The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly...

Carol Wheeler and Soul II Soul wrote the perfect song to describe my world for the past couple of weeks since I've returned from my Camino. You might remember it:

Back to life, back to reality,
back to life, back to reality,
back to life, back to reality,
back to the here and now yeah
Show me how, decide what you want from me,
tell me maybe I could be there for you.

So, I've been remiss in posting these thoughts and pics of my Camino. I apologize. Anyway, I decided to simply post some pics of our trip. The descriptions of the pics will be above each. I hope they accurately convey the beauty of the people and places that we experienced.

Fortunately, we found several examples of these coffee shop/cafes along our walk.  Without exception, the staff was so incredibly friendly and helpful, they added something incredibly special to our experience.

It was quite obvious that we were in farm country. We saw chickens, a horse (who was very pleased that Cheryl fed him some of the fresh green grass that grew on our side of the fence), cows, pigs (well, one morning, we came across a pig that met his demise and would soon become bacon, ham, pork chops...you get the drift). Oh, yes, farm life was in full swing.

 The country side, as I've said in earlier posts was simply majestic!

 We visited every open church that we came across. Some were simple, country churches and others were more ornate. I was struck by their beauty and the obvious love of God that was present in each. They offered rest, sanctuary, and the opportunity to just sit and have a chat with Our Father. What could be better than that?

Now, this was an example of readiness! Quite the stack of fire wood, right?

Getting closer...

There were several of these "tanks/concrete ponds" etc. This one would be very tempting for a "dip" on a hot summer day...well, if the water hadn't been "gross-green."

More cows being shepherded

These are grain storage structures, designed to keeps rats out...We saw them all over Galicia.

Did I mention that it rained? For the 3-5th days of our walk, we were perpetually getting misted/sprinkled/drizzled/rained on.  None of us really minded, except when we reached a part of the way that was nearly completely underwater.

We saw several examples of "memorials" along the way. Many are stacked stones, much like the ones in this pic. They always left me wondering about the people who left them as well as the reasons for the placement of them.

 One of the advantages of the rain in this are is the resulting greenery, as seen in the ferns along this wall.

The town on the hill was moved to that location from the bottom of the hill when the river shown was dug out and enlarged. The river is beautiful. It would be interesting to scuba down to see what remains of the original town.

 Town plaza

 My hiking buddy

 Many of the towns that we traveled through, had statues and/or markers like this one. They added to our experience.

 I think one of the best parts of the trail were the many small waterfalls that formed by natural springs and small creeks. They were soothing, especially on some of our longer hikes.

 And then there was the wildlife that we encountered...Now that's a slug!

 

Its hard to see on this pic but this earthworm was blue and pink...I think it was one of those species that can become either male or female, depending on the need...wink wink.

I'd really like to claim the empty beer bottles were ours, an ice cold beer would have tasted might good about the time we passed this cantina. Unfortunately, we were only a few kilometers from our lunch rendezvous and hunger was definitely a driving force!

My next post will be about our walk into Santiago and the mass at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella...trip of a lifetime! Please join me.

TTFN

Lois