Palas de Rei to Melide

DAY 37: WEDNESDAY, MAY  24

Some Camino bikers pitched a tent. They were sleeping in late — it was almost 8am.

I love these purple flowers and they grow wild everywhere.

We found this delightful little Albergue that served breakfast. Rado made us bacon & eggs. His English is very good. He is a native of Palas de Rei and his family runs the Albergue. He is a marine engineer but took a year off to help the family with the Albergue. The Camino was packed with pilgrims and we kept quiet so no one would come in. Rado was funny … people would jump in through the door. Most didn’t even say “hola”. They would ask to use the restroom. He thought it was really rude that they didn’t even say hello when they came in. So he would say, I’m sorry I do not have a restroom. Go 200 meters and there’s a bathroom. Then he looked at us and told us … haha, it’s a field — they can go to the bathroom there. Rado also told us about his fear that the increase in the number of people on the Camino. He said in a couple years it will be like Disneyworld.

Rado said that these are very old wooden shoes. The road used to be very muddy and this is what people would wear through the mud.

Today’s cow parade.

Had to take a photo with the big shell.

We crossed paths with our friend Jezebel. Haven’t seen here since Najera. Now she’s on crutches. Had some bad tendenitis on the hill at O’Cebreiro.

So happy to find a shaded part of the trail.

We walked for a way with Karen and Robert from New Jersey. They expressed their fears about our leadership in the US.

Another quaint little church.

We walked by a Sant Goban facility on our walk into Melide. David’s company Cardinal used to do business with.

We’re not sure what this basket thing is but we’ve seen a few of them.

Hot, hot, hot! We felt like we were in Death Valley. It was 90 degrees. We stopped for a bite to eat. The people at the far table knew us — they called out, “hey Minnesota”. We couldn’t figure out where we met them and neither could they. 

At the table next to us was David from Rome, Italy and Yidah from Israel. Yidah’s birthday was yesterday and they had quite the party last night.

We had scallops for lunch and they were amazing! We asked if we could keep the shells. They took them into the kitchen and cleaned them for us.

We got settled in our Albergue and went to find Wifi. We met Ian and Valerie from Seattle. Ian was a cartologist who worked for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). He just lost his job because of Trump’s budget cuts.

We went to the Cathedral of Melide. I really like this statue — it has such clean and simple lines.

Another happy reunion — Louis and Sarah from Venezuela. We met them in Sansol and haven’t seen them since April in Logrono.  And now, we discovered they are our dorm mates in Melide.

Another round of Octopus. Louis told us this restaurant was the best place in Spain for Octopus and we think he is right. It was delicious. They season it with a little bit of paprika and kosher salt.

Along with the Octopus, we split a mixto salad and it was a great dinner.  Ready for bed.