Flora, Fauna, Art & Footprints

Today was a hard day in terms of walking. There weren't steep uphills or downhills, just monotonous trails that often times paralleled the highway. There were times I thought the road would never end. No shade, dusty, gravelly walking with miles of wheat fields. However, when I thought of the highlights of the day, I couldn't narrow it down to just 3 or 5, there were many more than that! So I guess it was a pretty darn good day!

#1 Walking with Inga & Bengt (from Sweden) to our first rest stop in Granon and seeing the church there. In the church we met our Texas & North Carolina friends.

#2 our second stop had a nice bar, I had the most delicious cherry juice. On our way out of the village French couple showed us a fig tree, and picked us a fresh fig to try. I discovered I've never had a fresh fig, only dried figs. Fresh ones are not nearly as sweet they are very soft & not chewy.

#3 I learned what a chestnut tree looks like and saw a bunch of walnuts out drying in the sun.

#4 We stopped for lunch & had a really good salad, homemade bread with delicious olive oil at our last stop. It was a kind of fancy place for such a small village. The restaurant had this baby crib full of cute baby dolls (a little weird, but cool) & we met Vince from Detroit. We walked & talked with him & it made the last hot, dusty leg into Belorado seem pretty short!

#5 Our lodging in Belorado is this cool 1850's 3 story building decorated with Nicoraguan artifacts. The host Paul was happy to share the story of his house with us.

#6 On many of the buildings here there are beautiful murals painted.

#6 Lastly, on one of the streets we walked down tonight Martin Sheen & Emilio Estevez have their hand & footprints saved as part of the history here.Read more