The day starts with a look outside my gas station Hotel window to check the weather. It's a bit chilly and it's gray. I believe that it will rain today. I pack ( including my hat ) and I am ready to get a cup of some real coffee.
I did not get much sleep last night which is not all that unusual. I check in and head to my room. I am at a new and very ugly contemporary Hotel-gas station. When I get to my room I open the window. There is one giant window. It's so big that if I wanted to I could throw all of the furniture out of it and there would be room to spare.
I open the window to get some air and I start to unpack. I can hear voices, lots of voices directly beneath my garage door size window. I take a look. There are about 50 people taking a smoke break from there bus tour and the location of choice for their break is directly under my window. Ok no big deal. I can handle a little chatter if needed but I sure hope there aren't any late night bus breaks here at The Villa Los Arcos. I don't know how they came up with referring to this place as a Villa. I really don't care. I have a clean room and a shower.
Let us not forget that if not for being booked here I would not been able to take a ride in a Los Arcos squad car. That little extra was worth being in a Villa that's not a Villa.
I complete my unpacking and my preparation for my walk to Viana tomorrow. Stage 7 will be about 22.5 km or about 12 miles . What I don't know yet is that I have made an error in my travel calculations and I will soon be driving Sharel completely insane. I promise to do my best to try and make it up to her, if she is still talking to me by the time I get back.
I had no idea just how complex it is trying to figure out where and when I think I need to be for nearly 35 days. Add in all of the unknowns and the potential for weather and or injury delays and you can begin to see just how fluid this schedule might be. Throw in the fact that there is a nine hour time change and it just adds to the challenges.
I leave my room and head down to the cafeteria. I ask to see the menu and the young woman behind the counter hands me the menu and then points out that the menu items are not available until 8:00. She does let me know that I can have one of the bocadillo's out on display. That's a ham sandwich which I am beginning to believe is a staple here in Spain. I pass and retreat back to my room where I will wait for the menu items to become available. I am in need of a fork and knife required meal.
I wait until the menu launch time and return to the cafeteria. I take a seat, there are many to choose from because I am the only customer. It's a good thing I have a reservation. Because I have already gone over the menu some two hours ago I think I know what I will have. Well I'm wrong.
The head waiter and only waiter comes to take my order and immediately tells me "no" as he takes my menu from me. He comes back to my table and hands me the updated menu for today. The menu I had studied some two hours ago has changed. He hands me a menu which he has taken a pen to and scribbled all of the changes for tonight. I guess the "chef" is unhappy with the original offerings.
I had trouble understanding the original menu and the new hand written version is impossible to figure out. I'm in luck the misto salad is still being offered! I select that by pointing to the word "misto" and then I just take a good old fashioned guess at my main course. I point to what I'm thinking is meat. I will only need to wait a short time to find out what it is.
The waiter returns with my salad and my bottle of wine which I guess is included because I did not order it. I never had the chance when he last visited my table. The wine is not great but what can one expect. Have you ever had a great bottle of wine in a cafeteria? The salad is actually very fresh and it is surprisingly good. The loaf of bread is also good. By the way when I say loaf I mean the whole 12 inch version. They like their carbs here in Spain.
I am eating the salad as a few people who are getting gas come and go when my main course arrives. I have no idea what it is but I am sure that its not "heart healthy". I give it a try. It's not good. I don't know what it is but I now know that tonight will be a salad night. While I am eating my salad the waiter is sitting at the counter watching some soap opera on the television and is completely into the drama. It appears that there is a wedding taking place and the bride dressed in white dramatically says no to the vows and runs off. The waiter is visibly shaken! This must be his favorite show . I can't get his attention so I go to him and ask for the check. He can't believe that I am not eating the main course and have now declined dessert, which as always is included. I need to get some sleep.
I am back in the cafeteria at 8:30 the next morning , packed and ready to go. I order my coffee and select a pastry from the two choices offered and take a seat at my favorite table. Again I am the only customer. Not for long. A guy walks in, sits at the counter and orders something and points at the pastry. The waiter hands him his selection and then pours him a glass of red wine in what looks like a small glass used for anything other than wine. Wow that's one way to get ready for the days work. Five minutes later a second guy comes in takes a seat at the counter several seats away from the first guy , picks out a pastry and the next thing I see is the waiter giving him a real wine glass and he opens a different bottle of red wine and pours customer number two his ration of Vino Vinto. This must be the Spanish version of the breakfast of champions.
I pay the bill and go to check out. I return my key and the clerk who is checking me out has to stop the process as gasoline customers come in and ask to have X number of Euros on pump number whatever while I waiting. He takes my Visa card and swipes it six or seven times but is having a problem. He then asks me for my "secret" number. He wants my PIN number. I don't think so. I give him the 53 Euro in cash and get ready to leave. As I am putting on my backpack the manger who checked me in yesterday arrives. He sees me and comes to tell me that it is to dangerous to walk past the freeway and offers me a ride back to The Camino. These people are nice.
I believe that things happen for a reason and I am now more convinced than ever. The Police car, the Hotel location and now my ride back to The Camino will now all be a part of my meeting Michele.
I begin my 22km walk to Viana at 9:30. It's a bit chilly and it's going to rain. I am ready for it. As I prepare to start a short very stocky guy passes me. He says Buen Camino and looks at me with a look that says "wimp". I am bundled up and have even put on a pair of my extra REI socks as gloves. He is wearing shorts and a tee shirt! I start to follow him.
Less than a mile from the start I come along side a tall guy who is also fairly young. I say Buen Camino and he responds in English and adds good morning. I ask him where he is from and he tells me Italy. We will walk the entire 22km to Viana together.
His name is Michele. He is Italian, speaks English, Italian, German and Portuguese. He is a chef, 32 years old, single and owns a restaurant in Dortmund Germany. Before I complete my story about Micheke I will give you his restaurants website. I urge you to take a look. But first back to today's walk.
This will be the most interesting day in my first seven by any measurement.
To start he knows everyone. As we pass others on the trail everyone shouts out his name and he enthusiastically responds in whatever language is needed. He is the Mayor of The Camino and before this day ends with dinner I will give him this title and others will begin calling him the "Mayor" of The Camino.
It's a gray day, it's drizzling and we are just on cruise control. Every now and then he will stop and with great excitement he will pick a part of a plant and stick it under my nose to smell as he describes in great detail how he would prepare fish with this plant or beef or pasta with another. I am getting a lesson in cooking and I am now schooled in the use if Latucca, Finockio and other herbs I cannot not remember the names of.
As we walk he becomes my photographer (photos on the way). We discuss a great deal of topics including politics, religion, food, wine and much more. He tells me why he is walking The Camino but I cannot share that with you because it is just to personal and it would be wrong to do so. Let me just say that he is walking The Camino in search of a solution to a relationship that's has disappeared and he wants back but can't figure out how to do it. He is hoping that he will find it at some point in the thirty five days on The Camino.
He knows everyone on The Camino, their names, where they are from, why they are on The Camino and more. For instance he knows Ted. Ted is the guy I wrote about from Scotland who I met in the snow storm and was wearing a kilt. Michele knows him. When he mentions Ted I tell him how I met Ted and that I took of picture for Ted and a young woman during the storm on day two. Michele immediately tells me that they are not together and that the women's name is Janet and she is an American from Indiana and that's she a writer. He goes on to tell me an incredible story which involves Janet from Indiana. Go ahead and take a sip of your Italian wine, this is good.
During the walk to Puente La Reina, Michele injured his knee and had to go to the find a Doctor to get some medical attention . His knee was badly swollen and he was in some pain. The Doctor gives him something to rub into the knee and puts a wrap on it. The Doctor also tells him that he should not walk the next day to Estella.
Michele tells me that he decided to keep going but that he hired the "donkey" service to take his backpack ahead to Estella for 7 Euro. The "donkey" service is the currier service which you may recall I labeled the "cheater's" service. He describes in great detail, how it works and that on the day he uses the service that his bag is one of about forty being taken to Estella! I knew it, I just did not know how big a business it is.
Here's the part you have the wine for. As Michele is walking to Estella, without his backpack, he catches up with a young woman who is walking alone and is struggling and in pain. He stops to ask if he can help. Its not her feet or legs, its her shoulders that are the problem. She is carrying to much weight. He tells me that he offers to carry her backpack to Estella and she starts to cry. It's Janet from Indiana. He takes her backpack and begins to walk with her. He takes two or three steps and all of the pain in his swollen knee is gone!
He continues on to Estella carting Janet's backpack . By the way Janet stays in Estella, her Camino is currently on hold.
There is much more to this great day which I will fill in but I am late for dinner. I am having dinner with Michele and three other Germans Michele has introduced me to. One of them is about my age and is on his third Camino in the last six years. I have much to learn from him and I can't wait. Tonight is going to be a fork and knife night.
Take a look. www.ristorantemichele.de
Love your stories!! You are right---things happen for a reason and coincidences don't happen---they are meant to be. I'm anxious to read your next story.
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