DAY 7 - 125 km

I am currently in the only bar in Ventosa. It is lime green, with wood paneling, brightly lit, with five groups of four ranging from age 50-80 all giving looks to me and Alex as we use free internet on ancient computers. I´m surprised I can even type this out...

Today is Day 7 and that marks one week on the Camino.
The camino has so far been many different colours and sizes taking us over all different types of landscapes. There has been white roads, orangy red, black, grey and purple. (Yesterday was purple rocks, loved it!) Dirt trails through bits of forest and short stretches on actual road. Sometimes the path is wide enough for one car and sometimes it´s so narrow only one can pass at a time. We follow yellow arrows and shells in yellow on blue. The arrows can be stickers, spray paint or a collection of rocks pointing the way. We wake up each morning and have faith that we´ll be shown the way. The arrows can be smaller than my hand or as long as my leg. The arrows and shells can be up high, down low, painted on the side of a rock, meshed into a fence, in the stone on the ground, all types. Each province has it´s own version of the shell and guiding signs. For a laugh we usually shout out "please, I need a sign!!" and then we find one a minute later. (hehehe) What really keeps us on our toes are the albergues and bars that want you to stop at them instead of following the path and they paint yellow arrows to direct you towards them.
We´ve walked under forest cover, near brooks and streams. There have been dirt trails with gravel and rocks leading up giant hill/mountain sides with big drops bellow. We have walked by viniards and eaten the best grapes I´ve ever tasted.
Sometimes we walk with others, and always notice their packs before their gender or nationality. The common questions "What do you do?" "Where did you go to school?" and "What´s your name?"  have been replaced by:
"Where are you going?" (we´re going to Finistere)
"Where are you walking tonight?" (How many k and what town)
"Where did you start?" (Some people do the walk in chuncks over many years)

We have met many people, a bonus of having a longer time to complete and a slower pace than most.

Sometimes there are stretches where no one is around as far as the eye can see and we shout realy loudly and let our voices become food for the wind. It has been so hot and sunny and so cool and windy. And this is just the first week.

Almost forgot to mention the food!!!! Alex and I eat sooooo well. We have a great big breakfast then a bunch of snacks then a great lunch, snacks and dinner. Sometimes second dinner... Today we sat on some castle ruins to eat our spinach, chickpea, vegetable salad with envious eyes from other pilgriams. We´ve found a lot of gluten free options that we carry with us from big cities and I have been eating a lot of eggs and tuna. One night there was no kitchen available or store...

The conversation went like this:
Sam "I don´t know if I can do this"
Alex "Well do what feels right..."
Sam "Does chicken usually have veins in it"
Alex "Well, it´s not a perfectly shaped breast, yup there's a bone..."
Sam slowly takes first bite
Sam "Wow, this is so good!"

The restaurant menu was pork, chicken or beef so yes everyone... I ate chicken. It was grown in the owners friends´ backyard, so a ´happy hen´. We also got some pears from his backyard.I´ve been gearing myself up for this for a few months but no, this does not mean I´m going full on meat eater.

Tomorrow marks our first day of 25k!!

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