every so often we hit a jackpot....

last night we hit a jackpot for a place to stay. we deserved it, as far as im concerned, after having to sleep out on the stone in the tent the previous night in front of the albergue in ponferrada...i asked if we could please sleep in the covered but unheated entryway and they even refused me that. apparently i was lucky to be able to even sleep inside the gates...they were going to send me to the ghetto field behind the albergue,hmmm...lets see, the albergue grounds are gated and have BARS on the windows but somehow they didnt think it would be unsafe for me to go sleep by myself in an abandoned field on the edge of the city??? anyway but some of the hospitaleros talked them nto letting me put the tent by the doorway, at least with a roof, and i jury rigged it with rocks secureing it since again, as learned previously, YOU CANT PEG A TENT INTO STONE... so at least we were under a roofish thing. and it wasnt that cold. and a hospitalero got me some wood to put under my mat... but i slept HORRIBLY. we had done 27k up and down mountains the previous day and were exhausted and hurting. my body needed rest and didnt get it. yeah, im aware of alot of albergues not liking dogs, but this was seriously annoying. they had this huge building and we couldnt even sleep on the floor in the kitchen or whatever. and sorry but these places are supposed to be christian and jesus wouldnt have turned me and the pup away from sleeping inside to sleep on stones in the cold... so i had an awfulnight, knew i was going to, but my functioning the next day (yesterday) was way worse than i ever could have imagined. i was literally stumbling my way through ponferrada, couldnt focus my eyes on anything except the ground cuz it was too much energy--saw at least one woman on the street look at me with concern--, was pulling out all the stops--chocolate (caffeine), dates(sugar). oranges, bananas, olives, nuts, dried fruit...anything to get my body to function. nothing was working. i was so so tired and my feet hurt hurt hurt. i hated the fact that my body needed sleep and instead i was giving it caffeine..and even that wasnt working. i didnt know HOW i was going to make it the 23 k to the next open albergue, and obviously we couldnt stay in ponferrada and sleep on the sidewalk again... the ponferrada area is a beautiful town and i wish i could have enjoyed it more but i was just struggling to stay awake. the walk was supposed to be easy--fairly flat compared to the mountains of the day before, but it was so so hard for us/me. several km into it i found a bench outside a church and had a 20 mn nap. but it was cold and i was still tired. we were making VERY slow progress. the weather had turned beautiful, warm and sunny. but i was too wrecked to enjoy it. by the time we got to cacabelos, the big village nextdoor to the one we had to get to, i thought my feet were going to fall off. it was 5 pm, my tendons hurt
so bad i couldnt walk, and i stopped to sleep again on another bench. i set off again, after retying/readjusting my boots, and almost hitched a lift off this guy at a stopsign who looked at me. wish i had cuz it was a LONG 7k. we stumbled into the village around 8pm. i had this albergue flagged in my book anyway as they were supposed to allow dogs. and theywere the only ones open all year anyway. as i approached the albergue in the dark, there was this huge huge black mastiff looking dog outside the albergue barking at us and all i could think was OH NO. i grabbed my stick to put it between the soon-to-be-growling grainne and the other dog, and this man in a jeep started shoutnng at us in spanish. all i could make out was "no", and so standing there, bewildered, i thought he was saying no dogs at the albergue, etc... as i stood there, he got out of his jeep and then i understood he was trying to tell me not to hit the dog with my stick. i tried to explain that i wouldnt have hit her i was just trying to use it as a barrier, and he led me into th ehostel, which i have to say is my FAVORITE on the camino. grainne being her was no problem, and the hostel is all built of wood and stone, with a warm stove going. they asked me did i want dinner and i explained i was vegetarian and was that possible. i went to the town searching for a grocery store for food for grainne, and when we came back he told me the dinner was vegetarian and did i wan to eat with them. this is probably the best meal i had on the camino too... the man here had thrown together and baked potatoes, collards, and garlic, then gave us salad and bread etc (and plunked down a big plate of sausage on the table too for everyone else, that he declared was NOT VEGETARIAN. lol. the food was really good and simple and he told me how he grew it all himself and that it was "ecological" no supermercado. i was also really touched that he had made it vegetarian.

ok have to get off computer now cuz been using it way more than teh alloted time. anyway, stayed here another day, beds are so comfy, oom is warm, grainne is welcome, etc etc etc. best albergue on the camino in my vote. and i got to wash my clothes.

half way to the mountain tomorrow then over the top and down the next day. if weather stays good.

later edit: we sat in the sun for part of the day and i slept for the rest of it. the dormitory here is awesome its in the attic floor and the top bunks are in the wooden rafters practically. it has skylights in the shape of stars and it is so cosy. i went for a nap and slept on the top bunk..i really like sleeping practically IN the ceiling like that and i love napping during the day with the sun coming in the skylights. had dinner with everyone again and there is another hospitalera here from somewhere else that is continuing the camino tomorrow. she speaks english which is cool and i think we will walk part of the time together tomorrow or at least look out for one another tomorrow night. feet and legs still hurting but better. i think my legs hurt cuz i was literally running down the mountain yesterday... anyway i love that this hospitalera speaks english becasue i asked her to translate to the main hospitalero here how much i appreciate the welcome i received here etc. we had dinner mostly from his garden again. so good. i need to maybe go sew my backpack back together and go to bed.