Camino anecdotes


Little Green Men

The crosswalks in Salamanca have animated little men as well as a countdown clock to let pedestrians know what is happening. When you are not allowed to cross the little man faces you and is coloured red. When it is OK to cross the little man turns green and starts walking in profile while the clock counts down. With about 10 seconds to go on the clock the little fellow starts running faster and faster. I wonder if he shoots jaywalkers?

....eria

Lots of the Spanish stores have names describing the services or products with a suffix ending in ...eria. For example, fruiteria, panateria, chocolateria, libreria, etcetera. I noticed a new one in Salamanca, joyeria.....turns out to be that it is an aptly named store that sells jewellery!!!

Even the Thieves Take a Siesta



When Franck and I arrived at about 3:00 in one small town our guide book indicated that we could get the key for the albergue at the local police station. We found it without difficulty only to realize that it was ....you guessed it, closed.

Walking Sticks


There are three options with respect to walking sticks 0, 1 or 2. Very few people seem to use two. I prefer one and it has a lot more uses than providing walking support.

- it really helps when going uphill to provide some momentum
- it steadies you when going downhill
- it's like a third foot when crossing streams and huge puddles (remember my situation on day 1)
- it deters dogs. There are lots of dogs in Spain and usually they are tied up or behind fences where all they can do is make a lot of noise. Today I ran into a couple of small dogs when coming into a village. One of them tried to attack me from behind. He almost lost his nose in the process.


Everything follows the siesta rule with the exception of a few bars. Tomorrow is Sunday so it will be even worse, I have to do some shopping later this evening in case stores are closed where I am going tomorrow.



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