July 8th Portamarin to Ligonde
We stayed in the albergue Xunta in Portamarin with Marianna and Steffan last night and Marianna does not like the Xuntas at all. There are no shower doors and any one can see you while you shower. And there is no wifi here. If we had realized that we would have invited her to stay in our room with us but the lady running the place kind of made it clear that the showers in the handicap bathroom were for mom not the rest of us. Later we would learn we were using them anyway. We need our little bit of privacy.
Today we walked and had made plans to start looking for an albergue in Ligonde, only about 15 km away. As we walked through Ligonde several people came out and asked if we wanted a stamp for our credential, at this one old building. They were Christian people who ran a small albergue that was all donation. They had hot tea and cookies. Steffan and Marianna were outside deciding if they wanted to stay or walk further. Hayden went on down the road to see if there was another albergue more accessible but while he was gone Deb said we would stay there. She got a feeling that this was the place for us. She said it felt homey. Steffan was staying and finally Marianna flipped a coin and she stayed also. Everyone gathered out at the picnic table and discussed our prayers and what we wanted from the Camino.
We gathered together at 8 for a communal meal of roast chicken, rice and one of the best soups we had ever had. If anyone does the Camino I highly recommend this as a must stop, the people are wonderful here and make this feel like your home. They set Deb and I up in the living room downstairs, when an older gentleman from Poland came up on a folding bicycle. The people running the albergue had told others they were full but they felt sorry for the Polish man and asked us if we minded if he shared the main room with us. We were fine with it but talked with Hayden and he said the guy could have his bed upstairs and he would sleep on the cot with us.
After dinner I put Deb to bed and went back into the dining room where everyone had gathered with photos spread all over the table. They said everyone pick a picture that showed why you were doing the Camino, then after we discussed that we picked something we didn’t get to see in our home life that we saw on the Camino and discuss that. Usually I don’t go in for this kind of discussions but this one felt very natural and open, I really enjoyed it. I hope this doesn’t mean I am growing as a person.
We slept a very good night’s sleep that night even though it was very cold. They had plenty of blankets that they piled on us and we slept like logs. The next morning they had put out a breakfast for us before they had gone to bed and like all of that stay it was donotivo. We left that morning in a cold misty windy blustery day and Deb had all the sleeping bags and ponchos on just to stay warm, it warmed up in the afternoon though by the time we got to Melide.