Day 15, Day 8 on the Camino

Lordy, oh Lordy, oh LORDY – am I ever happy to have this day of our trek behind us!!! After a mellow hour of meandering through a couple of quaint and “strangely medieval” villages, a coffee break at a self service, “donitivo cafe” with coffee in a thermos, potato chips and apples, and a break for breakfast (Huevos Fritos) in Laza, three hours into our walk we spent 3 hours climbing up and Up and UP!!! I was red faced and so ready to be done only 15 minutes into it, given the EXTREMELY Steep hills!!!! The purple and white heather as well as gold and white scotch broom were gorgeous but it was mostly lost on me as I focused to continue generating steam…

This 16 Mile day brought us to Albergueria. Our albergue was such a welcome to behold and a VERY COOL PLACE!! Like an old castle, the walls and steps were gigantic stones and it felt like we were living in another century!! The hospitaleor was a stoic Spaniard who also ran Cafe’ El Rincon across the street -but he was more than happy to sell us plato y plato of queso, chorizo & lomo as well as vino tinto, cervesas and most excellent gin and tonics – which we sat and enjoyed to loudly cranked Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash! The little bar and the albergue dining room were COVERED with hundreds of scallop shells with the names of pilgrims who have passed by.

Our BEST BUDDIES (now) from Britain, Estonia, Spain and Germany (Italy & Quebec had a shorter day) joined us for Happy Hour and a fabulous meal made by a couple of our group. A party around the table ensued with a guitar being passed around (I even played!) and a very awesome “Camino Blues” song was born out of it!!! It was a Fun, Hilarous and Amazing time!!!