Eucalyptus in Espana

I shipped my daypack for the first time in 5 days, and really noticed the difference. I stepped lightly and it felt easy going uphill instead of going into grinding mode.

I left the village without wi-fi that shall not be named, in full rain gear. Once again, there was a fabulous sunrise at 8:45. And then a vertical rainbow to the West, in the direction of Santiago.

Today’s Camino wound through one Galician village after another, with lots of cows, dogs, and chickens. For the first time, many wayside cafe/bars were closed for the season. Then we went through Palas de Rei and continued on through green forests where the trees met overhead of the ancient sunken track of the Camino.

And then, suddenly, eucalyptus are everywhere! It smells like home.

Last night I picked out a destination from the guidebook for my pack to be sent that sounded interesting: a Casa Rural, 2 kilometers off the Camino.

When I got to the turn off, it was a long 2k walk to get here, and as I walked and walked I thought, “I hope this place is ok, because I don’t want to pick up the pack and walk back.”

It turned out to be a nice, and typically funky place where a family runs an Alberge and guest house,with dinner. The kids were watching cartoons after school and practicing flute. There’s a giant stuffed rabbit on top of the armoir in my room.

The Canadian couple from Quebec, Lisa and Harold, whom I’ve been walking with on and off for the last week followed me down here. Then, at dinner, another group of Brits and Australians showed up, who, as it turned out, knew the Canadian couple from 3 weeks ago, and as I sat down at the table who should be there but my friend from Hong Kong! I hadn’t seen her since Ponferrada, and we hadn’t exchanged contact information because I was intent on finding the glove I’d dropped. What a gift to see her again!

We plotted over dinner to all meet at the giant Albergue just outside Santiago on Thursday night, which sounds good to me.