Day 5. Pereje

Home Sweet Home. 

Tonight's Hostel :  Our beds are against the back wall, opposite the window. 

Lunch by the River. Another beautiful day!

Right after I wrote how rare castles are on the Camino, we run into another one. 

We followed a river all day today. 

Monument honoring pilgrims. Many people attach little gourds to their back backs as a remembrance of the medieval pilgrims. (That's what is hanging from the statue's stick). I guess 500 years ago people didn't need to carry clothes, phone, camera, chargers,meds, sleeping bag liner, toiletry bag, towel, rain gear,extra shoes & passport. Many pilgrims died on the Camino. (And I thought hostel conditions and hiking were challenging nowadays!)

Hola,

We walked 9 miles today to reach this super small village of Pereje. We are realizing that the numbers of pilgrims on the Camino are much less than last fall. Last year it was a race to get a bed and it was crowded on the trail and in the hostels. We did not have a reservation for this hostel so we got up early and arrived 4 hours later at 12:15pm. We were the first ones here!  Nobody else checked in until after 4:00. Right now there are only 6 others in this room that sleeps 14. We are the only Americans. All the rest of the people are German & Austrian. It's much more relaxed and much easier to enjoy the day. 

I had an impromptu Spanish lesson in the street today. We were waiting for them to open the hostel doors at 12:30. An old woman was walking down the street and sternly told me to go down to the bar and tell them to unlock the door. I had already been to the bar (no surprise to most of my friends ) and the bartender told me to wait til 12:30. So imagine me playing charades in the street with this kindly senior lady...trying to tell her in Spanish that I already spoke to him. Finally I gave up and I let her walk me to the bar to talk to the same 'Chico '. The bartender was confused but the old lady was satisfied and let me go.  It was pretty funny. 

Dinner time, got to go. 

Mary & Sam