Camino de Santiago Day 1: Sarria to Portomarín

After some of our group celebrated Manny Hadad’s 50th into the wee hours, including calling Eddy at 3:42 am, the group was slow to get down to breakfast. 

Luggage put on the bus, group picture, and then up the hill through town. Not a mile up the hill, Emilio had to take a shit. 

Picture at a mirador and mass at the Convento de la Magdalena, where everyone shared their intentions for the Camino. 

Groups formed as people kept their pace. I had the blessing of getting to know several of my classmates better along the way.  

We walked through hilly countryside with a couple of stretches of hiking uphill.  Some people tried to be friendly to livestock with varying degrees of success.  Also, Miami boys aren’t used to the smell of cow shit.  “¡Qué peste!”  

Lunch: sopa de lentejas, beer, chorizos, tortilla española, jamón, ensalada, and a Galician cheese and fruit paste dessert that was delicious.  It was all delicious, actually. 

Also at lunch, the news that Migs was going to be a grandfather!

The way took us through tiny hamlets and alongside farms and homes.  Lots of unleashed dogs. 

• A herd of cows pushed Migs into a rock wall.
• Henry had an encounter with a donkey. 
• Sague destroyed a bathroom with an epic dump.
• A crew stopped at every bar along the Way.

Rain began in the afternoon, a light drizzle the whole way to Portomarín. We decided to take the safe route and not the route where one can “depingarse” on a rocky path. 

This is the 100 km marker that shows that we were going to hike enough to be considered true pilgrims.

We arrived in Portomarín to these steps into the town.  Emilio: “Those stairs at the end were 100% unnecessary!”

Arriving in Portomarín, you can see the edges of the original town rising from the river banks.  The town was flooded when a dam was built and most of the town was rebuilt on higher land.  

After a beer, some of us when to see the two churches in town, both of which are from the 12th Century and moved up from the original site of the town, stone-by-stone.  

The ‘Baj’ started in the hotel lobby, where the hotel desk clerk (who is also the bartender) must have asked us to quiet down - oh - 20 times or so. Beer and wine were consumed and some rested.

Dinner was loud.  Good food, good wine, and various conversations at the different tables.

Then negotiations for the picture of Che Guevara (hung up over a high stairwell) began.  Our group wanted it taken down and burned.  I was there as a 200€ offer was made and rejected by the owner.  Some attempts were made to take it.  I don’t know if they were successful.