President Clare

I think I've figured out why the unemployment rate is so high in Spain. The grocery stores only have one employee. They might be re-stocking shelves or carving jamón in the back or ringing you up. With staples in our arms we stood at an unmanned cash register in the front of Supermercado in Portomarin. One gentleman approached and as he only had two items we suggested he go ahead of us. He would have none of that. He sat his items on the floor behind us and then sat down in the seats at the storefront to catch up on the day's events. Another man approached with two large bottles of water and shouted, "Señora! cash register!!, the pilgrims are waiting!" Señora hustled up to the register and rang us up. Señor water bottles struck up a conversation with Clare. They were discussing the recent US election results. He said that the US had missed a chance to elect its first female president. Clare said maybe in the near future. The man said, "How about you? You could run", and they all had a big laugh.

We returned to our albergue which is a newer, private place not in any of our guide books. It opened in June and is called Paso A Paso. The manager or owner is in his early thirties. He checked us in and showed us to our room. Then around 5 he left and his parents took over. Their duties included checking pilgrims in, entertaining everyone with lively Spanish conversation whether they spoke Spanish or not and fiddling with finicky heater knobs. Most importantly however it included conducting a taste test of papa's homemade "fire water," which as far as we could gather involved distilling the byproducts of wine. It was sweet and powerful.

We were sampling the "fire water" with Chen, a new friend from Taiwan. who was sharing his meal with us. His meal was a bottle of red wine and a bag of potato chips. In turn we shared our olives and cider with him. In discussing post-Camino travel plans Chen told us that he must fly back to Taiwan on the 19th so he would be home for his daughter's first birthday! We all agreed. Miss that celebration and I'm pretty sure this would be Chen's last Camino. Coincidentally Chen's daughter and I share the same birthday, November 20. If all goes well we will be flying home that day.

Amy retrieved our wet clothes from the dryer and we hung them out all over our room. I really should skip paying the €4 to run the dryer as it simply tumbles the wet clothes for an hour delaying precious draping-over-the-bed drying time. Europe can be proud of many things but their tumble clothes dryers are not on that list.

I was told today's stage would be easy, and in comparison to swimming the English Channel I guess it was. Walking 18 miles with a 9.4 kilo pack on your back is never easy. How do I know the weight of my pack you ask? I took the opportunity to weigh myself with and without pack in a Farmacia today as Amy and Clare were restocking the foot care bag.

It was a beautiful day. High wispy clouds and tree lined trails. Several sections were lined with knobby oak trees that had been cut back many times. They looked like all the talking trees that I've ever seen in books and movies.

We had an outside lunch in the sun with a whole slew of peregrinos including Max and Gracia from Valencia. If we eat where they eat then we know we are doing something right because they always have the inside scoop. They informed us that we were now in a white wine region. Up until now all the local wines had been red.

Immediately after lunch we stepped inside 100k to Santiago. In the beginning of the Camino the kilometers seemed to tick off very slowly. Now they seem to be flying by. The only part of a 1,200k bike ride that I don't enjoy is the finish. I'm already starting to dread the end but as the Irish wisely say, "If you don't leave, you can't come back!"