MELIDE to SANTA IRENE — 17 Miles

I was eager to get started this morning since I’d walked such a short distance yesterday.  Over Cafe con Leche and toast I told Dick I had no idea how far I could walk today so he shouldn’t make any hotel reservations.  Even with the high demand for rooms we’d just have to take our chances and hope we could find something when I finished walking.

Dick assured me there would be no rain today but the morning was foggy as I started out.  Once I got through the town of Melide the path veered away from the highway and into the woods.

There were several other trekkers on the path but we quickly spread out so I felt like I was walking alone agin.

I wasn’t ready for a break when I came upon this “Little Oasis” but it was a pleasant surprise and would have been a nice resting place.

The path was just as pretty as yesterday as I passed through village after village.

These trekkers were having some sort of sunrise ceremony out in the field and I’m not sure if the girl on the right was a Nun, a Quaker or a Hippie!

The path wasn’t bothering me too much today even though it had a lot of steep ups and downs.  There was just one point where I walked uphill for what seemed like a half a mile before it leveled out.  At that point I had to stop and catch my breath but when I started going again, it was more uphill.  This was right before the town of Ribadiso and by that time I’d walked about 8 miles.

I had no idea where Dick was but as I kept walking uphill I spotted him sitting outside at a little Bar.

I was so happy to see him and be able to take a little break.  I still felt good and wanted to continue walking so we examined the map and decided I’d walk a few miles farther to a little Village called Calle.  Dick drove ahead to get us a room there, and I continued my uphill trek through Ribadiso and then down into Arzua, which turned out to be another big town I couldn’t wait to get out of.

The path turned into the woods again where I was joined by lots of fellow trekkers, including this priest.

And then there were the cows.  A big tractor was herding these cows up the trail and it almost ran over the last poor cow who was the slow one of the bunch.

They called this the “Wall of Wisdom” but I’m not sure the name fit it.  Each card was filled with questions about philosophy or religion.  And at the moment all those questions seemed too deep for me!

Before I knew it I had reached Calle, where I saw Dick walking down the road toward me.  He told me there was absolutely no chance of getting a room there because tour busses of trekkers had arrived and tons of people were waiting to check in.

There wasn’t even a place to sit down outside.  I told Dick that was fine and that we’d meet in the next village of Salceda and he could get a room for us there.  So I continued walking and enjoying the sights.

When I met Dick again in Salceda the story was the same — sold out!  But I was still doing OK and I told him I could walk for another 30 minutes and then I’d be ready to call it a day.  So I continued walking and I didn’t see Dick again for another hour!  By that time I was exhausted and had walked 17 miles.

We were right by a town called Pedrouzo.  So we started driving through the town and I would hop out of the car at every Hostel or Hotel we could see but they were all full.  Finally I went into a small B & B called Arca and they had one room left.  I snapped it up!  It was an attic room, up three flights of stairs, with no windows and a shared bathroom.  Were we lucky or what?!!