Camino Day 16: Melide to Arzùa

Day 16 Melide to Arzúa (17.0 km over 5.5 hours)

Today started and ended with Estrellas del Camino. We woke early, packed up our laundry which dried overnight (yay!) and started the walk out of Melide. Not to long after we started walking we were fortunate to view another Estrella del Camino, the next mural in the series of Camino murals created by Mon Devane, an extraordinary Galician artist. These are murals in gratitude to local residents who have kept the spirit of the Camino alive. This morning’s work in Melide is of Isidro Pardo, who started his career in hydroelectrics, but then pivoted later to his true love, beekeeping. He created the “O Enredo do Abelleiro” or beekeeper’s trap, which then became the living museum of honey, “O Museo Vivente do Mel", which opened in 1994. We are astounded by the plants, flowers, gardens, wild bushes that we see each day while walking and the bees play a part in keeping the Camino vibrant!

Today's terrain brought back memories of the Pyrenees. We had rolling hills with wide stretches of carpeted green hills with plenty of shade but also hot temperatures!

We found a great place for lunch where Nishant satisfied his cravings for a Magnum ice cream bar. It's the little things! (For me, it's Pringles!) He and Asha did pretty good sharing it 50-50. We had a lunch of ensalada mixta, pasta, baguette and tortilla española, which is an egg "casserole" with potatoes and cheese. It reminds of mandio-chy-ry-ry that I loved during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay. We took lots of breaks this afternoon, about every 2km, to stay hydrated and rest our legs.

We made in the last kilometer on asphalt up the highway into our destination Arzuá and were welcome by the next Estrella del Camino. Antón Pombo and historian, who walked the Camino in 1984 as a vacation with some friends. His interest and involvement of the Camino is varied and deep, ranging from helping to paint the signature yellow arrows of the Camino marking the way, to a dissertation on the historical significance of the Camino, do authoring the Anaya’s pilgrim guides. We love learning about these local stars! Tomorrow we'll do 18km to get to Pedrouzo our penultimate stop before Santiago de Compostela. We'll draw inspiration from these folks as we go!