Thursday, July 7, 2016
Villafranca to Las Herrerias
Day 37
Once again, we faced transportation difficulties: there is no bus from Villafranca to Las Herrerias. James would have to take a taxi. I went back and forth in my mind about whether to walk or go in the taxi with James. Wednesday had been a hard day of walking, and James had spent the day alone. I decided to give myself a break and go in the taxi.
We arrived in Las Herrerias far in advance of the time we would have if we had walked. This is still chocolate country, so James and I drank hot chocolate on the hotel patio, his with a dash of liquor, mine without.
I found a left-behind copy of a James Patterson book, Sail, and decided to take a break from reading about Spain and the Camino. The book, about a family summer sailing trip that goes terribly awry, has at its center a dysfunctional family. In a weird way, the book made me feel better. My extended family has issues, that is for sure, but we aren’t trying to kill each other to get our hands on the family fortune. Maybe not being wealthy has some silver linings.
James and I set off for the village to find a café for lunch. (Our hotel is outside of town.) We started walking, only to realize that we would have to walk up and down a hill to get there, under the hot midday sun. We turned around and headed back to the hotel to try its food.
Even though Las Herrerias is inland, like most restaurants in Spain the hotel restaurant served various seafood dishes. James and I had frequently ordered fried calamares (squid), but for the first time I asked for pulpo (octopus). It was delicious. The Spanish know to cook those two dishes.
After lunch, a nap and more reading. The fictional family is really in deep kimchi. It was hard to put the book down, but at 9:15 pm hunger got the best of me and I went downstairs to eat. It’s a good thing the Spanish keep late dining hours. James wasn’t hungry, so he stayed upstairs.
After dinner, I sat in the hotel’s lounge and continued reading. Against all odds the fictional family started pulling together, and all but one of the family members survived. I finished the book before going up to bed. All in all, it was a very quiet day,
2,623 steps today
The Half-Fast Camino Walking* Club 