Before looking at today, I have to comment on yesterday’s albergue—absolutely fantastic in terms of hospitality—the hospitalero (Jose Mari Tekane) made you feel so comfortable. He had prepared a 3-course meal that included egg drop soup, paella, and desert plus wine and three different home-made fruit liqueurs. And, Jose’s passion is writing poetry. We only had room for 12 at that municipal albergue, so the others had to sleep at other places. Here the choices of other places are more limited; one decided to give up his spot here and sleep outside on the ground. I elected to take their only spare mattress and put it on the floor finding that it’s quite comfortable.
So, today was a great walking day: 20.9 km (13.1 mi) over rolling sparsely forested hills. A 77-year old Italian was picking herbs along the way (see next to last pic)—never did get the name of it; here are some memorable photos: the first two from last night’s communal dinner; third was of me leaving by 7:30 am to get a bed here; then there’s one of the German, Thomas, who’s been on the Camino for about 20 years straight—could write a book about him—he’s as close to being a monk as you can get w/0 taking the vows—he’s studied meditation with north Vietnamese monks and teaches it on invitation. . . Then there are my feet looking around while on a mattress on the floor.
