Cuntis

Cuntis

03/18/2010

Today we stayed in a small village named Cuntis with a teacher from the school in Caldas de Reis. Her name was Ana and she teaches linguistics at the University in Vigo two days a week and at the Colegio (K-12 school). We met her during our short visit in the morning to the school. But she had a class lined up for us to speak to when we went back early in the afternoon. During her break she took us about 10 minutes by car to her home where she had a guest suite built into where I think the garage must have been before.



We were very grateful. There is no albergue in Cuntis and the one in Caldas de Reis is closed for remodeling. It started to rain in the afternoon and then began to rain in buckets.



Ana explained everything and introduced us to the dog "Guide" spoken "Guidi". He was a puppy with long legs and a happiness to see people.



Then, she gave us the key and left. Wow ! We have lucked out again!



We did our laundry and showered in the abudant hot water.


We went to the local library and wrote email to you all. There was an ancient petroglyph from the local Castrolandin. It is so old, over 3000 years old, right here in the library.

Ana and Albert are away because their 3 yr. old son named Anton has been in the hospital having his appendix out. So they are staying in Vigo near the hospital.

03/19/2010

We are still at Cuntis for two reasons. No one's home. And it's raining buckets! There are anciant (3000 yrs. BC) Celtic ruins very near here called "Castrolandin" that Eric would love to go see, but really the wind is soooo strong and the rain relentless. The Celts were hear before Santiago was a city. So, we are eatting, looking at maps and trying to decide if we should try the "anciant path" which is said to be a shorter route, but unmarked.

Today we text messaged Fermin, our fellow pilgrim from Briallos. He and his friend Hobby arrived in Santiage just 4 hrs. before we messaged him. His feet had blisters when we parted in Briallos. We offered him some mole skin, but he said no. Now he texted us and said that his feet are "destroyed". Guys, they've got to be macho! They did the Santiago from Tui, Spain, just a little more than required, in 4 or 5 days. They were really pushing it. Bet they didn't find any four leaf clovers or pick up any Mica.

I got an idea. What if I write a series of stories for the kids we've met and make 10 mistakes in eachone. They can read and find the mistakes. The stories could be about our Camino. I can call them "A Pilgrims Path to Learning English". The answers would be listed at the end. Maybe I could sell them to English classes all over.

Also, I like the idea of visiting classes in all kinds of places and telling them about our home and our family. It uplifts and pushes the envelope for them. They know more about the US and it's ordinary people, instead of just what they hear in the news or see in movies.

Can you loose weight in your ear lobes? I think that before I started this walk my ear rings fit tighter.

03/20/ 2010

Still in Cuntis. It's just us and the doggy here. toward the evening it stopped raining enough for us to go to town and get some groceries.


We toured the local cathedral called "The Cathedral of the Patron".













It's unusual because the virgin who is the patron was saved from the civil war damage, however nothing is known about her. No one knows her name or her deeds that led to her Sainthood. The local people continue to pray to her for their spiritual needs, but know nothing about her. In addition, she is a more lively and happy image than we have seen in any of the churches of all sizes we have visited. I like her. She's got spirit, no pun intended.






The statue of the "Pelegrino" or Pilgrim was special to us of course. He is always depicted with the shell, which is the symbol of the pilgrim as well as a little dog. This is a really nice one, so I thought I'd remember this one.

I also got a charm with a little ball in it that tinkles. The Shop keeper said that it was an "Angel Call". It's really pretty. We came home and Ana and her husband and son were home! They were just getting ready to go for a walk. We had quick introductions all around and then we went into our little suite and baked some potatoes and onions. They weren't as good as at Romarigaes. Why is that do you suppose?

When Ana and her husband Alberto and her son Anton came back, they asked us up to dinner with them.



I took the opportunity to get to know Anton a little and played with him in the family room. He didn't know what to think of me and definitely didn't want me to rearrange his toys. He had them in just the right place and that's the way he liked it. So, being who I am, I kept asking what I could play with. I finally got permission to play with a little Lego character. He loves Peter Pan and acted out battles between Peter and Capitan Hook.



We had fried eggs and french frys. If you'll notice, at the far end of the kitchen in the picture, there is an ancient stone sink. It is low enough that with the help of a little stool, Anton can reach it. He takes his dish from the table and washes it after every meal. How did they do that? I tried to teach my kids to do that for years. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Then we talked to them until 1:00 AM. We had to remember that Ana hadn't been in on any of the classes where we told about ourselves. So, she and her family didn't know anything about us. We told them everything! They were so interesting and lovely people. We had a very good time.


03/21/2010

Guess what? It's sunny today. Today they asked us up for breakfast. They don't have to feed us, we have our own food. But they insist. So we go up.



Then we all walked to Castrolandin.











We explored the whole ruin of stacked rock houses made in circles and covered (long ago) with thached roofs.









There was only one that was rectangle. It was made by the Romans.











There were several pools where the inhabitants collected water.

















































There were some unique flowers that Eric has not seen anywhere else.



























































There were also some petroglyphs that were older than the ruins. Very interesting. It was eerie. I could feel the people who had built the circles and lived there. We had a great time.
















When we all came back they fixed us a big meal. In Spain, the big meal is in the middle of the day.



Afterward, they mixed orange serbert with champagne in stemware for desert. Their Aunt came over to check on Anton. Her name was Ella, pronounced Aya. It simply means "her".









We talked to her and we took pictures posed by a big stone avery in their back year. Anton has his own camera and loves taking pictures. So we also posed for him. His pictures were pretty good, even for a 3 yr. old.



Anton is smart. His Aunt brought him a puzzle with English pictures that you match up with letters and pictures and he caught on right away when I taught him how to use it.



I got invited into his room, and I understand it is a privilege. We played cards, pictures with the English names. If he could say it in English he won the card. If I could say it in Spanish, I got the card. Boy, he thought it was sooooo funny when I couldn't say the Spanish name.



It was fun to play with him. We also liked Ana and Albert very much. Albert is an architect. Here's some advice for unmarried girls. Marry an architect and you will always live in a creative house. Their house was so nifty. Every little thing was handy and well thought out. It was fun to stay there. We talked with them late into the night again. But now since the sun's come again, we will be moving on in the morning.

Off to Padron!

Caldas de Reis

Today we walked to Caldas de Reis from Bariallos.



It was a short way so we arrived early in time to talk with one English class in the morning. Today is their quarter exams and everyone is busy.

But there is no albergue here so we don't know where we are going to stay tonight. Eric is asking about pensionas. A teacher named Ana is every excited. She has a little flat for visitors. She will take us at her second break. Another miracle!

So we go down into town and buy food and see the sites to wait for her break. There is a hot springs that pours out of the mouths of two lions.




I wish I could dive in, but alas, I'm dressed in layers and it is in a public square. So I sit and wish.




We get some more pictures copied because we are running low. We brought them to give away, and we enjoy doing it. We meet two women who run the local photo copy shop.


We have quite a lively conversation. We pull out our brag book and show they our kids. They are really impressed with Eric's photos. We take pictures of them with both of us and they make copies on the spot. We leave there and arrive at the school early only to find that the math teacher wants us to talk with her class.



We are a regular show now, one teacher said we were "exotic" for the children. I'm sure she ment that in a good way.

Then Ana took us to her flat and left to go be with her 3 yr. old who has had his appendix out and is at his Grandma's house recouperating.







We are alone with the dog, Guide, who hasn't had anyone to play with all week since the child has been in the hospital and at Grandma's.



So we shower, wash our clothes and play with Guide. He is an outside dog, so I pet him opening the door a little and putting my hand out. It is raining buckets.



Now we have walked to the "bibliotecas" or library using the Internet to write to you.

Eric is busy planning a wonderful tour of North Western Spain for the few days after we reach Santiago. I want to go to " the End of the Earth" in Finisterre.

Tomorrow we may stay here and look around. It seems that there are some interesting ruins of the original people who lived here. Eric is having fun researching it right now. Tomorrow is Father's Day and Saint Jose's day. The kids have the day off from school. Our next goal is Padron maybe, Eric is planning maybe to take the ancient road to Santiago that varies from the map we have and by passes Padron. So I will let you know!

Portas and Briallos

03/17/10



Today we were up and ready to be picked up by San Martin and be dropped off at the school. We spoke with 12 yr. olds this morning. We had a good time. Eric and I are getting a routine. He makes this joke, I tell about the Columbia River and the return of the Salmon. He plays a guessing game with them about how many children we have. I do show and tell with the pictures of our family we have in a little purple album we brought. He tells another joke. and so on. Eric finds our farm on the Satilite pictures of Google maps. Everyone is amazed to see our farm.

We tell all about the container house San is building.



We even have a picture of a 20 ft. container that someone had turned into a little summer house along the Camino. We showed it to everybody. We explain about why there are so many cargo containers in the US. We talk about trade with China. We talk about President Obama. We tell them that our kids are still sleeping and it is yesterday there. We talk about time zones.




They had a big feast prepared for us. As it happens, we arrived on Pilgrim's day. There was a funny picture of a cartoon pilgrim in the newspaper. So we had about five kinds of empanadas, both sweet and savory. We were really amazed. They loaded us up with the leftovers and we are in heaven.

We were going to walk on this afternoon to Portas this afternoon and speak to classes tomorrow, but they have exams tomorrow and it would be better for them if we could come and talk with them this afternoon. So, the Kindergarten teacher said he would drive us to Portas.



So in the afternoon we spoke with the English class in Portas. We spoke with 14 to 17 years old today. By now we have spoken with hundreds of children.



The English teacher's name was Susana. She took us to view a beautiful falls near by and showed us the town. Then she drove us to the albergue in Briallos, the next stop. It isn't cheating because we have already walked more than the required kilometers for the Santiago since we started way down in Portugal.



At Briallos we met fellow pilgrims Ferman and Hobby from Vigo, Spain. They were walking from Tui to Santiago in 4 days. Fermin already had some evil blisters. I offered him some Mole skin, but he said he'd be OK. Ferman spoke a little English, but Eric could speak to him in Spanish. Hobby had a really Galacian accent with many words including the sound "th" in them. I could hear the difference right away. They were nice and we had good conversations with them. Ferman had a girlfriend in Britain named Allison. He was really in love with her and had been courting her for 6 years. But she had a career and didn't want to get to serious. Hobby had a wife and she was 5 months pregnant. He was pretty excited about the baby. So we learned a little about their lives. Later Ferman turned out to be a very good friend to us.

So tomorrow On to Caldas de Reis!

Barro, Spain

03/16/10





Today we spent the morning speaking with English classes in Ponteverdra. The Director's name is Diego. The teacher's name is Mercedes. We spoke with 12 year olds. They asked good questions and we had a fun time with them. They chose the rose picture.



We also had a great time talking to the teachers. The teachers were quite interested in picking pictures too. They took the water drops with our farm in them and the circle flowers.


Then we walked to Barro. We met a group of fellow pilgrims that lived in Caruna north of Santiago and had taken a bus to Tui and were walking home. We took a picture of them with us and they had someone with them from Uraguay. His knee was hurting him a lot. They were expecting to sleep at the Barro Albergue. But we never saw them again.



We arrived at Barro only to find the albergue closed for construction. We talked to several people. We got to a place in the road and we din't know where to go, and the albergue was closed. Eric said, " Do you think we can manifest a miricle before we get to the crossroad up ahead by about 300 yards? Then this woman and her two children com up behind us walking and Eric started talking to her. Eric asked her where the school was. She had a daughter named Irene, 10 yrs. old and a son Mark, 9 yrs. old. They knew Mika, the Director of their school, where we were to speak the next day. They said they would walk us to the school. They were so sweet. Irene held Eric's hand and Mark held mine. We wlked along the road with passing cars going 90 miles a minute and they walked with us to the school.

There were two teachers in the parking lot. We told them we hadn't any place to stay the night because the albergue was closed. They gave us the phone number of the head of the town council of Barro. We called him. His name was San Martin.






He came and opened the albergue just for us because we were going to speak at the school the next day. It was not finished, but we slept on the floor and our sleeping bags kept us quite warm. What a gratious thing to do just for us. We are always lucky. We always find a good place to sleep. Our path is full of miracles. We are very amazed.

It's becoming a way of walking the Path here for us. We have begun to depend on these solutions just coming out of nowhere. We are less and less afraid about our uncertain future.

On to Portas!