I had dinner last night with about 15 people. Sting set it up. I sat with Sting and Kim and Judy. Kim and Judy are from Newfoundland (correct pronunciation - understand Newfoundland). These two crack me up. They are my age. They look sedate but swear like sailors. I pried Jim Burd away from TDFSF to have dinner with us. He loved it.
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| Kim, Sting & Judy |
Sting invited the young bohemians. A group of thirty something handsome strapping lads led by Ian from D.C. Ian is a hipster dude with a man-bun and a big tattoo on his arm. They smoke, drink and walk up to 50 km (30 miles) in a day. Stopping along the way to have beers. They carry heavy packs with camping gear. Last night they just camped in town, not even bothering to book an Albergue. It got down to the mid 40s overnight! Last night the young bohemians had a bunch of young beautiful women in tow.
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| Lea with the young bohemians |
Dinner: I always try to order the local wierd foods. I had been enjoying soups. I saw soup on the menu which was a local specialty. I ordered it. I couldn’t quite tell what it was. It tasted very porky. it had lots of mysterious white bits of stuff in it. I ate some with difficulty. Then I came to a big piece of something that had a bone in the middle. it had some weird gelatinous meaty substances with skin around it. I think it was a pigs foot. I couldn’t finish it. if you know me well, I love to eat and rarely leave any food on the plate.
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| Pig’s foot? |
Main course: another local specialty – beef tongue. It was delicious.
After dinner the old farts (Sting, Kim and Judy, Jim and me) headed back for our respective Albergues. I left Lea behind to hang with the young Bohemians, drink more and smoke cigarettes. I was happy that she spent some time with younger folks.
This morning I headed out with Lea and Justin at 7 AM. We met up with TDFSF ATP at their hotel. We had breakfast with them and left as a group around 7:30.
Don herded me off from the group so that we could walk together. We spent hours walking and talking. He was a high-powered Silicon Valley executive. 62 years old, retired. Smart, gentle, caring. Good family man. I really like and respect him. We talked a lot about life. I appreciated that he singled me out to chat.
After several hours we came to a café. There, we ran into Jim Burd and Sting. Sting had never met TDFSF. Then Chuck showed up. After coffee and an orange juice, we all left together. Sting and TDFSF got along famously.
Sometime around noon we arrived at our Albergue. I dropped off my stuff. Jim Kelly, the retired firefighter from Buffalo New York (the Saint) was there. He and Lea and I went out for lunch. his wife and daughter are arriving today in Sarria, to walk the remaining 120 km to Santiago with him. he is so excited that he cried a little bit at lunch.
Beautiful countryside today. It looked a little bit like Marin County. Lots of ferns; lots of cows and dairies.
Sarria is a major staging point for the Camino. many people start here and just walk the last bit to Santiago. they get credit for having done the entire Camino. Yes, you can do the Camino in a week. Chuck says we’re not supposed to judge those people.
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| Lea at the supermarket |
Love,
b
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