he took the other. So now I have a functioning pole again for the very intense climb that is tomorrow, and we still have a climb today that's pretty significant. I'm at about midday, and I have 10k to go. So another three hours, three or four, depending on the steepness of the hill.
But on my way out of town, I found a little grocery store with all of these fresh breads off the shelf, and the woman says, “Choose a piece of bread. And I chose a piece of bread.” And then she goes into her fridge and just opens up this aged manchego cheese, slices off chunks, drizzles olive oil on the bread, wraps it in butcher paper, and gives it to me and then sends me on my way with the rest of the loaf of bread and the rest of the cheese from like the sealed container. So essentially, now I have the makings of two really delicious sandwiches, and with that, I feel fortified for any 10k walk, especially as from what I can tell, there are no other towns with places that are open to get Food between here and Betanzos, which is my destination for today.
Now I'm passing this incredible sand bar in the middle of a river, and the wind is picking up, as you can probably hear in the background, my understanding is that these rivers are a mix of salt water and sweet water. That's why I am smelling the seat, even when I am passing a river, and this is this water that they're using for the bread that makes all these regional breads so tender and so delicious. But really, really, really enjoying that and the pride that everyone takes in there insanely delicious, Nutritious bread, which becomes a staple of life.
Bread becomes so vilified, at least in the US, for being a carbohydrate. But here and I remember this, first of all, high quality bread is a luxury. And secondly, it's actually incredibly nutritious. So it has a ton of protein in it when you're eating whole grain versions of it, and if you have that high quality olive oil, which also has protein I learned yesterday, and salt, It's actually kind of the perfect snack.
I continuing to see almost exclusively folks from Spain at the albergue last night, minus the one American, who's struggling because he speaks German, but he does not speak Spanish, and so it's very different culturally this camino, and there's not this a priori assumption that English is the lingua franca, or can be a lingua franca, as it often is treated on the Camino Framcés. So I'm really enjoying that aspect of this. I'm getting to use so much more Spanish on this camino, and having some longer, more in depth conversations with Spanish pilgrims when I arrive. I'm also really, really enjoying that. Tonight, I have a couple out of Albergue choices. And depending on what's still available when I show up, there's a nice private one that appears to be religious. It looks beautiful and clean and very, very affordable, and may have a pilgrim blessing at the Church which I love when I can find those. All right, I'm gonna sign off now, because of all this wind. Sorry, listeners, if you're listening, this is part of the experience. This is the Camino experience, so you're in it with me.
Have a wonderful day, everyone, from my heart to yours, and from Spain where I am to wherever you may be as you read this!
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