Day 37 - On The Way of St. James : Palas de Rei to Ribadiso
On the Way of St. James
Continuing along the Camino Frances
This morning, as usual, we woke early, enjoyed our breakfast and headed out into a beautiful morning. We trekked through town, along the roadway past businesses and bars, past pilgrim statues and between Hertz vans and tour buses on our way west. Despite the early hour we found ourselves surrounded by large groups of pilgrims.
Together we wove our way through the morning fog, along roadways and down forested pathways. The Camino took us past an increasing number of Horreo granaries, through stone-built villages, and over Roman bridges.
We
went through the town of Casanova, visited the city of Melide, and
there toured the Iglesia de San Pedro with its beautiful altar and modern
stained glass doors.
New Pilgrims, New Experiences
For our morning break, we waited almost an hour in line at a bar while tour groups were fed. While waiting we were confronted by another hiker and chastised "for
carrying such a large backpack just trying to impress everyone." When
we ordered our cafe con leches and had our passports stamped, we were
asked by one young lady where we got stamps for St. Jean-Pied-de-Port? Stunned,
I had no idea what to answer. To Sean's credit, he told her
straight-faced "about 700 km east" and walked out of the bar. While
resting on the patio we watched as a tour bus pulled up, unloaded 50
or so pilgrims, and listened as they were instructed to walk 1.5 km to a
nearby picnic area, where they would get their lunches. They were then instructed that they would need to hike another 1 km to get picked up again for the day. Clearly, many of these pilgrims were enjoying a very different experience than we were.
Ribadiso Spain
Amazed by the ongoing situation, we wandered down tree-lined pathways, past stone ruins and farmland. Eventually, we crossed over a river, the Rio Iso, into the village of Ribadiso and checked into the Pension Ribadiso.
Here we were given a private room with two single beds, a personal washroom, and a view over the nearby mountains. As usual, we showered, washed our laundry, hung it in the field behind the pension, and relaxed. By mid-afternoon, we enjoyed a lunch of beer and cheese sandwiches at the local bar and then took an afternoon nap. Such luxury!
Regrets and Reflections
We awoke in the early evening and soon went back to the local bar, the only place open for pilgrims to eat dinner. As
it turned out we arrived at the bar along with almost every other
pilgrim in the town, and so had to wait outside with a pint of cold beer for a table to become available. As we sat there we were joined by several people that we knew, and we enjoyed ourselves as we waited for a table together. When a table was finally offered to us, two pilgrims who had just gotten off a tour bus walked past everyone else who was clearly waiting and sat right down. The waiter said nothing but offered Sean and I the remaining two seats at the table. Our two companions motioned for us to go eat, as it seemed unlikely we would find anything together, but the bus pilgrims seemed really put out about being asked to share their table and soon began complaining. Sean - now overtired and overextended, could not stay silent about the rudeness of these people. As
a result, he pushed passed our companions mumbling and swearing - which
I am sure they thought was directed at them, and returned to our room. I followed him and tried to convince him to return to get a meal and to relax, but to no avail. Therefore,
as I write this, neither of us has eaten much today which is making the
evening hard.
I can only hope as
we head off to bed, with our windows open, fresh air coming into our
room, and so with only a few days before us left that we have the time to apologize
and make amends with our friends. I hope tomorrow brings peace, both for
Sean and for us with our friends, and if it does not bring peace then
at least let me find a cafe with breakfast and lots of coffee!
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Practical information:
Distance: 25.6 km
Max Temperature: 18°C
Accommodations: Pension Ribadiso
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