The Winter Passage: 01/28/19

I got a late start from Portomarin, leaving just before 09:30. I was sore from the previous two days where I pushed hard over mountains and hills. I decided to walk a shorter day today. As I left Portomarin, I came across two Korean hikers with no backpacks, just walking poles. One of them was carrying some type of portable speaker blasting jazz music. Now, that I am within 100 kilometers of Santiago, I am noticing there is a different type of pilgrim on the trail.

I walked through the rain all morning. Around noon or a little after I heard music playing from a restaurant called Meson Labrador in the hamlet of Hospital da Cruz. I stopped in and had a couple Cokes and a water to get out of the rain. Five other pilgrims had the same idea. Eventually the rain stopped and I continued on. I walked the rest of the day with only threatening clouds. I was now running in to more and more pilgrims. Many are carrying backpacks smaller than ones used by elementary school students and they are wearing brand new clothes it seemed.

I made it to Palas de Rei at 16:20 and decided to check into Hotel Mica instead of going to the Xunta, which I figured would be packed. I showered and then went to the supermarket to get water bottles, orange juice, Oreos, and a Twix for tomorrow. Most of the small towns have been closed up the past few days, and I wanted to have the resources to go a long ways tomorrow. I am about two days from arriving in Santiago de Compostella. I had dinner at a pizzeria called Pardellas in Palas de Rei. The pizza was horrible. The cheese was too runny, and they dumped buckets of green olives on the pizza. It reminded me of the sad excuse for pizza served in Argentina. If you think it is impossible to screw up pizza, just go to a Spanish-speaking country. I then walked back to Hotel Mica and fell asleep surfing the internet on my smartphone.