Depart Time: 8:45. Temp: 64F RH: 100%
Walked: 4.7 mi. Camino 2024: 286 mi.
Not necessarily a complaint but a statement of fact. We have walked in more rain in the last 3 weeks (12 days) than we have experienced in our previous 5 Caminos combined, which spanned a total of 260 days!! Camino2024 is clearly unique in that respect, alone.
As we get ready to begin todays short walk, it’s raining cats and dogs! We may need to organize all these pilgrims and begin work on an ark!
Today was our worse rain day so far. It rained without stopping, sometimes very heavily. The path was often a stream which was constantly wandering from one side of the path to the other. There was more mud and muck to try to avoid often unsuccessfully. The only good part was it seemed to be mostly dirt and organic material and not manure.
Needless to say, we didn’t do much photography. The few shots we took are shown here and resulted in a wet phone and wetter clothes.
We stopped at our hostel at 11:30 during a major downpour and then moved on to a familiar bar in the village, as our room would not be clean until 1:00.
We hung out at the Bar Botana, which was the dryest place we could find and it provided food and drink and restrooms and a place to sit. The manager/waitress was pushing the homemade soup, but we declined and went for bulk!
Remembering the earlier pitch for the homemade soup and the potential need for a light dinner option (we vowed not to venture out in the rain for the rest of the day)…. Jim approached the waitress/manager about some soup-to-go. She sadly shook her head but Jim showed her his empty 1/2 liter water bottle and she disappeared into the kitchen and quickly returned with a just emptied spaghetti sauce bottle. Jim smiled, she smiled and she disappeared again, returning with the bottle filled with hot, homeade soup.
Jim explained to her, I have a room, access to a kitchen but no food, klinging to the warm bottle of our soup-to-go. He then shoved the bottle into the side pouch of his backpack and said it was his “soup pouch”, which brought a shared laugh and he paid our bill.
We walked back to the hostel in the rain and found our room waiting at 12:45. We checked in and began the process of removing wet clothes, cleansing and warming wet bodies in a clean, walk-in shower, washing and drying wet clothes and shoes and then other more routine activity for the rest of the afternoon.
We visited the well equipped hostel kitchen at 5:30 to have a light dinner of soup and crackers.
Two interesting young ladies joined us at the table with their own versions of dinner and we added entertaining conversation to our evening meal. Our dinner companions were from Florida and Singapore.
After dinner and goodbyes to our new friends we parted with a concerted wish for a dryer tomorrow.
Tomorrow>>>>>Santiago!!
Jimandi 