Ribadiso: Pilgrims on Parade

Pilgrims on parade by foot, bike and horse.

Ribadiso Albuergue: 2 October 2019

• First Pilgrim to arrive Today is from: South Korea

• Best Quote of the Day: “My feet hurt so bad my butt aches.” Anonymous pilgrim

• Word of the Day: Vele, Vele It’s pronounced “bally bally” and usually said very fast. We’ve heard people saying it since day one in Spain. Our friend Henk from South Africa said it means the same as “ok”. I haven’t been able to find it in print and I’m wondering if it is slang.

• Pilgrim of the Day: Joseph from Panama City, Florida

Joseph is one-of-a-kind. He resembles my son Quinn, but acts like our friend Chandler. Another coincidence, he does car wraps in Florida. My son Quinn who works for Wrap City, is beginning to design car wraps.

Joseph has had a tough road on the Camino. He planned to tent camp. The airlines wouldn’t allow his tent poles (because they are dangerous weapons) but they allowed (missed finding) a large Bowie knife in his backpack. He asked them several times if it was ok to take his backpack on the plane and they kept saying yes. And so he did take it.

Joseph is tough — he broke his ankle while on the camino. It was a pot hole in Zuberi at the beginning that did him in. He rested but never stopped walking. He is two days away from Santiago. In the photo above, he and Terry compare ankle injuries and commiserated on Terry’s Therapy bench. Joseph also cut his finger to the bone. Didn’t get stitches. A nurse walking the camino wrapped it for him.

Lovable Local: Chisco

Chisco is farmer Alfonso’s trusty dog. He helps herd the cows to the pasture, hangs around the bridge and the outdoor terrace at the restaurant.

Since the restaurant’s terrace door is left open, Chisco is also a regular at the bar.

In the morning, I usually go over to Meson Rural (bar and restaurant next door) to catch up on emails and to blog. They have very good WiFi. Terry has T-Mobile with cellular coverage just about everywhere in Spain. She stays at the cottage. She has a leisurely breakfast, showers, elevates her foot, reads and watches the foot traffic on the bridge from the cottage window.

I return around noon, we have a light lunch and get ready for our 1:00 pm work shift.

Today’s Albuerguesa is Ana. She and Maricarmen alternate days. Ana speaks a few words of English and always wears a white uniform when she cleans. She is a local.

Luis is a pilgrim on bike from Northern Spain.

Lots of horse traffic today.

The horses don’t use the bridge, they cut through the river. And they don’t usually stop.

A group of school boys in their underwear having a good time in the river. The flag went in with them.

Today a group from “I’ll Push You“, came through. This is Caitlin from Reno. She is accompanied by her mother Kathy and her brother Brett from Texas. The man on the right is Craig, a volunteer from I’ll Push You. They call him the mule. I think he does a lot of the pushing. The entire group of about 40 started in Sarria which is 100K from Santiago. A bus transports them back to Santiago every night where there are facilities that can accommodate them. Our albuergue does have a handicap facility. It is a separate building that has four beds and is handicap accessible.

This delightful family is from Spain and stayed at the albuergue. They are walking the Camino. They do about six miles a day which is impressive for such young (well behaved) children. They started in Sarria which is 100K from Santiago — a total of about 62 miles.

The albuergue settles down late afternoon. Terry and I usually kick off sometime between 4:00 and 6:00. Next stop is the terrace at Meson Rural for a cerveza and then back to the cottage for dinner. Tonight was a quiet evening.

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