Friday, July 15, 2016
Melide to Arzua
Day 45
James’s foot was really bothering him, so we went to two pharmacies to find more foot rub and perhaps new boot inserts. It was after 10:00 am before I could set off down the Camino, a very hot day. I encountered several groups I had met previously: the six Americans from New Jersey, for example, and the three Filipinos, one of them a priest, we had seen at dinner the previous night. I chatted briefly with them all.
The most interesting conversation I had was with an American woman from California. She took seriously the old pilgrimage method in which a pilgrim began her journey when she stepped out‐ side her front door headed for Santiago.
Instead of starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, or Sarria, or some other famous jumping off spot, she began in California. She exited her front door a pilgrim and took three days to walk to LAX airport. She did have to take a plane across the ocean, but otherwise it was walking all the way. She gave me a handmade cloth rosary.
When I made it to Arzua, I was very hot and sweaty. The last six kilometers had been particularly rough. I was too tired to seek out a laundromat, but I needed some clean clothes. I turned a few things over to the hotel receptionist to have washed.
There was a fiesta in Arzua. Two bands struck up at 10:30 pm and played until 4:00 am. Heavy traffic roared by the pension at which we stayed. I found it hard to sleep.
30,922 steps today
For more photos, go to https://wp.me/p7rs4v-iS.
The Half-Fast Camino Walking* Club 