Triumverate

Sunrise is late in Spain and Vincent had to explain to me ( I know) that technically they had to follow GMT, but they don't.  So sunrise is around 8 ish and sunset too,thankfully is around 8ish. But for early walkers like us, an early sunrise would have been godsend. 

Anyway, we woke up bright as usual, but with the confidence that we had to walk less..that itself was a spur to us. We started a bit late, closer to 7 o'clock. We had barely walked out of town,when we spied a bakery with its lovely aromas wafting out. That was it, we decided that we would take our breakfast break then and there. So we bought our usual coffees- a descafianado for me, and cafe con leche for the ladies, and the ubiquitous croissants for all. The croissants are not the buttery kind, but they  would suffice. We always took breaks along the way, so this was just fuel for now.

And the walking began. The Camino was crowded as usual and since our leg of the walking was only 14 kilometers we were walking leisurely.  Most pilgrims were walking to this town called Arzua which was 28 kilometers away. Technically the longest walk. But we had broken it up and thank God we did. We couldn't imagine walking more in a day than the two previous days when we had averaged 25 kilometers,  thanks to our detour on day one.

Buen Camino! Buen Camino! There were no good mornings and good days here. It was just the silent plodding with these greetings to everyone along the way. There were more smiles and acknowledgements for us along the way and even otherwise, we were yapping away and even our silences during the long climbs were comfortable. 

The best surprise if the day, nay, the camino was running into a huge tapestry of the Lord Ganesha on our way! A Spanish girl selling jewellry and such had the tapestry hanging outside her cart and to the three of us, it was a welcome sight- reminding us that God was everywhere-however we choose to call him.

Steadily stamping our way through the Camino,  we walked through beautiful chestnut valleys and acorn forests.  The one thing that caught our fancy was Eucalyptus trees..we started noticing them on day 2 but weren't sure because the bottoms of the trees had leaves that looked different from the ones on top, which had the typical look we'd seen back home. Curiosity took the better of us and we managed to pluck a couple of leaves to crush between our fingers..the smell, oh, the smell! Took us back to our childhood back in India when Eucalyptus trees were quite common and the smell was universally the cue to take in a deep breath. 

Legs were sore and I was still experimenting with my foot wear. My Merrels were not very comfortable and were hurting my toes. I used my Columbia sandals and they were a huge relief, but did not offer as much support as the shoes. But I liked it better than the shoes. My friends were experimenting too. One of us had blisters show up, but thanks to the kit we had brought from home, we managed to keep it from worsening.

We all settled into a pattern by now. Packing our suitcases.  Getting our backpacks ready with water, hats, ponchos,  something to snack on, minor first aid stuff, both our passports, a change in clothes and some other minor things we thought we needed. We all started walking with our jackets on and as the day wore on, the heat became unbearable enough that we took them off. The hats too came on and off as needed. The rain was nowhere to be seen and that was the highlight for us. We couldn't imagine walking in the rain. The unpaved roads would be terrible to walk on.

We finally walked into Melide around 12.30 p.m. But our hotel was another kilometer in town, away from the Camino.  Didn't notice it while booking and so we tacked on one more kilometer to our walk. 

But it was worth it. The hotel was large and comfortable looking, kinda swanky.  The room was humongous considering the small compact rooms we had stayed in the other three days. The bathroom was huge and our knees wouldn't hit the wall or the door when we sat on the toilet. And wonder of wonders, the lavenderia was right next door. We could wash clothes!! The lady at the reception patiently explained the process and off we went! One big load of all our clothes went in and 30 minutes later, off to the dryer. Twenty minutes and they came out hot and dry. 

After bathing and getting ready we ventured into town, which we noticed was quite far away. But a Google search mentioned a restaurant about a kilometer away that served good paella.  We were curious to taste the dish everyone talked about all the time. So we went and found the place. This was a reasonably big town, the first one we were running across and we noticed that things were so calm and silent and empty in the afternoon. Siesta time, apparently. This would be lovely back home, but no way! People need to make money no?

Apparently paella takes a while to make, a lesson we learnt in Melide. We ordered one seafood, one mixed and one vegetarian paella.  And our favorite: freshly squeezed orange juice. That had become part of our routine by now. We started buying 3 glasses of the juice, filling one water bottle to the brim and drinking the leftover right there, and the juice in the bottle as we walked along. I don't think Minute Maid and Tropicana or Floridas Natural will ever  darken our doorsteps again!

We waited for the food. And waited. A good 25 minutes. When it finally appeared, and man, was it a feast for the eyes and the palate! Individual paella pans placed on wooden trays because they were piping hot. The seafood one teeming with squid and mussels and shrimp and fish..but smelling like fish from the ocean and not a freezer. The mixed one had a compliment of chicken and a couple of cubes of pork. But the vegetarian one took the cake- chock full.of veggies-beans and peas and peppers and carrot and artichokes and mushrooms and onions and tomatoes. Flavor burst in our mouths. It had very little spice to speak of, but felt so balanced and complete.

Meal over, we walked into a churreria and shared churros and the thickest hot chocolate one could ever imagine. We needed a spoon to literally scoop it all up. This was another indulgence we learnt on the Camino. 

Back to the hotel for the longest siesta ever. There was no restaurants or bakeries close enough, so we ate whatever we had in our backpacks for dinner and went to bed early. Sleep wasn't exactly forthcoming, but our walk next day was another 14 kilometers. Short and sweet. So we were not burdened by any worries.