Day: April 29, 2023

I wanted to say a little more about the place we had breakfast yesterday. She runs a bar and a little tienda.

The tienda is separated from the bar by this glass divider. You can see some of what she offers on the shelves, and the next photo shows the rest of the stock.

While we were there 10-15 people came to the tienda counter. Most bought baguettes of bread, one got bananas, one cigarettes, one a newspaper. As we were walking out the potato guy came in carrying a clear plastic bag of maybe 40 pounds of potatoes.

I note all this because, to me, this is a perfect example of how the capitalist economy should work. People at the top of the hill (it is a steep walk into town), mostly older people, need things like bread and the other things she sells. She gets deliveries from little vans that come by with bread, potatoes, etc. She then sells these things that people need at a small profit. She saw a need and filled it.

It was also somewhat of a social center. Some people got coffee. Most people stayed and chatted with the owner and each other for a while.

Spain is filled with these small, independent businesses filling people’s needs, The US was also filled with places like this 50 years ago.

Now Walmart and Amazon fill those needs but, obviously, it is not the same. It is a matter of opinion which is better, both have their good and bad points. We love to patronize and observe these small businesses and we are glad to we can go to Spain and do that.

This is typical of the charming little bridges we see going over quiet streams. You can see how well the Camino is signposted.

There is a Camino video blogger we enjoy watching, Sara Dhooma, and she always does a “bridge dance” when she goes over a bridge so we sometimes do that too.

Here is Sara’s YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@SaraDhooma

We came across this little building today. It is typical of ones we see, in need of repair. The original purpose of the building is not clear. When we approached it, two dogs inside startled barking furiously, so the current purpose is a dog kennel.

We like to get coffee along the way after we have walked for an hour or two. We depend on google maps to find the bars. We planned for the cafe-bar shown in the far right but it was closed. It our backup was a pandereia in the closer brown building.

It turned out to be a tiny place, maybe 10 by 20 feet with 29-30 loaves of bread. One of those little local places that make things easier for the people in the area. Basically a bread middleman or middleperson or middleshop. They didn’t have a place to sit, but they did have a little coffee machine. Every selection had sugar and it was a bit too sweet. And the machine allowed you to add extra sugar.

Post by Charlie and Wynette:

This is a frequent sight on all the Caminos. Someone sets out some drinks and food and you take what you want. It is donativo, you pay what you want. You can see the red coin box. When we first got there, there was no one “minding the store”, it was all based on trust. It was perfectly located. We really needed a place to cool off and rest at that point.

As we were resting there, another pilgrim couple came along and stopped. They were from Madrid. The husband had finished the Camino from Porto, Portugal, a month before and loved it so much he talked his wife into doing the Camino Ingles. She wasn’t so sure she loved it. They were walking very long days.

Then the couple that created the rest stop came up in their car. They were adding a tarp to create more shade, maybe to prepare for this hot spell that is forecast in a couple of days. The pilgrim from Madrid helped them put up the tarp.

The woman who, along with her husband, provided the rest stop was showing us an elevation map of the Camino Ingles up to that point. We’d all climbed a very steep uphill to get to this spot. She pointed out that we were at the top of the peak on the right. The downhill was even worse.

We passed this today. In our walks in Spain we must have seen at least 50 bathtubs in fields. It seems to be a thing. I have never heard an explanation for them and I can’t imagine what they might be for.

We’re in Betanzos today. This place was literally right across the street from our hotel; Google said 20 feet away and it got great reviews.

They called them pinxos which is the same as the Basque word for them. I assume it is the Galician word for them. They are a little different from tapas. They are mostly little sandwiches. Tapas are more varied.

I don’t think people normally have lunch there. They seemed surprised that we had seven. But, bottom line, they were great. Some of the best we have had.

This is the display in our hotelelevator today. Nice to have the time and date and, of course, the floor but I was surprised to see advertising.