Freddy

We have stayed in six different villages since Leon. Padrecito Freddy from Columbia has stayed in the same villages. In only one of six did we not bunk under the same roof. So it should not come as a surprise that we found him sitting at the table taking a meal when we checked into our albergue, but it did. We are not planning this. I don't even think we are discussing where we are staying. Anyway, today we decided to shorten the Brierly guide book stage a few K to make the stages more even. That put us ending in a small village called Vega de Valcarce. It is a beautiful place in the hills just at the foot of more mountains.

We had had not seen Freddy all day. We had not seen him since dinner last night when we both picked the same restaurant in Cacabelos. Freddy had been limping pretty badly two nights ago but when we saw him last night he was in even worse shape. He had fallen coming into Cacabelos and had a pretty ugly lateral ankle sprain. It was already swollen. I gave him the extra hiking pole that I had been carrying and he seemed very grateful. He had already been discussing stopping his Camino with Fritz but now that his ankle had been iced and he had a full belly, a new plan was hatched. He would send his pack onto Santiago and only carry the bare essentials on his back.

We didn't see Freddy at breakfast. He had already departed. We chose the scenic route through rolling vineyards and it was beautiful in the morning sun.

Our morning café con leches came in Villafranco del Bierzo where we ran into the Spanish couple Max and Gracia. We played leapfrog with them for the rest of the day until they ducked into a restaurant for a local delicacy, boatillo which is pig stomach stuffed with other meats and sausages. We passed on the tripe and forged ahead. Before leaving them we asked where they were staying for the night and it was the same stop where we would be. Amy asked which albergue, since those two always seem to have the inside scoop, and they told us la Magdalena. We would look for it. We trudged on. Our feet began to ache but we finally made it to the village. We stopped at Magdalena but it looked a little run down. We walked around a bit and checked out a few others that were suggested in our guides. But nothing felt right. There was one more across the river and we would have a look. It had a field and two horses. It felt right. We made our way to the detached reception building although it looked closed. We swung the door open and there sat Freddy having a meal prepared by the hospitelera.

The place is called Albergue El Paso. It is run by Maria and she is amazing! She has washed and dried our clothes, given us fresh vegetables from her garden and eggs from her chickens for our dinner and sold us a 3€ bottle of red wine that she makes herself. She has also helped us prepare our dinner including thin slices of toast with local goat cheese and homemade tomato jam. We sautéed the veggies, served them over rice and had scrambled eggs on the side. Top it off with some Serrano jamón, semicurado cheese and olives and venga, you've got team satisfaction!

We are cooking oatmeal tomorrow before tackling some big mountains including El Cebriero. I just heard it's supposed to rain all day. Oh well. That's why we are carrying rain gear.

Last I saw Maria had Freddy soaking his ankle in a huge bucket of hot water. This was after 30 minutes in an ice bucket. I'd ask him where he's planning on staying tomorrow but what's the point. We'll wind up at the same place anyway.