Bruma to A Calle

25 September 2019

CAMINO INGLES DAY 7

Promptly at 8:30 am, Maria arrived at Nogallas hotel in Ordes. She dropped Henk and Annette from South Africa at their starting point. We said our goodbyes. It will probably be the last time we are able to connect with them because they were planning to arrive in Santiago on Friday and we planned for Saturday. Then Maria drove us to our starting point. After Bruma, Maria was no longer able to cab us to our destinations. She said it was out of her zone and it would be less expensive for us to call a local cab.

It was a foggy day and we started walking. We decided to extend our walk past Outiero to A Calle so we would have less of a walk tomorrow.

This is the parish of Ardemil.

Look, the Eiffel Tower! Not quite Paris but an interesting place none the less. Plenty of sculptures and very unique artwork around the Cafe Bar Uzal.

We were expecting great things at Cafe Bar Uzal and hoping to meet the artist or the creative mind behind the artwork. No such luck. It was a very ho-hum place.

Very nice, clean and somewhat boring compared to all the artwork outside.

We ordered cafe leche and split a Boar bocadillo.

This is one of my favorites. I call it “Three is a Crowd.”

Not a sculpture. These bossies have horns.

This was a giant dinosaur. After being on the camino for 7 days, it’s really fun to see this whimsical collection.

Apparently the dinosaur is eating a bad pilgrim.

Another beautiful house complete with flowers lining the front walkway.

Tree trimming looks like fun but not if that lady is yapping out orders.

Another beautiful horse.

Beautiful farm land with lots of sheep grazing.

This is the farmer. His name is Pepe and this is the farm he grew up on when he had ten siblings who all helped their parents work the farm.

Eventually all the sibling moved away. Pepe lived in England for many years so his English is very good. He has a daughter who still lives in England. He returned to the family farm and is the only one living there. Eventually, this beautiful farm will be abandoned because there is no one in the family to carry on with the farming tradition. This is very common problem in this area. It is not likely that someone will want to buy the rural farmland. Pepe is very sad about the situation.

After talking to Pepe for awhile, we move on down the road. This one is easy on the feet.

Interesting how the hedge is built into the stone wall.

We land at Cafe Bar Novo and cross paths with Merwyn and Debs. They are from England but bought a house in Galicia. We commiserated about the sad state of our leaders — Boris and the Donald and how much they look and act alike.

We also chatted with Walter and Mary Gratzia (Mary Grace) from Italy. Mary Grace is an interior designer and Walter is a mechanic in the food industry.

Another church and they are starting to all look alike from the outside. This one had a very interesting statue on the side. It appears to be someone who must have had their head chopped off … it has a very long knife blade across the neck. I tried researching it but no luck with this one.

The road leads us back into a town.

Looks like some type of carrier pidgeons.

And now the turkey yard with lots of young turks running around.

Modern vending machine not as good as a cafe bar. This must be the town of Outiero.

Back on the trail. A few more kilometers to A Calle.

Finally we reach A Calle. As we approach the town, we can hear the boom boom of fireworks and seen the decorations at the town entrance. We see the locals walking back home. I think we missed the festivities. Apparently, it is a feast day. They like to celebrate the saint days on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was mid-afternoon on Monday and I think it’s over.

Breaktime at the O Cruceiro in A Calle. We called a cab to take us back the Nogallas hotel in Ordes which is now only a few miles away.

While waiting for the cab, I walk down the street. There are two stands left from the festival. There is a special cookie associated with this festival or the town. I bought a bag for 3E. They were circle shaped with a hole in the middle and had a light glaze. Very slight flavor of almond or anise, maybe both.

This was our last night in Ordes at the Nogallas hotel. We decided to walk the town and have a good look. There are several buildings with murals painted on the wall.

Love this mural … it’s the ultimate grandma who is bigger than life.

This is the killer mural … literally.

WATCH YOUR STEP THERESA!!

Terry was minding her own business just walkin’ down the street. We found the above mural very interesting and wanted to get a better photo of it. Both sides of the street had some construction in the gutter/sidewalk area. Terry stepped to the edge of the sidewalk and was about to take a photo.

This photo does not do justice … this little cement gutter under construction was about a foot deep.

All of a sudden, as the edge of the sidewalk crumbled beneath her feet so she jumped over the gutter construction and just about landed on her feet … but not quite … both shins hit the edge of the curb. OUCH! I was the one doing the shrieking and screaming. Terry somehow flipped around and was sitting with her feet in the construction area. I could see the stars circling her head. He shins were scraped up pretty good. I think we were both in shock.

I asked her if she was ok. Her instant remark was “yeah, I’m fine. I just need to clean up my legs.” She tried to stand up and then I heard the sound of pain. “NO, I’m not ok. Get a doctor.” Her ankle was swelling fast.

Good news travels fast. The townspeople gathered quickly. They showed great concern. They brought water and then some sugar to put in the water. A young man named Jose showed up and he spoke both English and Spanish. He translated for the group. They felt it was important to call the police so they see how dangerous this sidewalk is. So we waited.

The compassion of the locals was very touching. A police officer came and assessed the situation. He called an ambulance from A Coruna. We waited some more.

The paramedic with translator Jose

The police officer and the paramedic carried Terry and the stretch over the construction and into the ambulance. The hospital was 200 meters away … about two blocks.

Another first! Neither Terry or I had ever ridden in an ambulance before.

I was hoping they would let me go with because I don’t know how I would have found Terry. Jose our translator also rode in the ambulance. He told the ER docs what had happened and kept us informed. He stayed until everything was taken care of. We were very lucky that there were no broken bones. The Ordes hospital did not have x-ray equipment. If there had been a sign of a break, Terry would have been ambulanced to Santiago.

The end result was a badly sprained ankle accompanied by scrapes and bruises. We took a cab back to the Nogallas hotel with a quick stop at the pharmacy for prescription Ibuprofin and a pair of crutches.

With Terry on her new European crutches and told to be non-weight bearing for a week … we had many decisions to make tonight. But … more important — dinner first.

With Terry settled in the room and ice on her ankle, I ran out to fetch dinner from a nearby restaurant. We had salad mixta, octopus empanadas, a pork and cabbage specialty of the restaurant and a bottle of wine.

What a lonnnnnggg day! Tomorrow would be even longer … for one of us.

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