Three Peregrinas: A Few Cool Albergues -May 29, 30, 31.

On Monday, May 29th we were so fortunate to stay on a wonderful albergue called Casa Dominga in a town called San Xulian. I called for a reservation the day before (Check this out Maria: Hola. No habla espanol. Por favor, perdone. Queria tres camas para tres peregrinas para una noche, manana?) I sort of understood that there were no beds available but there was a room with three beds for 60€. I said we would take it! Our room was in an old mill building on the river Pembre and accessed through a cow pasture from the albergue. It was a very unique space, rustic and cozy. We had two beds downstairs and one in the loft.

Our front patio in a photo taken after dinner

French doors (or Spanish doors!) to our personal backyard

River water flowing under our mill building...

and in this one you can see the water under the building through a section of glass flooring!

Here's a little stone arch on the other side of the mill.

The chickens were our neighbors and an elderly farmer worked in his garden that was beside us.

Here are a few more pictures from today's walk:

Lots of little memorials along the way

A pretty fountain

Vines growing above a doorway

This woman was sweeping a patio and singing as walked past. We asked to take her photograph and she agreed and patted her hair!

A barnyard with clothing on the line and cats...

We shared a delicious communal dinner with other guests at the albergue. Our favorites were the two young girls, who were with a larger group, from Taiwan. They asked us our age, so I figured we must have been looking old and tired! They told us that the movie The Way is popular in Taiwan and that's why so many people from their country are doing the Camino.

The next night we were in a town called Ribadiso de Baixo. The guidebook divides the Camino into 33 stages and suggests an end stage (stopping point) for each section where many people, who follow the guidebook, spend the night. Ribadiso is one of the end stages. We wanted to stay in the municipal albergue located on the river Iso, but we were worried that we wouldn't make it in time to secure beds, since so many other people were probably also planning to stay there. On the other hand since so many people are making advance reservations, and you can't do that at a municipal albergue, we thought we might have a chance. The albergue is a reconstruction/renovation of one of the oldest pilgrim hospitals and has a pleasant place to relax on the edge of the river. Emily and I were ahead of Mona and when we arrived, crossing an ancient Roman bridge, which we were told was the oldest in all of the province of Galicia, and which now has some slightly higher sides built onto it for safety. Emily stayed outside the courtyard of the albergue to watch for Mona while I went inside. They would not allow me to book three beds until our whole party had arrived...and there were only 12 beds left. I did the subtraction as more people arrived. I sat with an American volunteer who was so kind. When I saw Mona crossing the bridge she grabbed my bag to bring it to the check in counter to secure our spot and I ran out to get Emily and Mona. We made it in time to get an overflow room that had two single beds and one bunkbed! We actually were much better off by being late and getting our own room! Annelise from France got the last bed, the top bunk. The room we were given was kept for use as a handicap room. The bathroom was right beside our room and shared with four people on the other side. We spent a lot of time talking with two American volunteers at the albergue. Cherie is a retired speech therapist and her husband Brad is a retired MD. They have been volunteering for years through an organization called American Pilgrims on the Camino. In the fall and winter they work as Santa and Mrs. Claus. I wish I had pictures to show you-they really fit the role! They were very welcoming volunteers and helped us with everything from history, to laundry, to where to eat and what to choose off the menu!

The medieval bridge

Mona is trying to reduce swelling by putting her feet in the ice cold river Iso. The sunshine was warm, the river was cold and the setting was so relaxing.

We watched beautiful blue butterflies.

And earlier in the day:

Church of Santa Maria in the hamlet of Leboreiro which we passed through on the way to Ribadiso.

A pilgrim wearing mostly traditional dress

Flowers climbing up a telephone pole...

and roses growing over a well.

A twig gate I liked

And one more albergue!

From Ribadiso we walked about 19 km to the private albergue called Santa Irene and stayed there on May 31st. It took forever to finally arrive. We thought we should have arrived long before and we checked the guide book several times to figure out where we were and estimate how far we had to go. We decided the kilometers in Spain are much longer than km anywhere else! We were lucky to have arranged for beds in advance and though we didn't arrive until 5ish our beds were waiting for us. And, to our happy surprise, the beds had real sheets and blankets and real towels for everyone!! (Most albergues provide only bottom sheet, often a disposable paper one, and a blanket and pilgrims use their own sleep sacks or sleeping bags.) This albergue was charming with a nice garden for relaxing in the back! We met a friendly English couple (David and Lynn) who recently sold their house and are living on a boat after working for years as missionaries. Again we shared a communal dinner with fellow pilgrims. Since the hostess was serving fish for the main course and I told her I didn't care for any, she made me a special meal that included an omelet and salad.