Sol y Nieve

So, glorious Catherine brought the glorious weather with her for her first day of walking. We took the bus back to where I left off in Villafranca on Saturday morning and got started around 10:30. We probably had the best weather of the whole trip. It was sunny and warm but not too warm and the route was pretty hilly with beautiful views of the green rolling hills and farmland. We had planned to go about 30 km. to O´Cebreiro but I had told Ina and S.K. that we might, in fact, go just abou 20 km. to a small town called Ruitelán. After a few hours, we caught up with Ina who was leaving a note for me (we sometimes write notes and place them on the road with stones to hold them in place) saying that she and S.K. who was ahead of us had decided to stay in Ruitelán instead of continuing the steep climb up to O´Cebriero. Christian (who is now miles ahead of us as we learned that he walked 60 km.--approximately 36 miles--one day) had heard that the albergue in Ruitelán was supposed to be great. We arrived there and it was wonderful. We arrived, threw in a load of wash, went to the local bar, sat in the sun and had some beers (Catherine´s treat). It was very relaxing. Then we returned and the two guys running the place cooked what might have been the best meal of our trip. We had a great carrot soup, a wonderful salad with fresh cheese & roasted red peppers, spaghetti carbonara, dessert and wine. Us four girls shared a room and Raúl and three Spanish men were in the other room. Raúl is continuing to limp along but we look forward to seeing him at each location where we all examine his swollen knee and completely torn up feet. The albergue played great music. They told us that due to the time change, not to get up until 8 and not until we heard the music. At 8 we heard "Ave Maria" sung by Montserrat Caballé streaming into our room. We had a great breakfast and headed out into the light rain. Ina lent Catherine her giant red rain poncho/backpack cover which completely dwarfed Catherine. She looked very funny. Catherine was great. Even though it was raining she was so enthusiastic and excited to be on the Camino. As we climbed higher and higher to reach O´Cebreiro, the views became more and more fantastic. I think C. joined as at just the right time to see what just might be the most beautiful part of the Camino. As we got higher it started to snow a little. We got to O´Cebreiro which is the first town in the region of Galicia. Galicia is beautiful--it is very green and very celtic--just like Ireland. But, like Ireland, the reason that it is so green is that it rains all the time. O´Cebreiro is a small and charming village with most buildings made of gray stone. There seemed to be some Spanish day trippers there for a Sunday excursion. We went to a great little restaurant where we had Caldo Gallego (a soup with potato, white beans and greens sort of like Swiss chard) and some local soft cheese with honey and bread. We also had wine which they serve at all meals by the bottle (for something like 3 dollars). Catherine felt we shouldn´t let it go to waste but I didn´t think it would help with the remaining miles. When we left the weather took a turn. It started to thunder very loudly and then pour down....snow! It was the craziest thing. Then there were some ice pellets but mainly snow. We walked and walked and although we thought once we reached O´Cebriero that the rest would be down hill, this wasn´t exactly the case. It continued to snow and once again, we amended our plan. Instead of making it a 30 km. day to Triacastela, we decided to stop in Fonfria (about 20 km.). The three older Spanish men who we really get a kick out of, were also there. Nicole arrived with Hungarian Eva and new friend, Portuguese Carlos. As you may or may not know, I love Portugal and now Carlos is well aware of this as about every minute I´d announce some other Portuguese town, food, drink, etc. that I love.
The albergue appeared very nice but was freezing cold--even though they had heat it wasn´t on much and it was by far the coldest night that I have spent on the Camino.
This morning we left the albergue and it was extremely cold, foggy and damp but as we walked the day turned out to be lovely. The views, again, were amazing and I was so glad that Catherine joined us when she did as I really think this is the prettiest part of the Camino. The sun came out, the sky got blue, the temperatures warmed up quite a bit and we continued on our way. If our remaining days will be as nice as today we would be very happy walkers. We arrived this afternoon in the village of Sarria. I went to the convent to get another pilgrim passport (you collect stamps in your passport as you walk through each village and mine is now full). Shortly after we arrived, the whole gang filtered in: Nicole, Hungarian, Carlos, Raúl, a Spanish couple from way back in Rabanal. I trust the three Spanish men will be there when we get back. Ina would like pizza tonight so we are trying to find a place but the prospects look a little bleak.
Speaking of food, I had hoped and expected to have the pounds just falling off of me on this Camino. I´m not very good at determining my own weight without a scale or noticing how my clothes fit. On this trip I have no scale and I´m wearing loose fitting drawstring pants so I really have no gauge. The first couple of weeks I think I probably lost quite a bit--I wasn´t eating so much and I was doing those very long, back-to-back 20+ mile days. But in the last week or so, I´ve been walking less and...eating more. The more social our group has become, the more we eat. It seems logical that one would lose weight. When I lived in Korea, all of the Americans living there lost tons of weight...all of them except my friend Pia and me. We were the only ones to gain weight--something that we were vaguely proud of. Our Korean neighbor even said, "I can hear you gaining weight." So, logic seems to have little to do with it in my case. It might be like the time I worked in Duluth, Minnesota with my friend Valerie for about 6 weeks. Once again, I was wearing very loose clothes and had no mirror or scale. It wasn´t until we were driving home and stopped at a wretched Motel 6 in Gary, Indiana, that I went into the bathroom to take a shower and gasped as I saw a big fat lady in the mirror. I was genuinely startled and alarmed by my reflection and it wasn´t until I got home that the scale verified that I had gained about 30 pounds. I though maybe I had gained 5. So, what with all the ham and wine consumption, it´s a real crapshoot.
We´ve been away for internet for a bit. Many have reported worrying if they don´t hear anything on this blog--we´re always okay--just not able to communicate it.