Day 16 - Patience

"Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." –Ralph Waldo Emerson

After a restless and frigid night in an unheated auberge, started walking early in the rain, of course. But we soon stopped for hot tea and I made a trip to the pharmacia next door to get eye drops for the conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) I now have. It could be caused by the cold I’m still battling or I touched a contaminated surface. There was no communication challenge with the pharmacist, as I approached her she looked at my eyes
and said ahh and went and got eye drops for me

The rain cleared around 1p but the paths were now quite muddy and slippery. A particular down hill slope was quite challenging with the boulders and rocks. But we made it from Grijo to Vila Nova de Gaia. And to our surprise we are only 1.1 miles from our Porto accommodation tomorrow where we will join Arlene’s husband, sister, and sister-in-law

Little things can really boost your spirits on the walk: a beautiful setting, nature’s beauty, a kind foreigner wishing you a Buen Camino, and running into pilgrims you met on the path earlier. Today we ran into Manu from France who we had shared an auberge with earlier and La from South Korea who sometimes we are ahead of him and other times he is ahead of us. He has the biggest smile and relies heavily on his translator to communicate. When he saw us taking a break 1/2 way up a steep hill, he was so excited to see us and took a short break with us to rest his knee

Tonight was a fabulous Portuguese dinner and I had the Picanha again. Delicious. Of course I may be biased having eaten only ham, cheese, and butter sandwiches since leaving Coimbra.

I am now snuggled in my bed in a private room and have taken all my meds. This peregrine is crashing for the night!Leia mais