A Change is Gonna Come

Tuesday Sept 24th, 2019
Portomarin to Palas de Rei
25 km, 39,000 steps, walking day #34

and

Wednesday Sept 25th, 2019
Palas de Rei to Melide
17 km, 24,000 steps, walking day #35


Tuesday Sept 24th, 2019

My usual camino schedule included early breakfast and being out walking by 8:15 am. I decided that this day would involve a significant change to that routine. My idea was to allow the crowds of pilgrims that leave between 7:00 am and 9:00 am to do just that, while I lounged around my hotel. I figured that if I began walking at 10:00 am, that I would be able to walk in a certain amount of peace.

As it turned out, it was a good idea for many reasons. When I looked out my window at 7:00 am, it was dark and pouring rain. The early pilgrims were trudging in the pre-sunrise murk, their heads down, their rain ponchos flapping in the wind. When I began walking at 10:00 am, it was light, the air was fresh, the rain had stopped and the breeze was light. It remained overcast which is the norm for this region, but that kept it cool and very comfortable for walking. Also, as I had hoped, many of the pilgrims had already left, so the route was not as crowded as the previous day, when I was walking in the thick of the crowds. The 25 km today consisted of 12.5 km basically up, then 12.5 km basically down, with the steepness of varying degrees. Where the path was packed dirt it was a bit muddy in places, and we all looked like we had been drinking as we weaved between the puddles.

In this area of Spain there are these structures in the back yards. It wasn't immediately clear to me what they were.

A group of women from France were taking pictures of them. They gave the impression of knowing what they were photographing, so I asked them. They explained to me that these structures were corn bins. The way they were built prevented mice from eating the corn. Apparently the size of the corn bin also gave an indication of the wealth of the family. They're decorated with crosses and other religious symbols because this part of Spain is very Catholic.

The Roman bridge into Palas de Rei

When I reached Palas de Rei I checked into my hotel room. Two of the walls in my room were made up of rough, exposed stone. Previous inhabitants of the room had placed coins on the wall, where the stone had enough of a ledge to give the coin a place to rest. There was about 3 Euros on my hotel room walls!

The camino is getting us closer and closer to the coast, and seafood is beginning to show up on the menus. Tonight I had grilled scallops.

I added one of my scallop shells to the wall.

Wed Sept 25th, 2019

I left Palas de Rei at about 8:30 am.

Here's a treat for the tech writers out there - this is a sign in the elevator of the hotel.

The weather was the same as the previous day, which means overcast with the threat of rain (but it never did). The temperature was about 18 degrees C. The air was humid but the breeze was cool, which meant I got warm when I was walking but got cold if I stopped. A few times the sun broke through the clouds for a moment and it was like getting a soft kiss on the forehead from the universe.

It was a relatively easy day. The path was mostly through wonderful mature forest of oak and chestnut. The branches reached over the path and waved gently in the breeze.

We passed many farms with cows and sheep. Every farm has one to three dogs - usually large German Shepherds, a few cats, often a few horses, and a caged-off area for the chickens.

These horses were curious about us. I had the feeling that if they could, they would have photographed us, too.

These chickens all ran over to me when I came up to the fence. 

It is very funny to watch chickens run.

There is also a large kitchen garden with kale, red peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, melons and potatoes, and a small orchard with a few types of apple trees, a few pear trees and a quince tree.

Kale grows 5 feet tall here.

Gorgeous red peppers

The perfect apple, ready for harvest.

I love the grapevines trained over the doorways.

I have learned that roosters will crow at any time of day. I have heard roosters on four different properties in the same village take turns crowing to each other as I walked through one afternoon. Roosters will also crow on a cloudy day when the sun comes out.

In every village there are homes and pieces of land for sale. Apparently this generation doesn't want to live in the family home, preferring to live and work in the larger cities, so the family homes are for sale. It looks to me like sales are not brisk, since so many places are available.

I got into Melide at about 1:00 pm, quite hungry. Melide is known for its restaurants that serve Pulpo (octopus), so that is what I sought for lunch.

I went to the restaurant that had the best rating on TripAdvisor and had a lunch of Galician Octopus. Yum.

Boiling the octopus in large cauldrons.

Plating the octopus - a swirl of olive oil, and a sprinkle of paprika and salt.

My lunch - a platter of octopus

Upon leaving the restaurant, I ran into my Brazilian friends Eliana and Evendro and they invited me to join them for a late lunch! They were meeting other friends in an hour to have octopus at the restaurant where I had just eaten. Of course I said yes! We walked around the older section of Melide for an hour and investigated a few churches, then returned to the restaurant.

Beautiful stained glass window.

An ivory cherub.

Evandro says it's priceless and that's why it's behind glass.

So I had "second lunch" with Eliana and Evandro and their friends Laurie and her husband. Laurie and her husband are from Baton Rouge. He is completely blind and Laurie has 5% vision. They are doing the camino on their own, using online maps and an app for booking accommodations as they go. That's pretty impressive.

Outside Pulperia (Octopus Restaurant) Ezequiel.

Eliana and Evandro love to have their picture taken.

We were in the restaurant for a few hours, sharing stories of the past and present, and sharing hopes for the future. I didn't have another meal, but I did have dessert when the time came (soft cheese and quince jam). It was a lovely afternoon.

I'm only a few days from my destination now. The way I'm feeling is similar to how I felt when I was a few days away from starting this whole journey. A little nervous, a little anxious. I have become accustomed to the calm routine of the last five weeks and I know there's going to be a huge change when I get back to home and work. I'm thinking about how I can carry the camino with me after I leave Santiago de Compostela and return home.