Headed For The Pig-Out

On the train headed for San Sebastian. As Dave pointed out I'll be getting in just in time for dinner!

I'm going to try for three full meals tomorrow. The number two (Tripadvisor) restaurant seems to specialize at breakfast.

I'm Thinking Long

And you know what that means!  I'm STILL in Santiago, deciding where to go next. I have a littke more than two weeks of legality in "mainstream" Europe.

Flights to istanbul seem incredibly cheap so that's a likely next destination for me. I would like to spend some time with Jill and Sandi in Madrid, but of course they work during the week. So I could meander back and get to Madrid by the weekend. If I do that, I was thinking of hiking in the Picos de Europe but they're hard to get to. Or maybe a train to San Sebastian to pig out for a couple of days.

Anyway. Thats what's happening here. 

Holy Crap!

Yay Jill for giving me two weeks notice that I'm about to overstay my welcome! There is something called the Schengen Agreement that says that non-Europeans can only stay in Europe for 90 days out of every 180. I've been here for about 70 now so I'll have to be moving along.

After "last call" at a bar back in Greenwich there there was a bartender who would yell out "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"  There are some nearby non-Schengen countries that seem like they might be worth a visit, even if just for a few days. So I'm looking into side-trips to Turkey and Romania.

I'm still undecided about what to do tomorrow. I'm hearing mixed reviews about the walk to Muxia. It seems that the only place busses go to from here (Finisterre) is back to Santiago. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Finisterre is very nice. It reminds me of a cross between Cape Cod and Hammersly.

I Need A Vacation

I'm tired today and in a town on the Atlantic coast named Cee. I'll probably go to Finisterre tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting on some kind of vehicle with wheels!

I did come face to face with some cows on the road yesterday.

Lazy Point

An hour and a half after leaving the odd little town I was in last night I was kicking myself for not taking a bus to Finisterre.

It's hard for me to get excited about walking to Finisterre because I just spent three weeks on the coast. But i think the Dutch guys and Ana from Asturias (all of my friends from 'del Norte') are in Finesterre tonight.

In the end, I was too lazy to figure out how to take the bus.  So I walked nine hours to get to this place (name of the town starts with an "O").  I'm glad I did. I walked for a couple of hours with Theresa and Donal from Cork, and another couple of hours with Karen from NYC. It was a long but enjoyable day.

As I got closer to this town, with the name that starts with "O", and also closer to Finisterre, the terrain started looking very familiar. It looked to me like Lazy Point in Napeague.

Queimada!

Woohoo!

Next?

Finisterre and Muxia are on the Atlantic coast. It's four days to Muxia and I'm interested to see what that part of the walk is like and who does it. At the moment my plan is to pack up and set out towards those parts tomorrow am. I saw the Dutch guys earlier today. We're going to get something to eat later but I do t know if we'll get a queimada. We may not have enough people. But whatever.

I'm a little bummed that I didn't make the chance to jump the barrier and put my hand on the column that's now off limits to touch. If I got yelled at I'd use the "plenary indulgence" defense. I may have used that earlier today though. I went down to see the silver box of St. James remains in the cathedral. It's in a little passageway under the alter and I banged my head on the ceiling at the top of the steps on the way out. Without thinking I muttered an exasperated "Jesus!" and got an ironic smile from a couple walking by.