I'm on my way to Triacastela a thirteen mile walk with a mini- Cruz de Ferro hill included. But first yesterday.

After checking into the "Ritz" after a nine hour walk I didn't care how bad my room was.That changed after dinner when I got to focus on just how bad a dump I'm in. It is what it is and it's only for one short night so I will just suck it up. That's what the Camino is supposed to create for the pilgrim ... Less than ideal conditions and clearly meant to get you out of your comfort zone. Misson accomplished.

O'Cebreiro is really a stunning little village biut after nine hours of some of the most difficult walking I'm in no mood to go exploring. The wifi at the "Ritz" only works in the bar and it's not working there so I go back up the hill a short distance to the hotel I stayed in the first time to use their wifi and grab something to eat. The wifi works well and I take a seat in the dining room. The pilgrim menu does not offer much and I decide on the Galician soup and the veal steak. The soup is a broth and the veal steak is not as thick as two stacked dollar bills. That's thin. If you want to go ahead and stack two dollar bills on top of each other and see what you get go ahead and see for yourself.

I'm not having the pilgrim wine, I upgraded to the Creienza which will boost my bill from eight Euro to twelve Euro and that's the bottle not a glass. It's much better and I'm not being a snob. There really is a difference, trust me. I'm nearly finished when three women walk in and sit at the table next to me. One of the three is Mark's wife from Novia Scotia. She tells me that Mark is having dinner with a couple of guys he met who were in the Navy just as Mark was. I didn't know that and she goes on to explain that Mark was in the Navy as a career. Anyway she says that she did not want to have dinner with three guys talking about the Navy all night so she is having dinner with two women she just met today. They are Jane from Australia and Gaynor from Londom.

I get introduced as Jim from California and Gayner says "your AC Jim". I never met her before, actually I have never seen her before so I'm a bit surprised. She tells me that she met a women who is walkng with her daughter who told her about me. She says it all good. I'm a little curious but I don't press it. The two of them start with a lots of questions about my first Camino and it goes on. Jane was with a  male "friend" from a walking group at home who traveled with her from Austarila but it didn't out so she is walking alone. She has known Gayner for a couple of days. They are interesting and both have a great sense of humor.

I have moved to their table so I would not get a stiff neck trying to answer their questions. I have already finished my veal steak. In the end it was fun and I need to get back and retrieve my laundry before they close. I need the check. I go to the bar and find the waitress and I pay the bill for all four of us. I had the added wine cost and I don't want to ask them to pay for the wine and I don't want to go through the math on who owes what. The total for all four of us is only about sixty dollars. 

I return to the table but I need to leave. I thank them for the entertainment and as I leave I let them know that the bill has been paid. They all say no you should not have and I just say that I'm just glad you didn't eat anything expensive. Ha, ha. 

Now I warned you about this from the very start of the blog. When I walk alone for hours there are a lot if things that are bouncing around in my head. So today I'm thinking about the comment often made when someone picks up the check and the other guy says ... If I knew you going to pick up the check I would have ordered something better! Ha, Ha. I've done it and I get it, which reminded me of this ... I did warn you.

I was working for Merrill Lynvh in New York and I left the firm to start a business. Merrill became our biggest customer and I would often take their sales people to lunch or dinner, mostly dinner and always at Sparks. There was a guy who I knew for six years who worked with me at Merrill but he was in the administrative area so I did not spend a lot of time with him and I never entertained him. I spent all of my time with the sales people. So one day I'm in New York calling on Mertill and I go to talk with him about some administrative issue and he says that he wants me to take him to lunch someday just like I do with the sales people. Okay, he's right I should do that and I tell him to pick a place for the lunch the next day.

The next day I call him to find out where we are going to meet for lunch and he tells me that he has made a reservation in my name at Del Monico's at Hanover Square in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from Wall Street. I know the place. It's famous, expensive and over the top. So I meet him there. 

The place is packed and he starts by ordering a martini and jumps right ahead and wants to pre-order the soufflé for desert. I can see where this is going. The menus arrive and he asks about the wine and suggests a very nice bottle. I'm dead meat by now so of course. His lunch is multiple courses and then comes the icing on the cake. This is back in the late seventies and the restaurant actually has a very attractive young women walking around with a farcy box attached to her by this strap which goes around her neck offering "cigars, cigarettes". Really, I'm dead serious. She walks by our table and suddenly Bill stops her and asks for two packs of Parliament cigarettes. They will be added to my check.

I've know Bill for at least five or six years and I never saw him smoke so I'm curious. I said to him, Bill I didn't know you smoked. He simply says, they are not for me they are for my wife, she smokes Parliament! Now I have seen it all.

 

So here's the summary and a free tip for today. Never take someone who does not get out much to lunch or dinner and tell them it's on you in advance because it can be very expensive. I warned you.

Tomorrow is Friday October second and I will be walking to Sarria. The distance will be about twelve miles. There are two route options. I will decide which one in the morning. I am eighty three miles from Santiago. Tomorrow is the "N" day. Good night and Buen Camino.

SAN _ _ _ _ _.