Portela to O Pino, Spain

 Day 12  Portela to O Pino, Spain

It was another boring day for me.  Day 3 without walking and I’m not getting better.  I tried to get a physio appointment tomorrow here in O Pino but no luck.  I will definitely see someone in 2 days in Santiago and I will see from there.  I do not have an onward flight booked and if it’s going to take awhile to get better I will have to consider my options.  I can’t do anything if I can’t walk.

All of the 12 guests at Jorge’s were gone by 10 a.m.  He told me he would pick me up by 11 to take me to the bus depot 5 minutes away.  At 10:45 I texted him to remind him and eventually he replied saying he was coming but would take me to the next big centre.  Fine.  Only problem was I missed my connection to O Pino so he had to bring me here, 26 km instead of 3.

I was nervous about not getting to O Pino before 1 p.m. because we are staying in Albergue de peregrino’s de O Pino and it’s a public albergue which means it is cheap (€10) and does not take reservations.  There are many horror stories about people not having a place to stay, in fact the Italian boys couldn’t get a place in Padrón tonight.  That means they may have to walk another 9 km!  Anyway, Jorge got me here at 12:45 and there were 2 people in front of me.  The albergue holds 78 so we were safe-

What a great statue outside the Albergue-

Because I am a cripple we get to sleep in the main floor dorm-

Sounds like they are used to cripples because there are 12 beds in this dorm.  If the last few days are any indication of guests, we may be here alone and apparently they have not been full for one single night all year.  That’s a bit surprising but not really.  There are many guide books that suggest a person walk the Camino in stages.  They are usually 15-25 km long and most follow along.  That makes for big crowds in the end towns and sometimes a lack of rooms.  What we do and did on the French Camino is book in the middle of the stages and so far we have had luck finding lodging.

Once settled in the albergue, we walked 850 m to a pulpo ( octopus) restaurant.  We tried hitch hiking but no one stopped.  I was a bit disappointed in the meal because it didn’t have a lot of flavour besides paprika-

The wine was good and Greta from Czech Republic joined us.  She works in a science lab at a university in Prague and dissects cadavers.  She also teaches students how to do dissection.

On our way home, a young man gave us a ride and if I understood what he said he wanted to go for a drink after his work.  WTF - I could be his grandmother!  Maybe my Spanish just isn’t that good!  

Tomorrow I will catch a bus at 10 for O Faramello where we have a reservation so we do not have to worry we will be sleeping in the street.  I will also book an appointment with a physio in Santiago.  I can’t help but think about the great physio I saw in Leon.  I had to take a cab to the hostel for the last mile and staggered around the corner to see a physio.  He was teaching in Burgos but would see me at 8 p.m. that night - Friday.  He worked on my T band for 2 hours and at 10 pm I walked out of there without a problem and it has never returned!  I am hoping for the same result now.