A Tale of Two Short Days

Yesterday began with rain and getting ourselves lost, adding two kilometers to our day before we even left Melide.

Morale was low, and this cartoon posted on the wall of our lunch spot in Castañeda captured it perfectly.

But then we ran into a delightful Australian family that we had been meeting up with now and again over several days. Thank you Bruce, Sophie, and Eleanor for lifting our spirits!

Photo by Francine, who looks like she’s photobombing her own selfie

We were so chipper, even the uphill slog into urban Arzúa couldn’t bring us down.

We tried to go to evening Mass, but the schedule we had was apparently in error. The church was open all right, but other than a handful of pilgrims, the only person there was one older lady cheerfully dispensing sellos.

So we found the only pizza joint in Arzúa and conversed with a traveling group of Virginian college students and a lovely Irish couple.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, a Spanish national holiday. Much of our walk was uphill and down through forest to the sound of distant celebratory artillery fire.

At one point, I suddenly had a craving for apple pie. We popped in the next café we came to, and they had a single slice of apple pie in the case.

May not sound like much, but it seemed mighty miraculous to me at the time.

Due to the crazy crowds on the Camino right now, Francine has been booking albergues ahead. I had never heard of such a thing during the shoulder seasons before. Apparently due to the heat wave this summer, many folks elected to go later than usual. The Camino is crowded!

Tonight, she hit the albergue jackpot in the tiny village of Santa Irene.