2013-09-29 On the way to Salceda Last night, a few people were snoring, including Michel. I woke up a few times during the night. Everyone was awake at 7:30 AM, which was late. After getting dressed and putting my stuff in the backpack, we ate our breakfast in the bar where we had dinner last night. At 08:30, I set off. It looked like rainy weather outside, and the TV in the bar showed a lot of rain for today. Between Melide and Arzúa : a big piece of filled cake
And that is what happened as I started hiking down the road, but I had my poncho, which I bought last evening, and that made a difference. After Melide, the road was going up and down again over the hills towards Arzúa. This is a pretty decent city. When I traversed the city, it was dry. You could see that you were in another province, namely: Coruna. Everything looks much better than in the previous province of Galicia. I had already hiked a whole week alone, and that suits me very well. I can decide where I like to stop, where I take pictures or where I eat or drink something. Today I walked a lot through the forest and through small villages, which, however, looked better than what I had seen before on the camino. Many pilgrims stayed in the city of Arzúa, but it was still too early for me to stop, and I walked on to the next village, where there was also a albergue. Along the way I met a French man, who said he had a bed reserved in the albergue in Salceda. He told me that there were only 10 places in that tavern. I knew that there was only one albergue in Salceda. Well, I did not need to search for a bed in Salceda, and I had already prepared myself to continue walking to Santa Irena. However, I had gone just a few hundred meters on the right in Salceda, when I encountered a man who cried out from a bar: Looking for a bed? He pointed to the house next to the bar, and I walked along and saw near a pile on the ground a sign that read: Albergue. It did not look like a real inn, but I went in, and was warmly welcomed by the owner of EL Albergue De Boni. He signed me in and took my bag upstairs. He had opened his inn 10 days ago... and I could only sleep, not eat or drink there. The coffee-machine should come in the next few days El Albergue De Boni at Salceda
That was okay, because his neighbor had plenty of food and drinks! I slept in a small room, which I shared with a couple from Leipzig (Sabine and Schmiedel) and Nicole, the nice girl from Australia, who I had shared sleeping quarters with many times before, and a young man from Thuringia, who runs 40 km (almost 25 miles) every day and wanted to run 1000 km (621 miles) in 25 days. After having settled myself in, I took a shower. The showers were separate, in a shed outside the building, and were still under construction for the men. For the ladies, they were ready. They were very nice! They had warm water jets coming out of the wall. I was filled with admiration, and was examining the possibilities of all the shower jets, when suddenly a naked man standing next to me in the shower. He appeared to come from Spain... The owner had remodeled the inside of this albergue in three months by working very hard. There was still a lot of work to do, but it will definitely be nice. I went outside to the bar, where I heard people singing a familiar song: Happy Birthday. One of the three Estonians present, had his birthday, and I immediately got a small glass with yellow liquid to toast. Besides my Klara 's that afternoon, there were about three times Happy Birthday was sung, along with the accompanying celebration!! Inside the bar : t-shirts on the ceiling, all walls had all kind of writings I then went back to the albergue, and later in the evening I went back for drinks and food. I wanted to have a bocadillo, and Sonia, the very friendly woman behind the bar, asked me how I wanted my bocadillo. I told her: make me a bocadillo just like the bocadillo you like to eat! And I got her bocadillo, which was very big and tasty.
My bocadillo. During my camino, I never ate so delicious a bocadillo. I have a picture of it. I got on well with Sonia Diero Lema of Casa Verde. It was a very special bar, with t-shirts on the ceiling and writings on all the walls of the bar. Even on the ice cream freezer were writings. Of course, I have some pictures of them... Even a picture of Sonia behind the bar...
In the evening, I went back to El Albergue de Boni. Then at night, when I laid in bed, I heard a sound coming from the neighbors. There was a small party on Sunday night... I had an agreement with Sonia that we could have breakfast with her... at 08:30. The next morning, a few minutes after 08.30, Sabine, Schmiedel and I had fresh small breads, offered by Sonia and paid for by the owner of the albergue. I start today only about 30 km from Santiago... I will walk to the end of the camino, and I am going to miss my freedom, walking among friends and the nice landscape... Schmiedel, Sabine, the owner of the albergue and Sonia