So I looked out the door and Trudy had something in her mouth. It was a lizard.

Then turned her back to me (mercifully) and began crunching. At that point I left. Cats. They’re the same the world over.

There has been stuff happening, but most of it is nothing I want to put out into the world in writing. Let’s just say too many people in my life are sick right now, both back home and here.

The weather here is slowly changing; it is less excruciatingly hot. This is not necessarily good, as one of the primary reasons people stop in Pieros is because they are too hot and tired to make it to anywhere else. We had eight pilgrims at dinner two days ago, but no one for two days before that and no one yesterday or today.

Mar says the end of August is always slow but it picks up. It hasn’t yet. But I have a backup plan if it doesn’t and my presence is no longer needed. I will leave some things here and travel to Porto to walk the Camino Portuguese. Then I will come back and get them and head home, maybe in enough time to attend my 40 year reunion. We’ll see.

Anyway, crosswalks. They look like this.

You can see the Spanish are far less reticent about parking near the corner than Americans are.

Anyway, I have not gotten used to the fact that Spanish drivers a) watch for pedestrians and b) actually stop for them. So I’m always standing on the corner, waiting to see if the car will stop. The drivers get frustrated because if I had just gone ahead and crossed they wouldn’t have had to stop or only briefly because I would be across already.

So I have perfected a kind of “I’m not crossing the street; I’m just standing here” stance which I maintain until the car is safely past. If there is more than one I go down the street a little like, “I don’t want to cross; I’m just walking” and when they are all gone I go back to the crosswalk.

Because here is the thing. Few people jaywalk here. If I had to guess, I would guess the law is “If you hit the pedestrian in the crosswalk it’s your fault. If they weren’t in the crosswalk, then…🤷‍♀️.” But I don’t know that; it’s just a feeling.

So I don’t really know what else to write. Like I said, the things that are happening are either private (mine or someone else’s) or part of an internal journey I’m not ready to reveal.

Okay, one more thing. What IS it about teenage boys and cologne? Mar’s son just passed me about ten feet away, and I still smelled him.

Not much happened yesterday. No pilgrims. Some interesting conversations, but you kinda had to be there. Maybe something exciting will happen tomorrow.

August 28 was my birthday. The night before there was a fiesta in Pieros. No particular reason, they just wanted to have a party. There was drinking, and dancing, and a tortilla competition.

It was so wonderful watching the people dance. Such joy and freedom of movement, but with real steps. I tried to pick some up, but the only one I really got was the rhumba.

The next day we celebrated my birthday. I got two happy birthday songs, one the standard but in Spanish, the other one I’d never heard before.

But the work never stops, even on your birthday. I didn’t need to do a whole lot of cleaning, since there were so few pilgrims the night before, but Mar and I folded the laundry. Gaze upon the awesomeness below.

That, folks, is a fitted sheet. I now know how to fold them so they are flat. I told Mar so few people in the US know how to do this we make jokes about it. I also told her of all the things I will learn and do here, THIS ONE will impress my mother the most.

Well, the library is about to close, so I need to pack up. Catch you guys tomorrow!

There is a small church in Pieros, but like most iglesias in super small pueblos (thirteen people total) it is only open a few times a year. Yesterday Ulysses (a pilgrim/volunteer, ) Irena (his amor,) and I got to tour it.

The church interior. Much of it is covered in plastic to protect it from pajaritas (birds.)

The church was built in 1010, and is one of the oldest in Spain. It is even older than the cathedral in Santiago. Its name is St. Martin de Pieros.

We got to climb the stairs to the platform that accesses the campanario (bell tower.) This close, you can see estrellas (stars) carved in the ceiling.

We went back downstairs and looked around a bit more.

Suddenly Ulysses says, “We’re going back up.” Apparently, after saying no, we couldn’t go into the bell tower itself, the man changed his mind. So we climbed the ladder through a very narrow space to this.

And this, folks, is why I do Workaway. No one had been in that bell tower for years. You don’t get to do this sort of thing as a tourist; you have to know a local.

Today when I walked to the library there was a market in the square.

We had a storm last night, with hail and everything. Mar was gone and Martin was preparing dinner for the pilgrims. Suddenly Gonzalo came bursting in. “La Casita es un rio!” he exclaimed. “Un río!” I quickly figured out I would be making dinner alone. Thank goodness I had made it under Mar’s direction, so I had a decent chance of actually doing it. And I did.

Gonzalo has a video of water pouring down the stairs like a waterfall, but I don’t know if he can share it with me. But that was our excitement last night.

The Cacabelos biblioteca pública has WIFI muy bueno, according to Natalia, so I may bring my computadora here when it’s tiempo ir a trabajar. In the meantime, since yo olvido mi dinero hoy así yo compro nada, I am en la biblioteca escribo mi blog. Those of you who don’t speak Spanish can probably figure what I just said, or tried to say, out. And those of you who do can stop laughing now.

Since I’m on good WiFi, here are some pictures. Don’t skip the video; some of the entry won’t make sense if you do .

Not pictured are Choco (Winner’s son; looks just like her) and Trudy.

At Stef’s we could never put food out the night before because of los ratones (mice, not rats.) That is not a problem here.

Berro is a kitten, not even five months old. He is my workout partner. When I use my resistance band the end dangles down and Berto bats at it. He was so exhausted after our workout yesterday he had to nap for hours afterwards.

Today Gonzalo, one of the volunteers here, touched my arm when he was talking to me and said , “You are strong!” “Porque?,” I asked, wondering how much resistance a mop was supposed to put up. “Because when I touch your arm is hard.” Oh. Thanks?

Gonzalo works in “La Casita,” which is a tiny house on the road that belongs to the albergue. The albergue is down a bit and not visible from the trail, which at this point on the camino is on the edge of the carretera. Gonzalo told me I am doing very well, that my passion for the work is clear. That makes me happy.

Well, I have to be back at the albergue at 2. It’s 1:15 and a 30 minute walk. Catch you guys later.

I am so sorry, guys. No WIFI here means I burn through a lot of data even though I am constantly putting my phone in airplane mode. ($60 so far this month and looking to be more since there are eight days left.) There is no way I can upload videos or even pictures. Apparently the internet is really good at the library in Cacabelos, which is only a 30 minute walk away, so I may go on a day I have some real time.l and try to get things uploaded.

I went yesterday but there was barely time to get to the grocery for things I wanted. Coke Zero, mostly.

Here is the highlight reel. The first day there was drama with a pilgrim that wanted to stay an extra day (Drama buscando Juanita; it’s a thing.) He ended up leaving late in the day.

They serve the same meal, vegetarian couscous, EVERY SINGLE DAY here. I’ve read that if you don’t have variety in your diet, you get so bored eating isn’t really worth it. I guess that’s one way to lose weight.

There are five cats here. Luaita, Berto, Trudy, Winner, & Choco. I have met (and have pics) of all but Choco. My cat-loving heart is happy.

WIFI at my new place has to be negotiated, so y’all may get short sweet posts for awhile and not too many of them. But it sounds like I’m going to be busy here. I may have to write off-line and take a trip into the city to update once a week. We’ll see.

I thought, since the pool is open till September 10th, that summer was summer in Pola till summer was over. No. Right now it’s 57, and the low will be in the forties. THAT’S NOT SUMMER, PEOPLE!

My plan always was to shop for warm clothes when I got to Ponferrada. That’s tomorrow. I’m wondering if I can get some warm boots, too. Thank goodness I brought both pairs of long underwear.

Waking past the pool yesterday I saw something I expected and something I didn’t.

And does anyone know what this is ?

Later he wasn’t, so…

I also saw something in the grocery I haven’t seen in the US. Maybe y’all have.