Noveno día - sábado el 24 del mayo
We got off at 07:15 this morning - with no
complaints about too much snoring from other pilgrims - and set off at a
reasonable clip, expecting a fairly easy day. A couple of things got in the way,
though. One was the weather - it was overcast and blustery the whole time,
raining periodically, so we were stopping, then starting, then stopping to put
on or take off raingear. Granted, it's a minor inconvenience, but it does
break up your walking cadence and stretches the day out.
The other problem was Stanley's ankle: it has
started to swell and hurt. Apart from ibuprofen and an Ace bandage, there was
nothing to be done for it, so he just gutted up and kept going. Even so, and
counting 2 30-minute breaks for snacks, we still got to Arzúa a little after
13:00, a rate which we were not unhappy with. The
hostel there is very nice, nicely
appointed and spacious, and we got bed in the corner, out of traffic - always
good!
Because of the weather, we decided to not even
try to wash clothes, but we bathed right away and I went out with
Julio and Josu, our two Basque
friends from Pereje, to get something to eat - for the first time, the Stan Plan
really wasn't working for me. We had
the standard €7 three-course meal (we all had fish and potatoes), finished off
with Tarta de Santiago. We got back to the
hostel a bit before 17:00, and Stanley and I sat and talked to
Sean and Caleb, the homeschoolers, for
a couple of hours after that, consuming a fair number of Caleb's cookies as we
did. No one seemed energized to do much more than just sit and talk. At 20:00,
Stanley, Josu, Julio, Theo, and I went out for dinner (I had only a salad after
that lunch!), and we all crawled into bed about 22:00.
Today's walk: 22 km (14 mi). Nine-day
total: 264 km (164 mi).
- Here is a recipe for
Tarta de Santiago, very typically Galician, and very delicious:
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Finished Product |
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Ingredients |
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Preparation |
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250 grams (1/2 lb) almond
flour
5 eggs
150 grams (1/4 lb+) sugar
margarine or butter
lemon peel zest
ground cinnamonanother recipe has
250 grams almonds
250 grams sugar
3 eggs |
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In a bowl, beat
the eggs, then add the lemon zest, the sugar, and some
powdered cinnamon. When these are well beaten, add the ground almond powder
little by little, stirring well to avoid clumps.
Use the butter to grease a cake pan (with walls), then dust with fine flour.
Pour the mixture into the pan and place in the lowest rack of a pre-heated
oven (200ºC, 375ºF). Cook until a straw or matchstick inserted comes out
clean. Remove from the pan, place on a cooling rack and dust with powdered
sugar and cinnamon. In Galicia, the outline of the cross of Santiago is left
in the powder. |
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