Yesterday Tina and I made our way from Tui to Mos. I would be remiss and telling you that I had very little expectations for the little Hamlet. upon arriving at the public albergue all we could hear was sawing and hammering emanating from the interior which did not leave us with the most comfortable of thoughts. A construction worker came out the door at a very convenient time and encouraged us to go across the street to speak to the bar owner there for accommodations. We soon discovered that the bar owner had a mini albergue a up about her bar and several rooms with single beds in them. Upon inspection we found them more than adequate especially for the paltry 10€ she was asking for the beds.
After the normal round showering, laundry, and other chores we settled into the bar for a light afternoon snack and quickly found ourselves making friends with many peregrinos. We had ample enough time to wrap up our Blog early, take a quick tour around the little Hamlet, and even score a pair of Tiva-like sandals for Tina.
Later we returned to the bar for our evening meal, which was an order of patatas fritas and homemade empanadas. I indulged in the Spanish treat, arroz con leche, and Tina indulged in one of the world's largest cheesecake pieces. We were sitting with a new friend from South Korea, Una, who was likewise dealing with a variety of foot related issues. We ordered a pitcher of sangria to share and one of the tables further down came over to ask what the drink was. Una offered Andrea a sip of her sangria which fully converted andreea to liking sangria. I was not indulging in sangria so I happily poured her a glass from my unused one and gave it to her. Somehow this simple Act of generosity seem to have a lot of power.
Then I got an idea, wonderful not-awful idea! I quietly inquired with the bar owner on the price of a bottle of orujo de hierbas which came in at 42 Euro. She encouraged me just to pay by the shot which only came in at a paltry 1€. I ordered a shot for everybody outside to which one of the bar ladies accommodated. I had her start at the father and and work her way to us handing out shots of orujo. At first there was some confusion and she had to explain that a peregrina was buying.
Then it got fun.
I called for a toast "To Friends Without Borders!" what's then proceeded to liven up several tables worth of otherwise sullin pilgrims. The various tests started coming with one that stuck out in particular, "We Are Family!". The vibe turn really positive and infectious and even infected the two ladies manning the bar. shortly thereafter a Spanish local, Nina, who was sitting at a table nearby with her elderly mother made a point of asking me if I had ever tried Creme Orujo. I told her I had not only tried it but loved it and proceeded to pull out my picture of me destroying a bottle in Santiago across the street from the Policia.
It was perfectly timed....
One of the bar keeps with another round of shot glasses and a bottle of creme orujo which got passed around all the peregrinos again. There was not enough drink to get anybody even remotely drunk, but the cheap money spread cheer that lasted longer Into the Night.
When the Nina was getting up to leave, her elderly mother came up to us and started saying praise that we were good people because we shared what we had with everybody and treated everybody as equals. We even had one young German lady who was ashamed of her German Heritage and therefore ashamed to be German. Tina and I had to remind her that she is who she is and is not defined by the country she grew up in. As we made our way up the stairs back to the albergue The Cloud of happiness that we left behind will still lingering thickly in the air.
Then...
Then came today's hike...
We struck off at 7:30 in the dark and the Fog. We walk steadily uphill making good time unfortunately not being able to see the sunrise because of the Fog. we may miss the duck out of the fog briefly but on the extremely steep descent on the back end we ducked back into the fog. The Descent is tricky enough that it was tricky for an injured person, and in some lovely ankle sprains and healing blisters and it made The Descent a miserable treat for Tina.
While the physical distance was very short, the time taken to go that distance was greatly Amplified which added to our frustrations. close to the very bottom of the Descent we stopped at the local bar, ordered some drinks, and proceeded to use use the facilities real quick. When I came out I found that andreea had caught up to us and head quickly paid the tab for our breakfast drinks citing the happiness we spread the night before.
Shortly after The Descent we entered Rondalla and we broke one of our Cardinal rules, they were a few bars available and we went by them because we will look into make up time from the extended descent. this would later come back to frustrate us as we did not take the requisite breaks and found the slog out of the city to be tedious quickly followed by yet another assent.
We did manage to locate a little resting area where we have Ali hydrated and ate some of the snacks we had been carrying which helped us recover some of our Humanity
Then we went down yet another unnecessarily steep descent into Arcade which we head home would have a more Camino Town feel, it does not. Aside from a few albergues at the entrance to town, there is no notable Camino infrastructure otherwise. By the time we checked into our room and showered it was too late to grab the lunch menu and dinner was not due to be served until 8 p.m. in almost all restaurants. We had a few things we needed to do for errands, so we made a giant around the town to quickly take care of those.
We did score an inexpensive laundry mat so that did save us on some of our peregrino chores. Batting zero on the food front we want the two local super-mercados and ended up with some pre-made salads and some assorted snacks wish we went back to our room and nibbled on with satisfaction.
Tomorrow will be a short day Landing us and PonteVedra which promises to be more Camino friendly, we can't wait...
Photos so far: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BrwX3kEc8aytbNMo9
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