Killing time

Coffee, tortillas, and empanadas. Note that Spanish tortillas are nothing like what we call tortillas in the States. In Spain they are kind of an egg, potato, and onion pie (but no crust).

Post by Wynette: We weren’t sure if there would be a place to stop for lunch today before we got to our airbnb. And no place near the airbnb to buy food. Google said there was a bar about 45 minutes before our airbnb but we’ve learned not to trust the hours Google gives us. It’s mislead us more than once. But we decided that if we didn’t find food there, we wouldn’t starve to death. In fact, it would be good for us.

However, to our delight, the bar was open. We had an hour to kill before our airbnb check in time so we decided to hang out there. First we ordered two cafes con leche (coffee with milk) and some cold water. The owner brought us our coffee and then brought us some tapas (that we didn’t order but this does happen occasionally): two pieces of tortillas de patata (Spanish omelette) and two tuna fish empanadas. Those tortillas were the best I’ve ever tasted, I swear. And this was one of the best coffees as well. Not too long after, she brought us each another tapa. I think some kind of salty pork skin on bread. Man, they were good, too.

Then we did a crossword on our phones.

We finished the crossword and decided to order more coffee. I told Charlie “It won’t taste as good this time since it is our second cup”. But it did. Then the owner brought out some small crispy chicken wings. Again delicious. Keep in mind, we didn’t order any of this except the coffee and water. And there was so much food, we didn’t have to order lunch. (I’m not sure they had any other food than those tapas anyway.)

We finally decided it was time to go. We asked for the check. In Spain, when you order you usually have no idea what you’ll end up paying but I’m usually shocked how much less the bill is than I expect. We tried to guess what the bill might be. Charlie said, “Let’s guess even allowing for it to be less than we expect.” He guessed 9.50. I guessed 8.00. It turned out to be 7.40. That’s for four coffees, two small bottles of water, and eight tapas.

Two more cups of coffee and chicken wings

Ice plant

Post by Wynette: We’ve been seeing ice plant all along the way but we saw a lot more of it on today’s walk. We learned that (1) it is native to South Africa and (2) it blooms here between April and June. So, we are lucky to be here when it is blooming. We learned on a previous trip that it is an invasive plant here, crowding out native species, so I feel guilty for enjoying it. It does seem that where the ice plant is thick you see very little diversity in the flora.

Blogging with an ocean view

Post by Wynette: We are staying in an airbnb tonight between Foz and Burela. We couldn’t find any other accommodation between these towns and didn’t want to walk the whole distance in one day (only 13 miles but a little far for our liking). Luckily the airbnb is nice and has a great ocean view. And they had a washing machine and we were able to do our laundry. No clothes dryer, as is typical here, but it’s a sunny breezy day so we think everything will dry outside on the rack on the balcony before we go to bed.