Camino Portuguese: Day 10

I could have sat in this park for hours.  It was so quiet and peaceful here.

10/18/12 Caldas de Reis to Padron

Today, believe it or not, did not rain!  I walked with Al and we kept up a pretty good pace.  It was definitely faster than I usually walk but we talked the whole way so it went fast.  Al is a wee bit taller than me, plus he has his "Camino" legs after having already walked the Frances and onward to Finisterre and Muxia.  He wasn't quite finished walking, so he took a train to Lisbon, then went to Fatima and started walking on the Camino Portuguese.  We stopped after about 6-7km of walking at a cute bar.  The owner was adorable.  She had her compostela proudly on display, as well as other Camino-related items.

After breakfast (OJ, cafe con leche and toast), we set off through a great track up and down a slight hill into Padron.  We arrived at 12:50p, just before the albergue opened.  While waiting for the albergue to open, we met another American, a woman from Florida named Teri. She was waiting for her "friend" Barbara to arrive.

The albergue was pretty cool.  It was a stone building with sturdy wooden bunk beds.  It was very basic, but very functional.  But it was also very cold. They assured us the heat would be turned on that night.

Al and I left to go get lunch at one of the oldest buildings in Padron.  I had a cheeseburger, which wasn't bad.  We wandered a bit, went to the grocery store, then returned to the albergue to bad news.  The power was out.  This meant no hot water and no heat.  I hadn't taken a shower yet, so this was definitely a problem for many of us in the albergue.  In usual Spanish fashion, they couldn't give us a time-frame for when the power would be back on. They were stressing out about it because the municipal albergues have to meet certain standards and hot water is one of them.  The two American women, Barbara and Teri decided they were going to find another place to stay.  They found a room with three beds and invited me to join them for 20€.  Even though the heat wasn't on there either (this is not uncommon in Spain), I had a scalding hot shower and plenty of blankets!  I slept very well that night, even though my mind was on Santiago the next day.