Day 2, London

By the Cathedral

Our 2nd day in London went pretty much like the first, but we didn’t do as much. We took the tube to Victoria Station because I wanted to go to Chelsea Physic Garden. the garden was pretty far out there and we still had to walk a bit. We got an early start but it turned out we were too early, it didn’t open for an hour yet. We had passed the National Army Museum and decided to go back and check that out while we waited.
What a lucky find, it was very interesting and informative. It was laid out so that you walked in and read things or looked at dioramas. And you went up different levels and years as you went. There was movies that would play or people would talk when you entered a room, it was neat. Lots of wars, I had no idea England had so many. It also had a lot of information on what wars do to people and countries, the impact that they have and the importance of those left behind. Not just in England but all over. Women played a big role and they said how it seemed like women were basically drafted into the workforce and the war effort. That pretty much every citizen had a part to play, that its just not the military in a war, but a country. I don’t think I see that any more, at least not in the US. Anyway I liked it and we spent more than our hour there.
Chelsea Physic Garden is a garden devoted to the importance of plants, either medicinal or nutritional. It is a walled garden with these massive gates. It was founded in 1673 for apprentice apothecaries to study the medicinal qualities of plants.” It became one of the most important centers of botany and plant exchange in the world”. Chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk . I have been waiting 3 years for Al to build me the green house he has promised me. He has all the parts laying out in our yard but the plastic. I am going to have to bug him a bit more to get it done.
From Chelsea we got on a city bus to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. A double decker one. It was fun, we had a long way to go so we got to see a lot of stuff. I sat in the top front window and it felt like I was driving. What I didn’t get is not only do they sit on the other side of their cars as a driver, they drive on the wrong side, why didn’t I know this?
The cathedral was nice. It is built in the shape of a cross and has one of the biggest domes in the world. This one also had a crypt below the church, and handed out headsets for a guide. Lots of stairs. First we went up 259 to get to the whispering galley, then 378 more steps up to the stone gallery. Yes I lead the way, no problem. Then the golden galleries after that, ok was here I hit a snag. This one had a spiral staircase, tight, high up, nope, I got a maybe 10 steps up. Thankfully no one was behind us, because I had to back down. Al went up on his own.
From St. Paul’s we went over the Millennial Bridge, locals call it the Wobbly Bridge. It’s a suspension bridge that moves as you walk over the Thames. I did this too! Way out of my box folks! We walked along the Thames for awhile taking pictures, we also got hot nuts, which were good! Somehow we missed lunch and had an early dinner about 4pm.
The the last thing we did was the London Bridge Experience. This was dubbed London’s scariest attraction. Yes, I did this!! I did scream a few times but it was fun, what a good time. Don’t get any ideas Brian, there are no roller coasters in my future. What they did was give us a history of the London Bridge. There was a museum inside that gave us the story of the 3 different times they rebuilt London bridge. They said the last time a bunch of human remains were found, Jack the Ripper? They had actors who were dressed as wardens or ghouls and then we went on this scary walk actually inside the bridge. It was dark, scary, people grabbed you. They had this spinning drum we had to walk through, which I find impossible, I have no idea why. It is so funny, Al’s yelling,” just close your eyes!”, which I am to afraid to. I am falling down, It was funny!
Then on our way back to Westminster to get our tube we walked across London Tower Bridge. We did have a snag. Remember we only had 2 nights in London, well we have no hotel for the night.We were told maybe there would be a cancelation. So our plan is to get back and check and if no cancelation then just move to another hotel.
This is unbelievable to me, no more empty beds in Hammersmith, or the next town down the line or the one after that. We also check back into downtown London, no beds either. It turns out that there is a major football weekend, Gloucester verses London. Our hotel which has been fantastic to us, especially because we aren’t even staying here anymore, is holiday Inn express. They have gone above and beyond, calling places letting us sit in their lobby using their wifi. About 9pm I left Al at the hotel to go and see if I could find these two women we had met the night before. I thought maybe two locals might know of someone who lets rooms or has a B&B, we were desperate. I was afraid we may have to sleep outside. I had no luck, when I got back I tried with the corporate people at holiday inn again and said , “how about further out from here, we want to go to Wells, anything out there?” Yes, in Bath. Well it was close to 10 and now we would have to take a tube to Paddington station then take a train to Bath, about an 90 minutes away. Well they had a train at 10:15 and if we could make it there, we had a place.
Bath is fantastic, but you will have to wait.
Until then.
Be well.

At Chelsea Physic Garden

From the garden

Part of the Berlin Wall, this is a 9 ton chunk, at the war museum.

In front of St. Paul’s

As slice of the Cathedral

London tower from the river

London 1st & 2nd day

Oct16

We arrived!

We got out of Madrid fine, up before 4 and caught our flight to Paris. Paris was cold, what happened, I think we missed autumn and went right into winter. People were still wearing shorts in Spain. I also forgot how expensive coffee was. $4.80, for a little cup. But I actually had my sandals on and I was freezing. We thought we might walk around Paris for a bit but with Al needing to be close to a rest room and the cold weather, we only made it around the block before we went back inside to just sit and wait for our train to London.
When we arrived in London we got a tube, to our hotel in Hammersmith.
Hammersmith is a busy district. Not as crazy as Paris or Madrid, but it seems nice. The staff at our hotel are great. And at the train station some other tourists gave us their tube pass, which was a ride all day pass. We were able to get to our hotel and check in, then use the pass again to go into London and look around at something besides tube and train stations.
The next day Monday morning we hit London and did see a lot of interesting things. We took a tube to the Westminster Station. We walked out and there is Big Ben, incredible. Right next door is Westminster Abby. This was incredible. A lot of these places give you headsets as soon as you come in so you can just follow along as you walk through. This is where the coronations take place here for Kings and Queens. They even have a coronation chair which has been used since the year 1308. What I didn’t know is that they bury inside the church. It’s really a giant tomb! A couple of well know dead people, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
After the Abby we went to Buckingham Palace.
We walked past most of Saint James Park to get there. They have signs everywhere not to feed the squirrels but we could see everyone doing just that. One squirrel started keeping pace with us, then jumped up on the fence and was getting ready to jump on us. Then it started stalking us until someone else coaxed it away. That was scary, squirrels are vicious. I was afraid of another attack like the dog.
We could not go into the palace because the Queen was in residence so no visitors, but we go to the Royal Mews. The Royal Mews is one of the finest working stables. It also has the royal collection of coaches and carriages. This was pretty neat, the people who work here, live here. Above the stables is a housing block and whole families live here. Generation after generation of families work for the royal family. So a child growing up in the mews might start out helping somewhere and end up being a driver or one of the many hands needed to keep this place so spic and span.
After the Mews we walked down past the park and saw the Guards Museum.
Al really liked this one, all kinds of uniforms and medals. Did you know those big blacks hats they wear are made out of bearskin? And that little bit of feather in the hat, the color and placement also means something. So I learned something.
We walked past Churchill’s war room, no thank you. We couldn’t walk past 10 Downing Street, All barricaded off, home to the prime minister. We walked through the parade ground of the House Guards.
Then we got back on the tube to go to the Tower of London. This was incredible. It is something like Old Sturbridge village. It’s a giant museum with other smaller museums inside of it. A big wall surrounds it, then there is also a castle inside, called the White Tower and this is where the Crown Jewels are kept, and once the royal mint was here also and there is a Fusiliers Museum as well as a bunch of other stuff. We spent a lot of time here. They had several towers and ramparts we could walk across and they had a torture chamber of course.
From there the river boat cruises were right below, so we jumped on to that and rode the boat back to Westminster. I should mention before we left Al bought a London Pass, kind of like our Paris Pass except it did not allow for those hop on hop off tourist busses. Al had to buy a separate ticket to do the Eye. No thank you again from me! The Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the bank of the river Thames. He loved it, we have had kind of cold weather but the sun came out for a bit and he got a 360* view of the city from way up there.
I said I would just stay on the boat because they just do a continuous loop back and forth between 3 stops and I would meet him where he got off. The boat was heated and had a bathroom, that beat sitting in the cold watching a small speck in the sky.
Well little did I know that I happened to be on the last ride of that boat for the day. There was another boat in 20 minutes. So I find the next boat back and get in line and wait. I’m all anxious because now I’m not where I said I was going to be, I have no phone anymore. On the end where Al is he is now waiting and wondering what happened to me. It is now fully dark and he told me later that he realized that this was the first time we have been apart for more then a few minutes since Sept 4th. When we left CT. Wow! But he waited and I got there. So back to Westminster to the tube and back to Hammersmith for the night.
Tomorrow busy again,
Until then
Be well.

Place was crazy busy

We arrived into London by train

Looking at the Eye from across the river

Westminster Abby

The side of the Abby

No pictures in Westminster Abby but this in the hallway on the way to their store

Al in the eye

As I said, No thank you!

Inside the Mews courtyard

Their front gate

One of the royal carriages, there were several

Jubilee carriage

We are approaching London Tower

The white tower.

At the Tower

Tower Bridge from London Tower

From the boat, Westminster and Big Ben

Big Ben at night

They call this the Shard, tallest building in London.

The two of us in front of Tower Bridge.

Palace guards

St. James Park

Last day Madrid

Oct15

An arch, there are four of these leading into the city in different areas

Today we went to Reina Sofia. We chose this museum over the Prado because one of the young people we met on the Camino was a Spanish major in college and spent a year in Madrid and she recommended it.
First we had to get there, back into Madrid. Yesterday the Taxi cost 26 euro, we were told that getting to the airport by mass transit for 2 was just as expensive as a taxi. Well untrue. There was a bus that went to the edge of Madrid, the Avenue of the Americas. We first had to cross the highway, one of those over the highway walkways I can’t stand. Right at the other side, the bus stop. 2 euros. The avenue of America’s stop is a hub for metro, so tube in to town, less then 2 euros. It took maybe 40 minutes, but that’s us I’m sure and cost for us less than 8 euros, and it was relatively easy. On the way back I convinced Al to skip the subway part and we walked to the bus station at the hub. It was a nice walk. It seems weird not to do a lot of walking.
The museum was different. I must be ignorant because I couldn’t believe some of the stuff was art. One room was huge, very long and it had these 4 blocks of cement. Art? Allen said he could do that!!! I thought the exhibit was missing. Then sound as art, random sound and pictures. Not music, just sounds. I was making Al crazy because I’m just walking by everything, why look if I don’t get it.
Picasso I get, lady in blue, compelling. Salvador Dali, I actually like. There were no statues, or very few. There was actually a hall way with two desks, one had an open drawer with a candle in it, Art. It seemed that they showcased a lot of Spanish art and art from thier country. Which was fine. But honestly I guess I am not the art museum type.
Tomorrow London with a short stop in Paris.
Until then,
Be well.

Art!

They didn’t allow pictures in most rooms, so only Al only got a few.

The bus station

The metro station

Another sunny day in Madrid

Oct14

Just a fountain we passed

We changed hotels today so we crammed a couple of sights into our morning. We missed the palace garden yesterday so decided to walk down to it.Very nice crushed gravel paths, I could really picture ladies in gowns walking the paths and looking at all the statues. You could feel another time there, it was on the palace grounds but we went down two flights of stairs to get to it, so it was surrounded by high walls with the city above, and I didn’t notice any city sounds.
After the garden we went to find the pyramid, that’s what we were told to look for anyway. Turns out to be a temple. The Temple of Debod. The whole temple was given to Madrid in appreciation from Egypt. It was from the 2nd century BC. They put it all back together like a puzzle in 1969. It was on a hill and had some fountains and some reflecting pools out side. It was terraced in back, and it was set on top of another wall. there was also an amazing view of the rest of Madrid from there. we could see back into the old city and a whole other part of Madrid we won’t be able to get to.There was free admission so we went inside. It was very small with slit windows to let in light. Lots of interesting carved reliefs.
We got a late start today so after our sightseeing we went back to our hotel to get our bags and called a taxi to take us closer to the airport and to the next hotel.
Ohhh my goodness, so much better. The staff at the reception desk were so nice, our room is fantastic and the shuttle to the airport will be free! They also have a complimentary bus to the mall at 4:30, so we decide to do that for the rest of our day.
Tomorrow we plan the Reina Sofia, which is the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte.
Until then,
Be well.

Fountain at temple

Temple and reflecting pool

Me beside pool, taking my own pictures

Temple of Debod

We can see the cathedral from here

Day 2, Madrid

Oct12

Having fun in Madrid

Al saw a real Dunkun Donuts yesterday, it tuned out to be a Dunking Coffee. Not sure what the difference is. Anyway, we, or I made a beeline for it the First thing we did. Al still not feeling good, he just watched me enjoy my coffee. So we are sitting in what they consider the theater district, almost a little Times Square. I take a picture with my phone, which was full yesterday. I had to move some pics to my iPad, I have taken over 1200 pictures with my phone. Al has also used his phone as a camera, and I brought my camera too. So we are sitting there, this gypsy women comes in. I was told she was Romanian, she was speaking to me, waving a sales thing literally under my nose, talking to me the whole time. I am leaning back, she is in my personal space, getting loud and insistent, waving this paper. What I don’t realize is that the waving thing is really a cover for her hand stealing my phone on the counter before me. She distracts all of us, even the people working there are yelling At her, ” get out, get out”, which she does, now with my phone. We don’t even realize that I was robbed until we leave and I automatically feel for my phone. I turn back to D&D and ask, “did you see my phone.” They immediately realize what had happened. I ask them to call the police. We waited for them to arrive, That took awhile.
The police arrive and ask us to go to the station with them. We got to ride in the back of a police car, not a highlight of our trip. Anyway, that took forever, I had
to dictate my report into a phone, kind of like transcription at the hospital but they asked me questions. I was given a number, 59 and said to wait until the report was printed. I would then have to speak to them again and then i could go. That took 3 hours. I was told lots of theft in Madrid. That you have to keep everything close and be super aware.
I am not as paranoid as Al, but we do keep things close, and we are aware. I am not saying this wasn’t preventable, but gee whiz, her timing was perfect. I just took my phone out, just took a picture, put my phone down to pic up my coffee, she comes in. That was basically it. If Al was on the other side of me, it wouldn’t of worked.
I know that all things happen for a reason. So after the police station, I made my way back to Al at the hotel. We had decided to separate so he could get a head start on the phone with AT&T.
We had just added all that data to my phone. We moved everything to his phone. I was never able to back my phone up to the iCloud because of wifi issues. So most of our pictures are lost, but we do have Al’s and the ones on my camera. Not a total loss, but regrettable.
So now it’s after lunch and I’m hungry, so first lunch then off to see more of Madrid.
Madrid is the Capitol of Spain. We walked past the palace again and into the art district. There is a lot of history here and they do adhere to taking siesta also. So again some shops closed up at 4pm and then open again at 7pm. We walked all over the place.
This is a very busy city, not New York busy. Our cab driver told us, 3million people live in the inner city and probably another 3 in the out skirts. Also that there are 3 rings around the city for driving. Sort of what DC has. And very clean. There is an issue with homelessness and with gypsies. Gypsies outright begging wherever you go, some of them are disfigured, limbs missing or just filthy dirty. A lot of the parks we went to the homeless had whole areas taken over by the homeless. They set up their boxes and blankets on benches and have what look like little communities. They even have pets. Lots of dogs and I saw one cat. The person even had a litter box outside next to it. Amazing. I saw nothing like a soup kitchen or anything like what you would in the city. Also the homeless we saw, seemed okay except they were basically camped out. Th gypsies are another matter. They were obnoxious. Following you, begging you for change, you just have to walk on by.
Tomorrow is another day,
Until then.
Be well.

Al started a door collection for me.

Plaza Major

A cornet of Plaza Major, there’s arches in the corners for traffic to get through

Me on the street

This was a tapas market/bar. Like Quincey market, all tapas! Very cool!

Day 1 Madrid

Oct12

I forgot to post this earlier, this is the Parador in Santiago, nothing like the one Leon. I went in to check it out.

I forgot to post this earlier, this is the Parador in Santiago, nothing like the one in Leon. I went in to check it out.

So we roll our suitcase down the hill. First a few snags, Al is now suffering with the same malady I had. Men are such babies! (Al’s Note: woman always think this!!) Anyway, that is our first issue, #2, we have no hotel for Madrid, we thought it would be easy to just book, but with no Wifi, not so easy. We had hoped the train would have Wifi, nope. So we arrive in Madrid, find tourist info, no free wifi at train station, come on. In one ice cream store they had wifi, so we buy ice cream, I have no problem with that, we just spent 5 hours on the train and all I had was a bag of nuts. We gave up on free wifi after trying and losing connections it seemed like a hundred times. So I turn to Al, “lets just call AT&T and get a data package, it’s pushing 4pm, we have no place to stay. ” he goes for it. We then spend time on the phone with AT&T, but in the end we have a place to stay.
So we left Santiago at 9am and didn’t get to our hotel until 5pm. We choose to stay here at Santo Domingo Hotel for just a couple of days because it was in the center of Madrid and had good reviews. Then we would move for 2 more days to be by the airport, remember our early flight. Turns out we are glad we did this. We do not like our hotel. European room, which means small, very small. No bathtub, no chairs, no room to move. There were good things, we were just 5 minutes from the palace, the opera, the theater district. That was nice. Two grocery stores right around the corner.
Subway, literally across the street. Would I stay there again, no. Wifi, only in the lobby. They advertise free wifi, but you have to sit there in front of everyone. Pain in the butt.
That’s why I am only catching up now, 3 days later. Sorry.
So I will make this one short, include some pics, and start right into the next day, when I got robbed.
Until then,
Be well.

One of the many plaza’s

Their streets are are mix of old and new, very pretty buildings

A view down the street

This church was tucked in behind the Prado Museo

Me on the street

Last day in Santiago, on to Madrid

Oct11

Okay, let me tell you about our thoughts for Finns Terri, if we go by bus, 24 euros a piece, 3 hour bus ride, I hour actually spent there, 3 back again. Ahhhh, no thank you.
So instead we now have spare time. We can then spend an extra day in Santiago and 2 extra in Madrid. Al gave us I day in Madrid because this is where we catch a flight, super early, 7am. Which means we need to be at airport at 5am, what was he thinking?
We actually go back to Paris, because it was cheaper. We have 3 hours to get from plane to train station, which now that we are world travelers, we have already done this once before. Cool, now I can say, “Well the first time I was in Paris…” Plus the train station just happens to be in the center of the shopping district, where I couldn’t buy anything before, see how things work out. Practicing patience is paying off!
So our day in Santiago we spent exploring more of the old town, keeping our eyes on the look out for some of the friends we made. We found a few, the ladies from Canada who were concerned about my health. We saw them again and got to say a final adios. Then Charlotte from Germany who was rushing home to her parents golden anniversary. Esther, who we met on the very 1st day in St. jean. What a surprise it was to see her, hugs all around! Then Katherine from Australia, she is a biker. She retired a few years ago and is going on a bike ride through Holland and Germany with her sister. Avril we saw no sign of, but she also had that stomach thing that was going around.
Part of our plan is to buy a suitcase for on the way home. Nothing expensive, just big enough to fit our hiking poles in. So we asked one of the workers at the albergue, ” where do you shop?” Prices downtown were crazy, plus it’s all tourist stuff. He told us about a Mall about a half hours walk away. We also wanted to check out where the train station is because we leave early tomorrow by train for Madrid.
Al said we walked more today than we did on the camino. first down to the old town, then finding the train station, shopping and back to get just one more look at Santiago. But we now have a suitcase and are ready to go to Madrid.
Until then ,
Be well.
You will notice no pictures in this blog, I was mugged in Madrid, not hurt in anyway, just devastated, they stole my I-phone, which had over 1200 pictures of our entire trip so far on it.
I will talk more on this later.

Santiago

Oct10

The morning mist in a field we passed

Well we made it to Santiago. It was kind of anti climatic. We only had to walk about 15 km, but we were also under a time limit. We had to check in before 2, get to post office before 1:30. We were told that once we checked into the hostel we could leave our stuff so we made that our first destination in Santiago. We arrived around 11:30 We were told we had beds 2060 and 2061, can you imagine. But they back fill, start in back and fill to the front. We were told yes there are lockers right next to our beds. Great, up three flights of stairs, checking all the doors, everything locked, back down , well we lock everything until 1:30. Ohhh, but there are also lockers in the basement. Down 2 more flights to basement, 2 euros to use lockers. I have to wonder, do they do this on purpose? Why not tell us when you see us go up that we can’t get in. And why not tell us that it’s 2 euros before you see us go down.
So of course, we have no 2 euro coin. So what do we do, we just leave our stuff in the corner and go. Then Al remembers he needs the receipt for post office, after we are outside of course. And of course still in bag in basement. Back inside we go.
Now on to post office, which even with map was very, very hard to find.
So you can see why when we finally got to the cathedral and then the pilgrim’s office, it was basically just a relief to find it. The Pilgrim office is not really marked as such, another challenge. We knew it was there, we just couldn’t find it.
Did we cry like babies, no. I think I got it out of my system yesterday.
You know the saying, it’s not the destination, but the journey getting there. Well i know its Something like that. Well it’s true.
The journey here, the 30 days just walking together, being alone, just us, 24/7, we have never had that. Everyone should have that, or it should be a rule somewhere that every married couple should be alone with each other once in awhile. Every century or so. Mandatory seclusion. Too much wine, sorry.
Oh this reminds me, the other night at an alburgue a man was making ratatouille, he told me, ” we’ll it’s only a vegetable stew” . I have never had it so I didn’t know. Well we decided to try to make, no recipe, just wing it. It was fantastic!! I loved it! Which brings me back to the wine, I got a bottle for the ratatouille, and a bottle to share. We had met Avril again yesterday and wanted to invite her to our dinner.Well we never found her today, bummer.
Al thought I was going to use a whole bottle of wine in the stew, so he opened both. Also I don’t know how to cook a small meal, so we shared with about 7 other people, but no one wanted wine. Well you cant waste it, so we sat around and chatted with several people until after lights out and had a really nice time.
I wished so many times that I had one of those pocket recorders to put what I was seeing or thinking into. Everyday was special and my memory is not that good, the pictures helped to remind me. But we also had so many conversations, sometimes with just each other or with others passing by. We made up silly songs about being day walkers, which were kinda funny! We even danced once in awhile. Well I did. It has been incredible! I will miss it. I think this is why just about everyone does this again and again.
Who wants to go?
Until then,
Be well.

Al carrying my pack today, I’m a day walker today.

Coming into Santiago, a mountain to the left

The streets ahead, with the houses piled on top of each other it seems

Our alburgue, Semenario Menor, place was huge

Cathedral

Our pilgrims passports, stamped with all the places we stayed, and our Compestellas, for accomplishing the Camino

Churros in hot chocolate , ohh my Gosh! Fantastic! I’m talking real chocolate!

The last day, Santiago in the morning!

Oct8

Sunrise, last one

Cypress grove

Nice trail today

From my door collection

Ad another

Can you imagine a door like this at your house

Dog on the left pony on the right

These are one of those granite paths, walk on top, muck below

All our kids know that their dad is the sentimental one in our family, not me. I’m the tough guy in the family. But when I was talking with Al before dinner saying I had no idea about what to write about today, then it came to me write about tomorrow. Then we had do go down to dinner. Which okay that reminds me. We are in a pilgrim hotel. We, us pilgrims have all been up before 6am. We, at least me is starving, why is dinner at 8, bedtime is at 8. Al is like, you can’t change the countries time, hello, this is not a public hotel , it is a pilgrim hotel, we, the guest are pilgrims, cater to us. Honestly we are hostages, there is no other place to eat, it is now 9:04, no food, only bread. I have allready just about finished the wine, we have all ordered, where’s the food? I have to be asleep soon.
Okay back to what I want to write about, I was telling Al how it’s no big deal getting to Santiago tomorrow, and I started to tear up, I’m doing it again writing this. This has been so huge for us. Today while walking, I told Al this was like a giant month long couples retreat. Where we learn to be a team player.
So what I learned is that my husband loves me unconditionally . He would literally do anything for me. if he us carrying 25 pounds on his back, and is hurting him just like mine is hurting me, he will still carry my 25 pounds too. He is phenomenal to me! I cried again!
What I have learned about me is that I am stronger than I think but that I still need others. I do not have to do it all alone. Other things I allready knew, I’m quick tempered, but also quick to say sorry.
Anyway, about tomorrow, I really have nothing to say about that except the journey couldn’t have been done without all of you.
Getting the time off, to Jan and the board Ed., Bill and Beth and Tonya. Tonya who is my partner at work, who was willing to work alone for 6 weeks in my absence. Thank you.
My family, without parents at home, this is a big one. My kids are incredible, Megan cleaning out the chickens cages for me, I know that’s not a fun job. Jozy, checking on my turkeys. Zac, mowing the lawn. There was so much to keep track of and to do in our absence, I think our kids now know how much we really do. They all pitched in and worked it out together, which is also good. Kasarah working full time, college and helping, thank you. Chanel and Hans, you have all that stuff going on and you still helped. Aj, Arlene and Jenna all working to keep the house in order, thanks again. UB, Brian, you know you are our other set of hands, so many times have you come through for us, what would we do with out you, I can’t imagine our life without you involved in it.

Thank you also to our online supporters, those of you reading this, some I know, thanks Mom for the prayers and well wishes. Some of you I don’t know, thank you as we’ll, your comments lifted our spirits and your prayers were felt. We are just 15km away from our goal, we have been walking for 30 days, rain or shine.
Anyway, no Finis Terri, just can’t do it. We decided maybe by bus, we will see.
Until then,
be well.

Two Days to Santiago

Oct5

Sunrise and our two Canadian friends.

Well I thought I was better until I woke in the middle of the night to throw up, again and again. We have decided that I will drink lots of Gatorade drinks, stick to bananas, toast and other small bland things. I have zilch in the energy dept., but somehow your legs just keep going. We did another 28km today, one day closer to Santiago. We haven’t decided what we are going to do after Santiago until we get there. There are too many variables that have to be thought out and options weighed.
We have met a few more Canadians, there are two women who stand out. We have seen each other many times in the past several days but once they knew I was under the weather, they have been very supportive and helpful. They had a break with us this morning and its at their suggestion that I start to curb the amount of the water i drink from here.
The pathways were mostly good today, too many hills, I lost count. We wound around the highway again and again going through hamlets and villages. We also,passed over three medieval bridges.
We went through one bigger city, Melide (pop. 8000) . they have a pretty cool church which i was hoping to see, the path normally goes right past all the historic stuff, and here it did not. We ended up in Arzua for the night. The last bigger city before Santiago.
We did our normal clean up chores and hit the streets in search of food. We found a grocery store, the kitchen where we are staying only has a microwave. With limited cooking options and Al’s getting tired of salad, we just got microwave meals, I thought they were kinda yucky, Al thought they were fine. The weird thing about them is that they were made by Nestlé. I didn’t know they did that.
Anyway, another long day and one again tomorrow.
Until then,
Be well.