Wed 21 Oct - Day 37: Arzua to Pedrouzo 20km

766km walked. 19km left to walk.

I had a slow start this morning after yesterday's navigation malfunction. Second last day on the Camino, not a long stretch, why walk in the dark? 

So around 8am I was packed up and on my way. At least that's what I thought. 

Today was another lovely day, albeit a bit warmer than yesterday. I prefer the cooler weather. Beautiful colors in the morning. 

Suddenly a wide and new bridge appeared. No traffic. No sound. The construction seemed to be over the top for here in the middle of nowhere. 

What was the bridge for?

It was another work in progress construction project. A freeway. Probably. 

I could see a few people in the distance doing something. Hopefully construction. Nobody could be seen below or on the bridge that I was on. 

My thoughts went towards Chinese construction projects from Guangzhou I saw during a visit there a few years ago. In something similar in scale to this project, you would see 100s, if not 1000s of workers. And an adjacent small town of huts where the laborers would be housed and live. 

No MC Hammer today as yesterday but The Surpremes ruled instead. 

Are you looking at me? Well we are the only ones around here. Are you looking at me? That's what I felt like saying to these cows. 

With apologies to Robert DeNiro. 

Fair weather and less than 100km to Santiago de Compostela means Turigrinos would be out in force. 

Today's highlight was a van stopping on a hill just in front of me. The driver walked around and opened the side door. Out stepped a handful of Turigrinos, in new and colorful clothes, tiny backpacks including a lady with blow dried hair. 

They thanked the driver and started to walk... a whole 20 meters or so to a cafe and there they disappeared inside.  

No photos. I was just too stunned about it all. Is having a Compostela and be able to tell your friends that you have "walked the Camino" really so important?

Meanwhile, back to the real world...

The markers showing the distance left to Santiago de Compostela were like an inverted taxameter. They appeared fast and furious and the kilometers just seemed to disappear. Sounded good to me. Here is the 29.5km marker. 

The place for morning coffee...

...and a chorizo boccadillo. 

Very nice but the greasy taste of the chorizo did hang around for a while afterwards. 

The cafe's idea for "point of differentiation" was to keep empty beer bottles and display them prominently on a stonewall as you arrived. 

The cafe's marketing campaign seemed to work. I went in.  

Not sure what "Peregrina" was. A local beer perhaps? Never heard of it before. 

This building / cafe called Bar a Casa Verde in Salceda with its outdoor seating looked like any other on the Camino, but step inside and...

...and it is a different world. 

Flags and jerseys and who knows what were hanging down from the ceiling...

...graffiti galore...

...including on the walls. 

Even a Norwegian flag had found its way inside Bar a Casa Verde. 

Again, that point of differentiation seemed to work very well. Bar a Casa Verde was very popular, if nothing else, people went in and got a stamp. 

Just down the road, somebody had amused themselves by making a twig cross to hang from a wire. The sun's shadow made for interesting photography. 

I have seen these lilliput car registration plates before but finally decided to take a photo of one this time. They look like something that should hang off a toy car. 

This beautiful stone table hanging next to a tunnel underneath a road showed the two alternative ways of the Camino just here. 

And this... Thing... Started to talk to us in Spanish as we passed it. It then proceeded to play classical music. Odd. 

I tried to find the sensor that triggered it but I couldn't find it. The thing was powered by solar cells and there was a TV screen inside. 

Tonight's albergue Cruceiro de Pedrouzo believed in advertising and distance markers for how much further the pilgrim has to go to get there. 

Almost there. 1.8km left to walk. 

Santiago has started to appear on my signs now. What's different with this sign was that it was free of graffiti. Many were full of it. 

I arrived at Cruceiro de Pedrouzo albergue around 1.45pm, got a bed, had a shower and... 

...Realized that I left my wall power plug/adapter for charging my iPhone in the last albergue. Presumably in the wall. 

In my plastic bag that was supposed to include two items, the wall plug/adapter and the USB cable was now only the latter. $&@&$@& 

I borrowed a power plug to get my phone up to 100% charged but I will have to wait to get a new power plug until arriving in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow. Did I say &@&$@&?

The hospitalero suggested check the local hardware store. Which I did. Which sells cigarettes. But not electrical items. 

Study of albergue life. Backpacks galore. 

Well, it is the night before graduation night which is the big one. We all went out that last "Menú del Peregrino" i.e. salad with tuna, mains with chips and no salad and crap wine. It was all there. 

Discussions around each of ours best, worst, most etc event, experience etc on the Camino. Fun stuff. 

Let's finish off with a few dusk pictures walking back to the albergue Cruceiro de Pedrouzo. Hey, gotta get back to the albergue before too late.

Post note: I really like these cone shaped snacks. They are delicious and very more-ish. Yes, I probably have too many of them. Waistline can take it. At least for as long as I am on the Camino.