Portomarin to Palas de Rei or Palas do Rei -- 26 km

Monday, October 12
Feast of Nuestra Señora del Pilar -- patroness of Spain and of the army
Also Christopher Columbus Day

Everyone speaks Castilian Spanish -- different words for things than Mexican or Latin American Spanish -- and of course c´s and s´s and z´s are pronounced as th.

In addition to Spanish, different parts of Spain have different dialects -- Barcelona has Catalan and this part of Spain -- Galicia -- has Gallego. Gallego looks and sounds more like Portuguese than Spanish. Lots of diphthongs -- and lots of x´s in words.

So Palas de Rei may be seen on different signs as do Rei -- and Rei would be written as Rey in other parts of Spain.

It´s a long day, but the trail is good and we get into Palas de Rei in late afternoon. There are lots of people in the town, but most things are closed. It´s a bigger town than we had anticipated -- we go to a hotel that had been recommended, but it is ´completo´- full. Then we spy two Aussies we know -- father and daughter who are doing this trip -- and they tell us where they are staying. After getting a room, we are to meet Alberto and Carmen for dinner they are cooking at the albergue. We say we will bring wine and bread. But all the super markets are closed. John manages to find a bakery that is still open and gets some bread and postre -- dessert. The wine is still an issue. So we ask at the bar where we had rented our room if we could buy a bottle. We assume it will be outrageously expensive, but we want to bring a beverage for dinner. I explain our dilemma to the older women behind the bar -- she talks to her husband, then to her granddaughter who is about 12. Time passes. Then the grand daughter goes into the backrooom, starts calling out names, then the older women seems to approve. The girl brings us a bottle of red wine with no label -- but then we see a tiny address label sign label on the back just saying it is from the area. We brace ourselves for the price -- 3 euros -- $4.50! And it turns out to be excellent wine!

Dinner at the albergue with Carmen, Alberto, Adriano, Susanna, Patricia, and Angel is wonderful. And we get to tour the albergue. All sorts of people are staying there -- younger, older, singles, couples, etc. It´s a great sense of camaraderie -- John and I are both glad we got to be a little part of it.

Another long day tomorrow, Tuesday, 29 km to Arzua via Melide. I have been using up bandages for my blisters at an alarming rate.