Variedades

 Today is Sunday. It’s almost 9am and I’m one of the last to leave the beautiful nature preserve albergue,

Last night I asked our hostess if she had a place for us to put our food. I had cheese, yogurt, hummus, some fruit and a little bread. I was thinking she didn’t want it in her bedrooms. She said she could put it in her fridge. Unfortunately the kitchen is locked and I don’t know when the cleaning crew is coming. If they’re not here at 9 I’ll have to go without it. I was hoping maybe a neighbor would be coming in to start washing sheets etc.

Here is Luis, a pilgrim from Madrid. He is a wealth of history and knowledge of the Caminos. I love this umbrella. He was dry yesterday when I was wet. Luis told us that on Friday 3,700 pilgrims came in to Santiago from all the different paths. Everyone is scrambling to make reservations.

I jumped a day ahead by leaving my friends at Baamonde. I walked with Claire for 4 or 5 days, and will see her again in Santiago when she arrives.

Something I’ve been meaning to write about is the eucalyptus forests that abound in Asturias and Galicia. They are beautiful to look at and smell wonderful, but are an environmental disaster. They are raised as a cash crop, and can be harvested in ten years, for paper pulp. They are invasive and spread easily and no animals eat them or use them for habitat. We have been seeing hunters (Sundays and Thursdays, but not if it’s a holiday) but the only remaining animal now is the jabalí, the wild boar. All the deer, rabbits, and little ground animals and birds are gone.

Here are some harvested eucalyptus logs. You can see how fast they grow by how wide the rings are.