Here comes the sun!

We slept really great in our cozy little room. We actually had heat and blankets. Using our handy dandy spanish the night before we surmised that breakfast was at 8AM so we decided to eat first and then pack because there was a crazy amount of fog outside. We went up to the bar to grab breakfast and the door was closed. It was obvious that no one was there. We decided to get packed and ready to go and then hopefully they would be open. There were only two other people in the entire place. They were walkers of course and they said that this place did not serve breakfast and that there was a cafe up the road. Oh well so much for our spanish skills. We packed up and left the town of Hospital. As usual I had trouble finding the trail even in this small town. The walkers path is obvious but the bikers was not. (At least to me that is.) It seemed like our only options were a busy highway or the walkers path. The walkers path was paved so we took it knowing that any minute it could turn into a muddy mess. Luckily the paved road continued. Within 5 minutes were at a cafe and saw plenty of Pilgrims both walkers and bikers. Awesome! We had coffee and huge egg sandwiches. We were about to leave and we ran into our couple from Virginia again. We caught each other up on our journeys and headed out. I love how these chance meetings happen and am very impressed with how far they walked. To put it in perspective they are walking about a half marathon every day.  Wowza! So we headed out wondering how long the road would last. It was great. It lasted about 10 kilometers and went through small neighborhoods and beautiful countryside. The sun came out today and stayed out all day! Finally when the path went to gravel our bikers road was right there waiting on us. The Camino keeps telling me to trust it and yet I keep trying to second guess it at every turn. Hopefully by the time I finish I will have learned to focus on the job at hand and to not worry about all of the possible outcomes. Our goal was to make it to a town called Melide and have lunch there. We rolled into town about 11:45. This town was a larger town. I found a few benches in front of a church were we could stop and rest. I left Dad and went and found a cafe to eat at that looked good and had room for our bikes. We went to a cafe that was based on Charlie Chaplin. We had a great waiter who spoke pretty good english. Dad got a cheese omelette and I got cake! Not just any cake but Santiago cake. Yum yum. Before we left he told us where the local bike shop was. Our bikes are fine but we wanted to top off the air before we continued. Unfortunately it was closed so we went and ahead and got back on the road. I still have not figured out this Siesta thing. We continued to ride and had our sights on a small town called Puente. We were hoping to find a single room there. We were on rolling hills most of which we did not have to walk. We stopped and rested a few times and one of those times was at a very small church. It always amazes me what these churches look like on the inside. Very ornate to say the least. In most of them you can light a candle for a loved one. We have done that in several of them along the way. But now the new thing is these automated candles. You put a coin in the box and electronic lights light up. I guess it is probably safer especially since some of these churches have no one there most of the time. We were riding so well that we missed the town of Puenta and ended up in a town called Aruza. It was a big town that had lots of options. We found Dad a bench and I left him there while I went and searched for a room for the night. I went in a few only to find out that they had no single rooms or they did not have heat. Finally I found a place that was super nice for $45 Euros a night. It had just been redone inside and had everything we would need including our own bathroom. They even had a place to lock our bikes. I went back and got Dad and we came back and checked in. After showering we went out for a beer and to just take a look around. We were just off the town center so there was a lot of places to check out. Right next to our place was a place called the Nebraska Burguer Bar. It looked really cool so we went on in. When we go in there was no one there except the bartender. She was sewing a baby's bib. and on a table near by, there were these strange playing cards and notepads that looked like someone got up and left in a hurry. Ok no problem I still wanted a burger. Can I have a menu please? In Spanish she said no menu if you want food then you need to go down the street. I looked around and all she had behind the bar was two packs of potato chips and one pack of donuts. Hmmm no burgers.......so I decided just to have a beer instead. We sat there taking it all in and when we left I have the distinct feeling that several people came out of hiding and finished their card game. We walked down a bit and found a place that had beer and food and split a vegetarian pizza and had a couple of beers. We decided to head back to our room and went to bed around 10PM. Tomorrow is another day and the Camino is calling. Santiago is getting closer but we still have a ways to go. Buen Camino!

Quote of the day from Dad. "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!" He is sleeping while I write this. :)