Sunday, August 5

Phew! Just completed our hardest day of walking: 31 kilometers from Betanzos to Bruma with lots of uphill, especially one particular section that lasted for approximately 3 kms and, at points, seemed to go directly vertical. Very tough, long climb, but we all made it, and had energy to spare for the rest of our day. ("Yeah, sure, said Lisa.)

Some of us are trying not to mention our bloody blisters! So let me tell you about our bloody blisters. Some of
Our
Blisters are sp bad that we are using needle and thread to drain them - sorry, too much information! I am also using a Spanish medicated bandaid, called "Compeed" to help with the huge blisters on my heels. I know, you are totally fascinated by my blisters. I can expand on this subject--just ask.

In other news, the day started out sunny and comfortably cool as we left Betanzos around 7:45 this morning. We passed a few groups of twenty-somethings just heading home from a long night at the bars. Once out of Betanzos, we entered lush countryside, with amazing views. We also encountered several groups of pilgrims
- finally! The first was a man that we had met a couple of days ago in Pontedeume. He wasn't doing very well today and I'm pretty sure I saw him flag a car down and take a ride off the Camino. :(

The next pilgrims we met were at an old church where we stopped and had our pilgrim passports stamped. These pilgrims were young Italians - two girls and three guys. We also met a group of young female catholic missionaries who were from several different countries, but all doing the Camino together. At one point, after the really tough uphill section, we were waiting for some of our party and realized these girl missionaries might overtake us and beat us to the nearest bar for lunch. Jose made the fortuitous call of the day and ordered Marian and me to "book it" to the bar-- basically do everything in our power to beat those missionaries to the bar so we can make sure we put our food order in first! Marian and I, inspired by the Olympics, achieved the gold-medal in speed-hiking and totally blew those missionaries out of the water. Yes! Our food was ordered first! In your faces! In the end, God was with us. Good times...

So let me explain why beating those missionaries was so important. There is Spanish time and then there is Galician time. This is not the United States, where you enter an eating establishment, get a menu and then are served your food in a few minutes. No. You enter the bar/cafe, hope to be acknowledged, hope they actually have food on the premises that they can serve you, then hope that the cook is actually there and feels like cooking. You proceed to order from no preset menu and then proceed to wait at least a good half hour for your bread and meat sandwich. This is precarious and special strategic skills are involved if you want to eat.

We had three poncho moments today, yes, some intermittent rains. And, lots of perros (dogs) along the way (see pictures).

In summary, we had a fantastic dia!