Camino Day 9 Vigo to Arcade

Today was about 15 miles or so, it started out raining as we left Vigo en route to Arcade. And of course it was uphill for a good bit of the morning. At least till be got out of the city limits. Once you leave the city you come across loads of hillside villages, and through a forest too. Before leaving Vigo though, as you get to the top of one of many hills you can see the mussel farms.

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I spent most of this day walking by myself. My travel companions were worn out and having some challenges with keeping a reasonable pace. By reasonable I mean doing something faster than a 28 minute mile. Although it wasn't a race, I really wanted to try and get to the hotel, relax for a bit before dinner and try and wash some clothes in the bathroom sink. Like a shirt, socks and underwear. I was fortunate that I had a balcony that faced the western sky, so with a bit of paracord that I had brought (YES! I brought paracord, and a few carabiners too) I rigged up a clothes line between the balcony railing a few few lounge chairs that were on the balcony. I had arrived nearly 45 minutes ahead of my friends. Apparently they took a wrong turn somewhere and added extra time to an already long day. I should mention that a good number of days it rained in the morning and then the sun would come out and the temperature would get into the 80's and OMG that sun. WOW 6 or so hours in that and you're a hot sweaty mess. I still am questioning just why exactly I decided to do this. Oh yeah, I know, I had nothing better to do. Next time someone asks me if I want to do another one of these, I'm going to tell them I need to get my hair done or something.

The last few legs of today was as I said before all up hill, some of the hills were so steep I wonder how anyone actually drove a car up them. My last thing, I should mention and I'm mostly bummed about this, but at the same time totally cool with it too. As much as I loved Portugal, Spain definitely has better steak. I had a ton of seafood in Portugal, lots of Cod Fish, although in Portugal they call it Bacalhau. It's a salted and dried, and it's the National dish or Portugal. I had steak in Portugal too, but it wasn't great. So I felt it was only fair to try the steak in Spain. Zero comparison, Spain beats Portugal hands down when it comes to steak.  Where I was in Arcade, they also have fresh oysters too, but they only serve them raw, so you need to be prepared for that.  I admit, I ate way too much in some of these towns/cities. In Arcade, I had about a down or so mussels, a huge plate of Zorza. Which is chopped spicy pork and then steak. Way too much food, and good wine too. Loads of red wine, or as they say in Spain Vinho Tinto. BUT in Galicia, red wine is not the big deal, it's white wine. A particular white wine called Albariño. Albariño is the only wine made in Galicia. All other wines come from other regions in Spain. WOW! Look at me, getting all cultured and stuff.

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