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Writer's Block and Perfectionism
The two biggest obstacles stopping me from posting a million things every day. I’ve been living my best life for months now and yet I struggle to share stories from our newest adventures .I think it just takes sitting down and doing it and publishing it and come what may. I’m currently sitting in my home office working on translating documents for a gentleman from Venezuela who is applying for asylum from one of the hardest countries in the world, the United States of America. Immigration is still my passion and my life’s work. I’m not a glorious attorney and I never will be one. I’m content to support them and work behind the scenes as their trusty paralegal. It’s been 8 years since José and I went through his immigration process when we lived in Mexico for the first time in 2014. Looking back now, it feels like it was lifetimes ago.
We never in a million years believed that we would be back here living once again but here we are and we’re happy! And I don’t mean happy in a casual, I’m happy kind of way but I’m happy and I could shout it from the rooftops kind of joy. José also shares my joy but our youngest one does not. Not one little bit and it could be due to being a teenager or a myriad of other reasons. I think she suffers from the green is always greener in xx place. Right now she wants to return to the United States and that is the last place we want to be. It’s going to be a long three and half years to freedom.
It all started with the pandemic. When life as we know it went from normal to “Pre-Covid”, “during the pandemic”, and what will eventually become the “new normal”. I had been working at home for a year in the pandemic and it made me realize that there were so many options out there. I loved it! I could throw a load of laundry in during my break or get dinner started on my lunch break. I wasn’t spending an hour driving to and from work, I could spend the whole day in my yoga pants (bad idea in hindsight-the 19 in COVID is the number of pounds I gained during the pandemic). I started looking into visa requirements to Portugal. It is a European country that allows you to work remotely, you can quietly homeschool if you keep your head low, the cost of living was affordable for our budget, and Portuguese isn’t that different from Spanish, right? I applied for a visa while we were here in Mexico on a visit because the Embassy was easier to access than the Consulate back in the States. Back and forth for three months and they ultimately denied my visa application because I could not provide proof of a long term rental contract. We had plans to buy soon after arrival so that was out of the question for us, not to mention who signs a year contract without seeing the place in person?
All I know is that I needed out of the United States. After the last Administration, my skin was still crawling from all the crazies who had come flying out of the closet and I was severely depressed by my fellow countryfolks. So much anger and hate and judgment. We decided that we’d leave for Mexico since I was already a permanent resident and they all had their passports. I was planning on telling my bosses that I was leaving in December but one of my bosses beat me to it. Then our law firm went from four to one. I was asked to stay on until the summer to help with transition since I had been there from the almost beginning. So May 31, 2021 became our D-Day.
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How I Studied Abroad with a Family Part I
I surely can’t be a pioneer in this experience but until I find someone else, I’d love to share our adventure in the hopes that other parents will be able to take the major leap of faith. Our family packed up our home and moved from Bend, Oregon to Salamanca, Spain in September 2015 where I did a Master in Advanced English Studies program at the Universidad de Salamanca.
CHOOSING THE LOCATION:
I chose Spain as the country where I wanted to study because we’re a Mexican-American family and I wanted to put my children in the local public schools so they could improve their Spanish language abilities and so that my husband who is a monolingual Spanish speaker would feel most comfortable as he’d be taking on the role of stay at home dad. I researched the regions of Spain because there are many different dialects spoken and I wanted the cleanest version and that is how I selected Salamanca in the Castilla y Leon region. With a population of 230,000, it also offered all the amenities that I was looking for.SELECTING THE UNIVERSITY:
There are two universities in town; one public and one private. Depending on the course that you are looking for, the language requirements will dictate what level of fluency will be needed. Universidad de Salamanca (USAL) offered this Master’s program completely in English with some classes available in Spanish if you so chose. I definitely recommend having someone on the ground who either speaks the local language or having a basic ability as there are many tasks that needed to be done in Spanish. If you plan to use your degree elsewhere, it’s important to select an accredited university that is well known and respected.APPLYING TO THE UNIVERSITY:
Applying to the University itself was one of the easiest things that I’ve ever done in my life. It was a simple one page form and attaching copies of all of my transcripts. There was no essay or struggle to be accepted. In my opinion, applicants are accepted as long as they provide all of the required documentation. The hardest part involved getting my US Bachelor’s degree recognized by USAL for enrollment. You can look here for a more in-depth look at what was entailed with this process: Applying for Degree Recognition in Spain. I chose to get my degree reviewed and approved by the specific university. There does exist an option to have it reviewed by a national entity and you can use it at any university. This process can take several months though so I opted out of it. The process took approximately 5 weeks from the time I mailed the packet until I received the official acceptance letter. Many students in my cohort were able to be admitted on a provisional basis while they awaited the completion of their degree recognition. Spain is unique in that I had to get all of our documents translated by an approved and certified translator that I selected off a list published by the government. A wee bit annoying when you’re bilingual and fully capable of doing it yourself.APPLYING FOR THE VISAS:
I’ve dealt with immigration on a very intimate basis as I married a man who emigrated to the United States without a visa many many years ago. I’m familiar with complicated forms, long waits, confusing answers, and expensive fees every time you turn around. Applying to Spain for a student visa was almost too easy. There are many Spanish Consulates and each state falls under a specific Consulate’s jurisdiction. We fall under the one located in San Francisco. Each Consulate has their own individual website that outlines the requirements for a specific visa. I searched through the websites of many different consulates so that I’d be best prepared for the appointments. Our Consulate required a background check (FBI or state), a medical certificate which I prepared based on a template I found on a different Consulates page, birth certificate and marriage certificate (certified and with apostille), health coverage that had a zero deductible and covered repatriation of our remains, visa applications, passports, passport photos, and applicable fees. Our complete experience there is outlined here: The Spanish Consulate in San Francisco.
FUNDING OUR TRAVELS:
Money is the biggest question and concern when you leave your stable home. Spain required that we show a monthly income of approximately $1600 or an equal amount in savings for our family of 4. I had to show 532,51€ for myself, 399,38€ for Jose, and 266,26€ for each child. That added up to a total of 1464,41€. I had to research the actual dollar amounts on the Spanish government pages because the Consulates don’t like to be so transparent. I printed off the rules in Spanish and took them to the Consulate with me just in case. Since I knew what the rules were, I was not questioned when I gave my income verification. In our case, we showed a monthly income of $1700 in addition to $10,000 in a savings account. If you don’t have a monthly income, you’d need to have the full amount to cover the length of your stay. This income can come from a variety of sources as long as you can document it. We plan to formally rent out our home the next time we move overseas as many countries require a higher level of income to qualify for a resident visa.
OUR HOME BASE:
It was pretty easy to research an average rental cost for the area that we were moving to. University towns are used to students coming and going so there are tons of rentals available. We only rented an AirBnB for one week upon arrival as we planned to find a rental in person. We knew that we needed a piso with 3 bedrooms so that we could have a spare room for visitors or the girls could have their own room if they finally reached that point in their relationship. Pisos in the town of Salamanca averaged around 500-600€ while a piso in the neighboring town only 2 miles away averaged 300-400€/mo. Since I would be the only one commuting, I didn’t mind taking a bus to class in exchange for saving a couple hundred euros a month. We decided to settle in Santa Marta de Tormes so that’s where I rented the first week’s lodging. There were For Rent signs everywhere so I had my husband call and he was shut down time after time. We finally gave up and used a real estate office. The first company showed us a piso that was stuck in the 60’s and not officially registered as a rental so that was a no-go immediately. The next office showed us a piso overlooking the river and that was it. We signed a one year lease on a 3 bedroom piso for only 350€/mo. We moved in a week later. The town’s population was 15,000 so we could walk everywhere we needed and it was the right fit for us.
REGISTERING IN SPAIN:
We arrived in Spain ten days before the elementary school started so that we’d have a chance to find a home, get them registered, open up a bank account, and stock up the empty home. The visas that are issued by the Spanish Consulate are only valid for a short period of time. You have to obtain a lawful lease and register your family with the local town hall. We lucked out and got an amazing landlady who picked us up and took us all over to take care of everything. With all of our documents in hand, we were able to get registered in Spain and receive our long term residence cards in a month. This process is described in more detail here: Empadronamiento and the TIE.
KIDS IN LOCAL SCHOOL:
This was a huge experience for us and it’s best to read my snapshot located here: The Cost$ of Public $chool. It ended up being a very bad experience for us and we withdrew both girls from public school in April under the threat of the Guardia Civil being sent to our house because homeschool is not legal in Spain. The teachers did not appear to care about their students at all. It felt more like it was a paycheck and that’s it. My high schooler was shocked at the way teachers yelled and bullied kids in the classroom, made fun of and mocked them, and in general did not behave in the professional manner that she had been accustomed to in the United States. It was extreme enough that my elementary child was not allowed sufficient access to the restrooms and no adult took care of her if she had an accident. She was allowed to sit in it until the end of the day, no parent was notified, no clean dry clothes were offered, nothing.
MY UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE:
This was probably one of the biggest eye openers for me ever. Forget culture shock. Coming from the US, I had the mentality that classes are taken on a set schedule all semester long. You register for your classes, you pick up your stack of expensive books at the college bookstore, and you put your nose to the grind for the next year. This experience was anything but. I had the list of classes that I needed in order to complete the requirements for my Master’s and that was it. Everything else followed along the lines of “no pasa nada,” almost like “relax, don’t worry, everything will work itself out.” There were no books. If there was anything to be read, we were emailed a pdf document or given copies. Classes were assigned in segments so I might have two classes for two to four weeks or no classes for six weeks. And it’s not class every single day either. There was so much time available and I wasn’t having to stay up until midnight trying to cram everything into 24 hours. There were nine different countries represented in my cohort of 25 students and being bilingual was the norm; many of my classmates spoke multiple languages. In a two and half hour class, we’d take a half hour break in the middle and wander across to the cafe for a beer/wine and a tapa before going back to class, professor and students alike. I was able to complete a one year Master’s degree in 9 months and defend my thesis via videocall in September.To be continued…
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Camino Day 8: Heading home to Salamanca
Today’s Schedule: (3/29/16)
9am Leisurely wake up
9:56am Jose and I walk up to the grocery store
10:40am Breakfast in the albergue
12:01pm Everyone walks up to the mall
3:12pm Head back to the albergue
3:29pm Walk to the bus station
4:14pm Bus departs Salamanca
5:41pm Stop in Vigo to load/unload passengers
7pm Bus stop in Ourense
9:05pm Half hour stop in Zanabria to grab a tapa and drink
11:58pm Arrive at the Salamanca bus station
12:00am Two taxis to get us all home
12:14am the next day, we’re homeDistance Covered: 297 mi by bus in 6h 51m, 4.3 mi by taxi in 14m, and 2.1 mi on foot
1h 10m
While being a relaxed day, it was still exhausting. We slept in this morning since we had nowhere to be for several hours. The albergue folks told us that we were welcome to hang out in their community room and store our bags there until this afternoon. There is only one departure each day at 4:10pm and it’s an 8 hour ride. José and I left the family chilling in the albergue playing games while we walked up the shopping center to buy breakfast items. There is a large Carrefour supermarket in the mall so I picked up fruit, yogurt, and pastries for everyone to choose from. We spent a couple hours hanging out at the table and playing games. Around noon, we all walked up to the mall to find something to eat for lunch and get enough food, snacks, and drink to last us for the bus ride home.
Mom took the kids to eat at Burger Kid while José and I went in search of something a little more. We settled on Pans and Company where I found a delicious toasted style sub sandwich with three different cheeses melted inside. I love cheese and Spain has no shortage of cheese here. After the mall, we walked back to the albergue to collect up our backpacks and head off to the bus station. After hiking the Camino, a half mile walk isn’t really anything thank goodness.
When we arrived at the bus station, I tried to use the automated machine to buy our tickets and it was giving me a headache. I asked the older lady at the window for assistance and she came out to show us how to use the machine. We finally ended up with six tickets in hand and only a 45 minute wait for the bus. Our seats were towards the back of the bus. The girls sat with José and I with Justin next to Mom. Overall, they behaved super well for having to sit so long in a bus. Mia was started to feel a little queasy from the swaying of the bus but we made it home without any major accidents.
We had a stop about half way through the journey were everyone had to get off the bus. The bus driver stopped at a café so everyone crowded inside to order a drink and use the bathroom while we waited. There were more people than chairs so people stood around sipping their drinks and lining up for the bathroom. Quite a few people moved outside to get their smoke on and the time went quickly.
It was close to midnight when we finally reached Salamanca. Thankfully the taxis were lined up along the street outside so we divided into two groups and headed straight home to bed. Mission Complete.
16,10€ Carrefour
15,60€ Pans y pollo lunch KJ
17,44€ Lunch at Burger King JEJM
1,00€ Carrefour (Bollo chorizo)
13,87€ Carrefour
106,80€ Alsa Buslines 17,80 x 6
13,70€ Restaurant Perales (drinks on the way home)
20€ Taxi back to the piso
Total Daily Expenses: 204,51€ -
Camino Day 7: Arriving in Santiago de Compostela
Today’s Schedule (3/28/16)
7am Wakeup call
7:30 Breakfast in the albergue
8:17am Back on the trail
8:37am Santiago de Compostela
9:32am We reach the Cathedral
10:01am Picking up our credentials
10:19am Exploring Santiago
10:37am José explores the Cathedral
11:27am Formal breakfast at Milonga’s
3:45pm Lunch at the albergue
6pm Back to explore Santiago more
8:12pm Dinner in the mall
9:30pm Bedtime
Distance covered: 5.31km/3.3mi
Staying the night in a municipal albergue means a new set of rules. Everyone has to be out of here by 8:30am and no one is cleaning up after you. We stripped the paper sheets and pillowcases off the bunks and put them in the canister up front. I made breakfast in the kitchen, toast and chocolate milk. We cleaned up after ourselves and were back out on the trail fairly early. There was light enough to see and the skies were overcast but no rain. It didn’t take us very long to reach the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela. We stopped for the token pictures in front of the sign and then pushed on. It took us another hour to cross town and reach the Cathedral where the Apostle James is said to be entombed.
Once we reached the main square, we took the obligatory “holding your backpack proudly above your head” photo. Then we walked around trying to find the pilgrim’s office where you show your credential and pick up your certificate. We finally found it but there was very little signage indicating where it was. There was a guard at the front gate and he searched our backpacks before we could enter. Thankfully we were early enough so there were only a couple waiting ahead of us. When you register, the clerk asked you what was your motivation for walking the Camino. The options were religious, spiritual, or athletic. Everyone else chose spiritual except for me and I picked athletic. I felt nothing during this journey that I could relate to a higher power. It was about setting a goal and achieving it. José and I will return to walk it in its entirety sometime in the future, this I know.
After we completed the Camino, it was time to figure out our next move. We wandered around the streets for a little while. José went into the Cathedral while we did some souvenir shopping. You aren’t allowed to enter with your packs so I had to carry his and mine. Then Mia decided to join him so I have my hands full with three of them! We walked the streets in search of food and finally found a restaurant that offered an “American” breakfast so in we went. On our way there, we ducked into a bookstore and Mia found a rubber ducky in a pilgrim outfit and Erika got a book that explained the Camino for kids. The American breakfast consisted of orange juice, coffee, bacon, toast, and two eggs. After breakfast, we went in search of an albergue. We made several phone calls and finally found one about 30 minutes from the center. It was called Acuario and it was decorated in a unique manner, lots of Zen and Buddhist designs. There were two bunk beds in each room if you could call it that. There were plywood walls dividing each area and curtains across the doorways. She gave us a deal since we fit into four beds so we took us. I think we were the only guests there.
We had entertained the idea of taking the bus out to Fisterra or Muxia but the bus schedules and wanting to return to Salamanca tomorrow did not fall into place. If we went, we’d end up getting there in the evening and having to take an 8am bus back into Santiago tomorrow morning.
There is a mall a couple blocks up the hill from us so José and I walked up there to do a little recon and pick up some groceries from the Carrefour. There is a food court so we checked out the options. We dropped our backpacks at the albergue and took the bus into town so we could do more exploring and souvenir shopping. I picked out a t-shirt with a VW Bus and the Camino on it, José got a Camino hoodie, Mia a Peppa Pilgrim tee, and Erika a Camino tee. We bought some random souvenirs like magnets, postcards, and José found a statue of some saint that he wants to take home for his abuela Marciana.
We took the whole family back up the mall in the evening to get dinner. Everyone else opted to eat at a Chinese buffet so we got them settled in and then José and I went next door to the Brazilian restaurant. They offered an all you can eat meal that sounded amazing and it was! After we got our drinks and sides, the server keeps bringing out the meat on a skewer and slicing off pieces for you. Then a few minutes later he returns with another meat selection. I think there were like eight different types and then he started the rotation over again. I started to get full but José was like bring it on and I started putting my meat on his plate. After this continued for some time, the server came out and gently advised us that the drink coaster could be flipped over to the red Stop on the back when we were finished. Ha ha ha, poor guy, he never saw us coming! Two hungry Americans after the Camino. When I asked, he said that they were too far away from the center so they never got any pilgrims up this way to take advantage of the buffet. After dinner, we waddled home and went to bed, fat and happy.
Daily Expenses:
27,30€ Brunch at Milonga’s
12,70€ Carrefour
3.15€ pressed coins
9.50€ Erika t-shirt
4,65€ bus tickets (1,00 adult ,55 kid) x 2
46€ albergue Acuario
48,70€ Wok Dunhuan (dinner JEJM)
34,80€ Brasayleña (dinner JK)
20,40€ clothes
3,00€ souvenir (Fonseca)
19,98€ Claire’s (ME personal)
16,50€ Camino Rubber Duckie/Camino storybook
3,75€ Souvenir
Total Daily Expenses:255,08€ -
Camino Day 6: Pedrouzo to Monte del Gozo
Today’s Schedule: (3/27/16)8am Morning Wakeup
8:57am Easter morning breakfast
9:39am Back on the trail
1:15pm Lunch break
2:09pm We reached Monte de Gozo
2:59pm Team JEJ reaches the albergue
3:32pm José takes a nap
5:58pm Snack at Cafe Bar A Chisca
7:27pm Spaghetti dinner in the albergue
10pm Lights Out
Distance covered: 16.69km/10.37mi
Mia’s Pedometer: 60,819 for the last two days
Since we have less distance to cover today, we slept in until 8am. We packed up and walked back to the restaurant we ate at last night. They don’t offer breakfast meals so it was toast again. José and I ordered a rosca for Easter. It is flavored with anise here which came as a surprise to me. It’s not my favorite flavor at all. We ate half of it and put the rest in our packs for later. Our goal today was only 14km so a leisurely stroll. The markers aren’t the new ones we’re used to. They are older and placed with less frequency along the trail.
Our weather was the special kind so when it started to pour and I spied a restaurant, I called an early lunch stop. We had a little mishap and Mia didn’t get her meal with our order. Good thing we had ordered popsicles so we ate them first. I got a bacon cheese sandwich while they ordered hamburgers. Mia got hers with a fried egg on top.
It was the perfect break because it was pouring rain outside and the wind was howling. It lightened up as we headed out. The plan was to reach Monte de Gozo and stay in a pension there. The only other albergue was a xunta. We came upon a huge statue dedicated to pilgrims. The wind was blowing hard and it was hilarious trying to take pictures without getting blown over. Two cyclists asked me to take their picture and I can only hope it wasn’t too blurry. There was a sign to the left for the albergue and to the right for the pension so we went right. We went down this long hill and I needed to go pee so bad. As soon as we reached the bottom, the sign directed us to the left, back up the hill that we had just come down. At the top of the hill was the albergue. The older guy running the xunta didn’t have a problem accepting the copies of their passports so yay for us! This is a huge albergue but during the low season, they only have one building running. We had to wait for Team JEJ to show up before we could check in but he showed us to our room to hang out until then. José was in a pissy mood because he wanted to push on and reach Santiago tonight and we outvoted him.
There are four bunkbeds in our room and a heavy sliding door to close it off from the busy hallway. There are 30 different buildings and tons of rooms. There is a full kitchen so José and I walked to the café/store to get groceries. We got supplies to make spaghetti for dinner but we sat down at the café to have a bite first. When we got back to the albergue, I started to make the spaghetti in the kitchen. There were a couple other pilgrims using the kitchen so I had to work around them while trying to find all of the right utensils and pans. It was a pretty relaxed evening over all. Tomorrow we meander into Santiago and finish up this adventure.
20,80€ Breakfast at Che 4
16,50€ 2 7-Up, Hamburger, bocadillo, 2 Popsicles, special burger
12,10€ Lunch at Cafe Bar A Chisca
14,25€ Grocery supplies for dinner at Cafe Bar A Chisca
2€ for 2 trinkets
36€ Municipal Albergue (6€ each)
Total Daily Expenses: 101,65€ -
Camino Day 5: Bebedeiro to Pedrouzo
Today’s schedule: (3/26/16)
8am Alarm
8:51am downstairs for breakfast
9:45am Back on the trail
10:10am Horsemen pass by
10:46am Imagine discussion begins
12:03pm at Restaurante A Esquipa
12:28pm Back out into the rain
2pm Windy Eucalyptus groves
3:11pm Searching for an albergue in Pedrouzo
3:28pm Checking into our room
4pm Team JEJ catches up with us
6:15pm Walking the streets in flip flops
6:24pm Picking up dinner for JEJM
7:06pm Dinner for José and I
8:14pm Stop at Día market
10:22pm Lights outDistance covered:17.37km/10.79miAnother fun Spanish breakfast of hot drinks and toast with marmalade. It was roughly a loaf of white bread and a toaster. The backtrack to the trail this morning went faster than last night. The first hours of the day weren’t too wet. A bunch of assholes went past us on horseback, one of them was running his horse so hard that it was foaming at the mouth. Someone had written the lyrics to the John Lennon song Imagine on the trash cans that are beside the trail. That prompted me to look up his story on my phone and discuss him with Mia.
We were making good time when we happened upon a restaurant for lunch. Mia tied up her horse “Marshmallow”and we went inside. It was quite busy but we squished into a table in the corner. More hamburgers for us. The café was getting crowded and then JEJ showed up right before the rain started to pour down. They managed to squish in the corner with us, more hamburgers and a tortilla for Mom.
Then it was back out into the rain and mud. The wind was blowing really hard through the eucalyptus grove. Most of the day was spent walking in the pouring rain blowing sideways in the wind. The shoes were soaking wet with cold toes sloshing around and gloves so wet I had to wring them out. When we reached Pedrouzo, we had a devil of a time in our search for an albergue. The albergues didn’t have any private rooms so we kept looking. We had to walk around and go to many albergues trying to find a room for 6. Finally we returned to one that had a triple room for 65€. It was actually in a separate residential building. There were two other rooms sharing one bathroom so that was interesting later on. While we were waiting for JEJ, we went to explore and left Mia in the room. We went to find food for the evening meal. The office offers laundry service so we had to bag up everything and drop it off ASAP. We were returning from staking out a restaurant when JEJ arrived in town. They settled into the room and stayed put for the rest of the night. José and I dropped off two bags of clothes to be washed, 8€ each. We picked up some things up at the Día market. We saw the Canadians walk by, José told them where to head for food. We got snacks for the family and waited for everyone to get hungry. Mia found a channel playing Ella Enchanted in English. José and I wandered around town in our flip flops and spare clothes.
The restaurant we found was also a bakery full of delicious looking pastries.We ordered meals to go for everyone else and took their dinner back to the room along with a variety of the pastries. José and I then returned to sit down and enjoy our meal at the restaurant. The Canadians were dining on the opposite side from us so I don’t think they noticed us. We picked up our clean laundry after diner and headed back to the room. The other two rooms were now full with loud, smoking Spaniards. Justin walked into the shared bathroom and found a naked man sitting on the toilet. We all took showers except for Mom and Justin who haven’t bathed so far this journey.
Expenses:
2,20€ x 6 (13€) Breakfast
28,80€ Lunch at Restaurante A Esquipa1,30 Día cerveza for José
3,26€ Día
18,01€ Día
23,80€ Che 4 dinner for José and I
12,50€ Che 4 Team JEJM dinner
6,40€ Che 4 Pastries for them
65,00€ Pension Pedrouzo
300€ ATM Cash Withdrawal
Total Daily Expenses: 172,16€ -
Camino Day 4: Melide to Bebedeiro
Today’s Schedule:
8:40am Out the door and ready to go
8:45am Breakfast at the café next door
9:13am Now we’re ready to go
9:40am Erika and Justin pick up a hitchhiker
9:43am The rain begins
10:30am Fruit stand break
12:35pm Lunch break
1:30pm Team JEJ joins us for lunch
4:30pm We check into our albergue
5:42pm Team JEJ arrives for the night
8:00pm DinnerDistance covered: 18.4km/11.43miMia’s pedometer: 35,242 steps
Breakfast today was an easy stop. As you step out of the albergue, there is a cafe directly to our left, the same one that José and I visited last night. Once again, it was orange juice, hot beverage, and toast except here we only had to pay 3,50€ each which is more reasonable in my opinion. It was still dry as we headed out of town and I wanted to get some distance in before the rain caught up with us. As we wandered our way out of town, I came across a food truck that was just gorgeous. It was a Citroën H or similar and it was done in a beautiful color palette. I wonder if I could import one of those back home. It would make a swell campervan. We were once again in our groups of three and three, JKM and JEJ. We are in A Coruña territory now. We happened upon a roadside stand selling fruit and cakes so I stopped for Mia. JEJ caught up with us along with an older gentleman from the Basque country. He has run into them a couple times before and even gave Justin some kind of patch the last time they met up. It’s funny what happens out here considering the language barrier. The girls each picked out a pear to eat and got another stamp in their credential.
We had some lovely hills again today. When we found a place to stop for lunch, I was sweating to death inside my hoodie and rain jacket. We had just come down a hill and crossed a valley when I spied the restaurant on the top of the other side. We ran across the highway and up across the lawn where we parked ourselves at a table outside on the veranda under an umbrella. Here we had a view of the whole valley and we could see all the pilgrims descending and then passing on the trail right below us. This way I could make sure that JEJ didn’t pass us somehow. I did see the Canadians as they passed on their way.
We all ordered the menu special which was a drink, pork chops, French fries, egg over easy, and dessert for 9€. The sopa fideo was served in a large bowl and José served us individually. It was delicious but then again, everything is when you’re hungry. We stayed and waited for JEJ to catch up with us. I pulled out Mia’s monocular and we watched the tiny pilgrims across the valley and we could pick them out as they crested the top. We waited long enough to help them order and get their food before we headed out. They also ordered the same meal with the exception of Mom who got a whole tortilla de patata (8€). After this Camino, she’ll probably never want to see one again!
The rest of the afternoon went by with no events. It was very windy with an almost constant rain so we were mostly focused on getting to our hostel for the night. I had picked out one that was about 19km even though Mom doesn’t want to walk that much. We are dependent on how often the albergues come up. The one I picked on the list had a little note next to it (FR .7KM). We learned that this meant that we actually had to detour from the route and walk 700 meters to this albergue. We had been walking with no idea exactly how far we had gone or where we were. All of the markers have “complementario” written on it so we have no idea if there is another route that we missed somehow. We finally found the road leading to the left and a simple wooden sign with the name of the albergue on it. The albergue was sitting right beside the highway so it was easy to find once we walked down the side road. I had called ahead to make sure there were six beds available for us as it was several kilometers down the Camino before we might run into another one.
The innkeeper assigned us a room and told us we could pay and sign in when everyone else showed up. They like to check our passports and copy our info with everyone present.We were dripping water so the goal was to get everyone out of their wet clothes and try to get everyone dry. Mom showed up with Erika and Justin just over an hour later so we got checked in. There is a washer and dryer here but there is already a line of dirty laundry bags so we added ours to the line. We went downstairs to the “cafeteria” for dinner. There was already a group of young adults in there talking and laughing but we managed to get enough chairs around a table for our group. There is a menu here but it is all prepackaged food that the owner heats up and serves. So that means we dined on pizza and pasta tonight. It wasn’t actually that bad. The kids picked out cookies for their dessert. A girl poked her head into the room and told us that the washing machine had stopped so she took everything out of the washer and set it on top of the dryer. The kicker was when she told us all that she had put her clothes in the washer, even then we were all waiting in line with our own dirty clothes!! I was speechless and due to the hour, we just gathered up our clothes and decided to wear the same clothes tomorrow. I tried to take a shower tonight and the light in the upstairs bathroom flickered but it wouldn’t stay on. I wasn’t keen on bathing in the dark in a community bathroom.
Tonight’s room is actually two rooms with a total of four bunkbeds. We kept turning on the heaters so our clothes would dry out and somehow the radiators kept going off? We have been putting plastic bags over the kids socks before we put them in their shoes. The bags slip around in their shoes but it is better than nothing. Erika’s Keens do not dry out very fast and Mia and Justin are just wearing cheap tennis shoes. I wouldn’t change my footwear personally. We survived our first day of rain and that is all the forecast holds for the end of our journey so we have to make the best of it.
Breakfast at A Fabrica Do Camiño 21,00€
Fruit cake stand 3€
Lunch 53€
Albergue Camino Das Ocas 60€
Dinner 43,90€ plus dessert cookies 3 €
Drinks 2,80€
Total Daily Expenses: 142,80€ -
Camino Day 3: Eirexe to Melide
Image Credit: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/ 
Today’s schedule:
7:30am Alarm
8:05am Everyone’s out the door
9:19am Camino Lake
10:10am Arrive in Palas de Rei
10:20am Team JEJM arrives
12:30pm Lunch break
2:05pm Ice cream break
4:15pm Check into O Cruceiro Alberge
6pm Backtrack to help JEJ
8pm Eat dinner in the room
10pm Jose and I enjoy drinks while laundry is washing/dryingDistance covered: 23.23km/14.43miMia’s pedometer: 38,327 steps
Another early morning and quick packing so we can get back out on the trail. There was a very heavy fog blanketing the landscape today. It looks very cool and a little mysterious, like in a movie and you don’t know what is going to emerge from the fog. We had to walk a little further to reach Palas de Rei for breakfast. Sometimes we don’t have a lot of options, it all depends on how far it is to the next town with a restaurant or grocery store. Generally speaking, the grocery stores are only in the larger towns. Some of these places that we go through are only a few buildings gathered together and no commercial options. Mia decided to walk with the slower team this morning because Erika has been pressuring her to walk with them.
José and I chatted with an older German couple that we kept running into at large bodies of water. We came across one that resembled a small pond covering the trail. José started to pick his way around the water on the left hand side. I noticed a trail going up to the meadow on the right so I got the bright idea to just walk around, right? That lovely green grass was hiding another lake right below its surface and I now had the lake inside both of my shoes too. I was retracing my steps by walking along the stone wall when the German couple caught up with us again. I hate it when I have to admit that my husband is right…We stayed to wait for the rest of the group to show up so we could help them around the lake. We need not have done so because they managed to get around it just fine. Thankfully my shoes both dried out within a couple hours of walking. I’m wearing a wool blend sock from Costco that works great for keeping my foot warm but not hot and sweaty and they dry quickly.
Mia decided that she wanted to walk with us now so Erika and Justin are being pissy and giving her the cold shoulder now. The personalities on this trip are constantly clashing. In hindsight, I don’t think it was the best idea to add additional people to our core group. We have been training as a family of four and doing about 3.5 miles an hour. Mom and Justin are doing about 2 miles an hour. I can’t walk that slow, period. A form of road rage comes over me, similar to when slow people are walking ahead of me and blocking off the whole sidewalk so I have to step in the street and get around them. So it has caused a divide between the group, us and them, and Mia is caught in the middle because she walks with us just fine but they are pulling her to walk with them. The thing is that they are playing around and goofing off which inhibits their rate of speed as well. Mom is using to carrying a heavy pack when she’s out hiking in the mountains but this is nothing like that. This is long distances with lighter packs.
We arrived in Palas de Rei after a two hour walk. We headed straight for the grocery store to stock up on provisions as we’re growing a little weary of just toast for breakfast. The funny thing is that it’s a normal breakfast in Spain. If you go to a restaurant in bigger towns, you’ll see American breakfast and British breakfast options on the menu that are a little more substantial. Then we headed up the road towards the trail and stopped at a cafe so we could order hot drinks and eat our yogurt at their outdoor tables. Most places don’t care if you bring your own food with you, they just prefer that you not do it inside. We got hot drinks, another stamp in our credencials, and used the bathroom facilities before heading out. We divided back into our two groups of three and headed out of Palas de Rei. Mia found a pilgrim who didn’t mind getting his picture taken with her.
Every statue is an opportunity for Mia to express herself and there are lots of opportunities along the Camino. The weather has remained perfect for the most part with sunny skies and light breezes and not too hot. We were climbing a long hill when we hit the halfway mark today so we decided to wait until we reached the top before stopping for our lunch break. Nobody wants to start climbing with a full belly. Heck, who likes to walk at all on a full belly?! Mia picked out the perfect meadow covered in white daisies and we all plopped down for our lunch break. We pulled out the food from the grocery store and enjoyed another lunch of fruit, yogurt, nuts, bread and gouda, and cheese. Everyone lied down on their coats and wiggled their toes and soaked up the sunshine. We usually stop for about half an hour so our feet can rest and we can relax our stiff muscles. Mia and I slipped behind a tree in the middle of the meadow to take care of business after lunch. The only bathrooms along the Camino are located in cafes and you have to be a paying customer to use the majority of them. I carry two baggies in the top of my pack; one baggie contains a roll of toilet paper and the second baggie contains the used paper and I empty that out every evening. The new foods in our diets have been causing a little fun so we have to frequently stop and hunt for a bush and a break in the foot traffic to take care of business.
José has been helping Mia with her pack when she gets worn out. He throws it on top of his and snaps the chest strap so it’s easy to get off and on. I’m not sure how he’s doing it since I know his left shoulder is already bothering him. When he dislocated his shoulder a couple years ago, it caused premature arthritis in the joint that he’s had to treat with cortisone shots. Lately he’s been taking glucosamine/chrondroitin supplements to help it. Mia usually only lets him carry it for a kilometer or two and then she demands that he give it back to her. Mia hasn’t really complained of anything so far. We try to let her set the pace as much as possible since she has the shorter legs but she just gallops all over on her invisible horse. She’s been staying in great spirits and we take breaks when she says so.
Of course, she is also the first one to spy the ice cream signs as well. As long as we’ve already eaten lunch, then we stop. Today we ran into the group of four Spaniards that are drinking and singing their way along the Camino. They have a guitar and are very loud and outgoing. We got to enjoy their sounds while enjoying our popsicles. José isn’t a huge fan of sweets so he had a beer instead. We are burning so many calories out there so I don’t mind indulging in sweets every so often on this trip. I don’t think I’m going to lose any weight on this trip since it’s so short but at least I’m hoping to break even. After that break, we plugged along until we reached the town of Melide which is of fairly decent size. We walked to the middle of town and found an albergue that had private rooms. None of them will allow us to officially check in until everyone is present with ID’s but they issue us a room and let us hang out there while we wait. Jose took the opportunity to jump into the shower and get cleaned up while we waited for JEJ to reach us.
Mom texts me every so often with the number off the lastest kilometer marker so we have an idea how far back they are. I guess Mom got a lovely blister and stopped to pull out her first aid kit, Erika was feeling pretty despondent, and Justin was having a hard time. Mia and I decided to backtrack and meet up with them and help them make it into town. We walked back about a mile and found them as they were crossing the bridge on the outskirts of town. I put Justin on my shoulders with his pack on his back and Mia took Erika’s backpack from her. We very slowly walked back to the albergue. Once we reached the room, all three of the kids just dropped to the floor and pretty much didn’t move again for the rest of the night. Mom accompanied Jose and I to a pizza/pasta restaurant we had seen in town and we ordered our meals to go. Somehow our order got messed up and no meal was prepared for me. I didn’t feel like waiting around so we headed back to feed the kids anyway. José went downstairs to the restaurant next door and ordered me a pasta dish. I later found out that he enjoyed a beer and his soccer game while waiting for my meal so he wasn’t suffering too bad.
The food wasn’t as good tonight but when you’re tired and hungry, anything will do. Mom got a big salad and the kids got hamburgers again. The fries were not great so now I understand why he only had one order left when I had originally asked for three, they were what was leftover. There is only one market open in town today due to the holidays so we walked down there a couple times to buy different supplies and drinks. After dinner, we gathered all up all the dirty laundry and put it in the washer. It was 4€ to wash and another 4€ to dry, only it took two cycles to dry so it wasn’t a cheap load of laundry.
José and I decided to slip down to the restaurant next door while the clothes were washing and drying so he could continue watching the game. I brought my journal down with me so I could try to catch up. It’s been difficult to get any writing done in the evenings due to the lack of individual lights and Mia’s little flashlight got left in the second albergue by José on accident. I’m also writing twice as much trying to capture as many details as possible. It feels perfectly normal to be sitting here writing while enjoying a glass of white wine. The clothes on the other hand are a pain. The washing was just fine but the dryer is another one of those kind where you have to empty the water tray but that doesn’t seem to be functioning correctly because there is a huge puddle of water on the floor every time we go upstairs to check on them. By the time they were finished and folded, I was ready to crawl into bed with Mia again this time. José is occupying the bunk across from me, Erika and Justin are sharing again, and Mom gets a bunk to herself as well.Expenses:
27,22€ Dia Mercado
4,30€ Cafe Castro for 3 teas & 1 Cola Cao
4,80€ for 2 popsicles and 1 beer (KJM)
3,90€ for 3 popsicles (JEJ)
29,40€ Dinner at Pizza Cafeteria Atenas
8,50€ Krystal dinner and Jose beer
3€ for 2 1.5L bottles of Acuarius drink
60€ Albergue O Cruceiro
12€ laundry
3€ for a beer and wine
**missing receipt for market purchase for 2 pack of microwave popcorn, 3 candies, 1.5L water, 1L chocolate milk ??
Total Daily Expenses: 156.12€
ATM Cash withdrawal 200€
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Camino Day 2: Mercadoiro to Eirexe
Image Credit: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es 
Today’s schedule
7:30am Wake up everyone
8:05am Everyone’s out the door
9:37am We reached Portomarín
10:00am Breakfast at Pons Minea
10:46am Claudio market
11:00am Back on the Camino
11:42am Cow traffic jam
12:49pm Stopped for lunch at halfway point
1:07pm Team JEJ catch up
2:16pm Ice cream break
4:54pm Checked into Pensión Eirexe
5:15pm Team JEJ arrives
7:00pm Dinner
8:45pm Kids Watching Big Hero 6 movieDistance covered: 23.98km/14.9mi
Mia’s pedometer: 38,327 steps
I set the alarm for 7am again today but it was still dark so I let everyone sleep in an extra half hour before waking them up. Mia slept with me on my bunk last night and she kept me nice and warm. Her internal thermostat is set quite a bit higher than the rest of us. The albergues are issuing a plastic packet containing a paper sheet and paper pillowcase. The problem is that they are very thin and fragile so they rip and pop off the mattress as you toss and turn. Our goal is to stay as far away from the bedbugs as possible. There are blankets on the foot of the bunks but I’m pretty sure that they are rarely washed so we drape them over the tops of our sleeping bags.
The plan today was to walk to Portomarín and eat breakfast there. We’ve been using a combination of the Camino Planner and a printed list of all the albergues along this section to plan where we can stop each night. The planner said it was approximately 5.8km to Portomarín which also happens to be the end of this “stage” of the Camino.
It only took about an hour and half to reach the town by crossing a bridge over the river and climbing up the stairs into town. We stopped at the first cafe we found for breakfast. These places confuse the heck out of me because you basically get two drinks and one piece of toast for a flat rate. Why two drinks? Everyone selected the fresh squeezed orange juice for the first round. The toast was the traditional barra bread cut in half and again lengthwise. Smothered with butter and marmalade, it was actually really good. I’m not sure that it was worth 4,95€ though. Our second round of drinks consisted of mint tea, coffee, or Cola Cao. We ran into the Canadian team having coffee on the terrace of the cafe as we headed out.
On our way out of town, we stopped by an ATM to pull 300€ out for expenses. Most of these places run on a cash only basis. We did a little shopping in the Claudio market and bought food stuff for snacks and lunch. Our idea being that it was easier to buy foods to eat and carry along instead of waiting for a cafe to pop up just at the right time. It is also easier on our budget considering that the kids aren’t that interested in cafe meals and we’d like to save in the areas we can. The daily budget per person is 30€ per person so for a six person group, we are talking 180€ a day for potentially 10 days. We are estimating 10€ per night each on lodging, 5€ for breakfast, 5€ for lunch/drinks/treats, and 10€ for dinner.
- 6 yogurts for ,30¢ each
- bag of apples
- bag of bananas
- honey roasted peanuts 1,51€
- sunflower seeds ,90¢
- liter of water ,70¢
- half liter of yogurt drink 1,75€
- bandaids 1,15€
- Hello Panda cookie treats 1€
- Tuna in sunflower oil 1,10€
- Candy ,50¢
We filled up the water bladders in our backpacks and distributed the food between the different packs. We retraced our steps back down to the road to pick up our Camino again. As we came down the stairs, I asked a Spanish pilgrim, that we met last night in our albergue, if she would take a group picture for us. Since we’ve been walking in two different groups, it’s difficult to get any group pictures with all 6 of us. I’m also the group photographer so I try to take as many pictures of us when we do gather for meals and the evenings.
We had a beautiful walk today with great weather. It’s cool in the morning but when the sun comes out and starts shining, there is a little breeze so I am wearing an Under Armour tee and hoodie along with a Columbia hiking pant with built in skirt. We came around one corner in the trail and came across a bovine traffic jam. The old man was behind them herding but it is still a little unnerving as a lot of these cows have a set of horns on their head, not to mention, they outweigh us! Thankfully, they kept to their business and went right on by us with no hiccups. We found a beautiful viewpoint with a meadow on the side of the trail about the 12km mark and called it lunchtime. We laid our raincoats out on the grass and pulled out our foods. We ate fruit, crackers and Babybel, granola bars, nuts, you name it.
Team JEJ caught up with us while we were eating so we all rested together before heading out to finish the second half of today’s hike. During our hike, Mia spotted the popsicle sign so we dropped our packs and picked out ice cream bars. José and I enjoyed the Magnum Almond bars while Mia picked out a cone. We didn’t have to wait long for the rest of the family to catch up and get an ice cream too and add another stamp to our credencials.
We started to pull ahead of them and finished the day before they caught up. We arrived in the tiny little town of Eirexe and there are like three buildings here. I couldn’t find the albergue that was on my list so I asked the four people sitting outside the restaurant. They pointed me in the direction of an albergue that had a different name on it. One of the ladies followed me back across to the albergue so that must have been the main meeting point for the town residents to gather at. When I stepped into the albergue, I noticed the sign that said no photocopies of documents allowed. I explained that Mom and Justin left their passports at our house and were carrying a copy but she wouldn’t budge. I was bummed because it’s a municipal albergue and they only charge 6€ a night which would have been a nice savings for our group. We walked next door to the private pensión and she accepted our ID’s without any issues. We got a private room with its own bathroom for only 50€ with two sets of bunkbeds. There is only one restaurant in town and when we asked, they don’t start serving dinner until 6:45pm so it was hang out in our room until then.
Promptly at dinner time, we showed back up in the restaurant and seated ourselves at a large table. The man behind the counter didn’t even acknowledge us for the first 20 minutes but since he’s the only option, it’s not like we were going to get up and walk out or anything. We ordered drinks and then waited for our food to come. The kids all got hamburgers and they literally devoured them in a matter of seconds. I think Justin inhaled his which is shocking considering he isn’t the eater in our family. We tried to do laundry when we got back to our room at 8:30pm but the old lady said it was too late, everyone was already asleep?! and it would take 2-3 hours to wash and dry. So we’ll be wearing fragrant clothes for tomorrow’s walk!
Expenses:
Bread 60¢
Gum 1,50€
Breakfast 29,70€
Claudio market 15.80€
Popsicles (6) 10.20€
Dinner at Bar Restaurante Ligonde 47.90€
Pensión Eirexe 50€Total Daily Expenses: 155,70€ -
Camino Day 1: Sarria to Mercadoiro
Image Credit: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/ Today’s schedule:
7:00am Alarm
8:18am Breakfast at Matias Locanda
8:49am Begin the Camino
11:27am Snack break along the trail
12:49pm Lunch break at Casa Cruceiro2:12pm First boo boo of the Camino
2:49pm Stop at the Albergue Mercadoiro4:02pm Team JEJ reach the Albergue
5:30pm Kids dinner
6:42pm Kids watch 9 movie
8:01pm Dinner
9:00pm Bedtime for JEJ
10:00pm Bedtime for JKMDistance covered: 16.3km/10.9miMia’s pedometer: 28,396 steps
We must have had a disconnect somewhere because Mom was quite pissy when I turned on the room lights at 7am after my alarm went off. She has the idea that kids can’t function without 10-12 hours of sleep. That’s not happening in my family, unless it’s the weekend and we’re home in bed. Erika woke up crying about not feeling well but there isn’t much we can do for her besides 3 children’s Tylenol chewables. We packed up everything and headed out of the albergue and returned to the same restaurant as last night. Their breakfast buffet (5€ each) was disappointing to say the least. It didn’t compare to the American continental breakfast in most hotels. Mom was the classy American who pocketed two yogurts to take on the trail. After breakfast, it was time to hit the trail.
The Camino leaves from a point right outside our albergue so we backtracked up the hill once more. I reset the pedometers for each kid and we were off. The complete countryside was blanketed in a heavy fog so we couldn’t see much for the first hour or two as we climbed up. Justin did really good and stayed up with us for the first hour. As soon as we slowed down, rather stopped, to let Grandma and Erika catch up with us, he fell back and walked with them. The scenery is gorgeous and there was so much to see around every corner. Thankfully the weather is beautiful, not too hot or cold and no rain in sight! The kilometer markers frequently have stacks of rocks on top and they are numerous, usually 3-4 markers per kilometer. After Mia was stopping to stack a rock on top of every one, we talked her into doing it only when it changed kilometers, like from 99 to 98, etc.
We stopped to sit on a rock wall and have a small snack after a couple hours. There are rock walls dividing all the different fields, very reminiscent of my trip to Ireland. The fragrance of cow manure hangs thick over the entire Camino except when we’re directly in town. It beats the heavy cloying perfume of women though so no complaints. Many beautiful wild flowers scattered all over so I had to stop and take pictures of each kind I found.
We happened upon a cafe just after noon but Jose wanted to continue on a little more. Mia was getting hungry by the time we reached the next one and I was too to be honest so we stopped. José ordered the pilgrim’s menu (9€) which comes with a drink, first and second platter, and a dessert. He got caldo gallego, chicken breast with fries, red wine, and a banana as they are out of everything else. I ordered a tortilla de patata for Mia and I to share along with a bowl of lentil soup (3,50€) for me and a plate of macarrones pasta (4,50€) for her and a Cola Cao to drink. José knocked over his glass of wine and it poured all over the table, our phones, battery pack, nothing important you know. The gentleman there helped us clean it up and brought José the rest of a bottle of wine. What we hadn’t realized was that Mia’s pack was sitting right under the end of the table and the wine had dripped off the table and all over her sweatshirt. José ended up knocking over his next glass too. We had planned to sit there and easily for JEJ to catch up but mom texted me that they had just arrived at the first café and they were stopping to eat so we continued on.
There were lots of other pilgrims out on the trails today. We didn’t find any other kids that were walking but a couple passed us on bikes with a larger group. There are many Spaniards who take advantage of Semana Santa (Spring break) to walk the Camino. Many people comment on Mia for being so brave and courageous to do this with us so she is feeling very proud of herself as she should. We had our first medical accident of the Camino when we stopped to take a selfie. Since Mia is so much shorter than us, we had her climb on a rock wall to get in the picture. When we were helping her down, we let her fall and she scraped up her knee and drew blood. She was laughing in order to hold back the tears.
We finally reached the albergue that I had tentatively planned on stopping at the first night. JEJ were still 4km behind us so it wasn’t likely they’d be able to go much farther before dark fell. We checked to make sure they had 6 beds available and say down to wait for their arrival about an hour and 15 minutes later. We got our own room with 3 sets of bunks in it and two Canadian gentlemen staying in the next room over. The room was quite chilly with no heater so we put the paper sheets and cases on that they had issued us upon check-in before laying out our sleeping bags and crawling in for warmth.
I washed Mia’s sweatshirt in the utility sink outside to get rid of the red wine and hung it out on the clothes line. We sat at the tables outside the restaurant and chatted with everyone passing through. One couple showed up with a daughter about Erika’s age and they had a drink while figuring out their next move and they decided to push on. The kitchen doesn’t start serving dinner until 7pm so we ordered a whole tortilla de patata for the kids to eat. Afterwards, we tucked them into bed with the Kindle so they could watch the movie “9”. José and I went over to eat and found that the Canadians had built a fire in the woodstove so we sat upstairs to eat and relax. They only offered two main dishes; fish or chicken. We ordered one of each and Mia got spaghetti carbonara. After we finished eating, I brought my journal over so I could write in the warmth while José played dominoes with Mia. The Canadians sat downstairs and video chatted with their family back home and complained about pretty much everything. Hike your own hike I guess but geez. Back to the room where JEJ were already sleeping and we crawled into bed. Justin and José slept alone in their bunks while mom shared with Erika and I with Mia. She’s got a super hot core so she was my personal people heater all night long. Buen Camino!
Breakfast at Matias Locanda: 30€Lunch at Casa Cruceiro: 18,90€Lunch at Casa Morgade: 7,50€ (Erika toast 1,50€, JJ egg/cheese bocadillo 3€ each)Dinner: 44,75€ (fish/chicken 7, spaghetti carbonara 5, tortilla de patata 15, 4 sodas for 8€, tinto de verano x2 8€, house wine 1,75€, beer 2€)
Fruit 5,50€ (7 pieces)Mercadoiro Albergue: 60€Total Daily Expenses: 166,65€
Fernweh Family 