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Gonzar → Melide 31.5 km (19.6 mi) |
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¡Bom dia, todos!
The sun wasn’t entirely up when I left this morning, but since the Camino ran parallel to the road, walking wasn’t too difficult at all! Here in Galicia, I’m really starting to get the sense that the Camino is winding down. The history is becoming more muted and the natural beauty more pronounced, so today I plan to wander and enjoy nature! My destination today is Melide, because my guide tells me I have to try the pulpo there. I’m not sure what pulpo is (maybe part of orange juice?), but I’ll bet it’s delicious!
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The flowers have hit their crescendo today! The Camino is lined with huge, yellow blazes of aulagas, and there are hundreds of trees bursting with flowers, like popcorn! This let me get reacquainted with my sense of smell! It’s an easy sense to forget in the big city, where you’re regularly bombarded by the odors of car exhaust, garbage, or pee, but here in the countryside, I could let the subtle scents flow in: the flowers, the earth, the leaf litter, the eucalyptus… However, I should point out that this can be dangerous in cow country!
That being said, once I started to exercise my nose again, the rest of my beaver senses started to come back to me. I started to pay more attention to the bird songs, some of which I’d never heard before! I really took the time to appreciate how wonderful the piles of leaf litter felt under my feet! Oh, and above all, my footsteps turned into a heartbeat! I felt like I was moving with the heart of the world! For all the time I’ve been spending around humans, the most disconnected of animals, I think I’m reconnecting with the beaver way!
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In Palas de Rei, I took a snack break with Morten and Axel from Germany. They had been college friends, and they were walking the Camino together before Axel’s job took him to a different city across the country. I thought that was kind of a sad story, but even though this probably isn’t “goodbye” for them, I’d say walking the Camino would be a great way to say “goodbye” to a friend. I joined them for a few kilometers past a lovely marsh and three towns, but they stopped for a picnic in the third. That left me to cross the border into the last province, solo.
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This is it, folks, the last border crossing! The province of A Coruña is a place of destinations! Except for those who are walking the Camino in reverse, this is the province toward which thousands of people walk each year and have since before Santiago was born! With just under 70K between myself and Santiago, the ridges of the scallop shell are coming together in two days! Oh my goodness!
I’ve started to wonder what I will do when I reach Santiago, what I will tell the officials in the Pilgrim’s Office. Have I collected enough stamps in my credencial? Will they place me before the Spanish Inquisition? Will they give me a compostela or a tourist certificate? Does one make me a peregrino and the other a poser?
I thought about it over an empanada in Coto, where I ran into Anne and Marie-Pierre! They had enjoyed a lovely walk through San Xil, and I happily told them that Samos had been worthwhile too! In the end, it didn’t matter which route we took; we’d all had great experiences!
The post-lunch stretch to Melide followed the new pattern of Galicia: hot and shadeless. However, the incredible aulagas compensated for the heat! Did you know that the aulaga flower explodes when an insect touches it? That covers the poor bug with pollen to be taken to the next flower for the process to start all over again! That must make for some awfully jumpy bugs, don’t you think? Explosiveness aside, these aulagas did their best to beautify the memorial garden for the Order of St. James, right next to a feed processing plant just down the road.
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Did you know that the Order of St. James was founded in the twelfth century and dedicated itself to the protection of peregrinos on their way to the saint’s tomb? Many early hospitaleros belonged to this Order, and those who could not be bound to an albergue roved about, fending off bandits and the like. Compared to other Orders, like the Knights Templar, this one was much less strict, even allowing some of its members to get married! This mildness brought a large number of followers to its ranks, and may be a big reason it still exists today! All of that considered, I didn’t think it was very respectful to have a feed plant right next to this memory garden, regardless of which came first!
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I arrived in Melide in the late afternoon. Melide is famous for at least two things: poetry and pulpo. The poet and playwright, Xosé Vásquez Pintor, noted for his works in Galego and his efforts to preserve the language, makes his home here. There is a monument dedicated to him just across the street from the Pulpería Ezekiel, my next destination after dropping off my bag at the industrial-sized albergue.
Pulpo, it turns out, has nothing to do with orange juice. In fact, it’s not vegetarian at all. Pulpo is the Spanish word for octopus, and sure enough, the waiter brought out some wood platters with seasoned chunks of tentacles in olive oil. I was surprised, but not discouraged. In fact (and don’t ever repeat this to an octopus), it was delicious! It had the consistency of scallops, which is mind-blowing compared to the tough stuff served in the States (again, not to be repeated to a cephalopod). This was a fine introduction to the simple, legendary seafood of Galicia!
With a belly full of good food, I retired to the albergue, which was very noisy since it shares a space with a youth hostel. There were lots of kids running up and down the stairs, and on this particular night, a bus making a 30-point turn right outside the window as I was trying to sleep. I think tomorrow might be a good night for a private albergue, the last before Santiago!
Buen Camino!
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Total Distance Walked: 707.8 km (433.6 mi) |
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