#25 You can’t buy gum in Singapore

Camino de Santiago

I had a nice walk with a Chupacandile last night in Ponferrada. He and his cohorts announce the holy seasons in town, but all he did was scare me.

Some heavy misty rain took place much of the day, but we got about 5 hours of hiking in before it really started.

Steve and Drew hiking up yet another hill

I lost my green hat somewhere along the line, so in Cacobellos I stopped in to one of the Asian Bazaars that are popular here. You can find everything there! From pens to pliers, to clothes to dishes to styrofoam heads. Think of Dollar General times 100!

While in town, we stopped at a fruit market and got a couple of bananas. Too late, as we were trying to separate two nanners from a bunch when we saw the handwritten sign in English “Please do not touch the fruit!” So a woman came over and helped us grab two. After paying, we sat on a curb eating, when Steve walked up with a banana as well.

Steve: Did you touch the fruit?

Andy: Oh yeah we did.

Steve: So did I!

Then, a couple bites later, Terry joined us from a bar he was in.

Terry: I just finished a banana a Minute ago.

Andy: Yep.

Terry: Did you touch the fruit?

Andy: Oh yeah.

Terry: Yeah, so did I.

Sorry America. Within the space of 15 minutes, none of us followed the very simple directions provided. What must she think of us?

Before the rain, it was a very pretty walk.

We saw some tree pollarding, where they cut the crap out of very healthy trees to get them ready for the spring. Usually in parks and public spaces. I’d seen the before and after, but this was the first time actually seeing a pollardist in action. ( i made that word up)

Our stop for the night was the Albergue de la Piedra in Villafranca del Bierzo. In the early days of the Camino,many French people came here to grow grapevines. Soon the French people living here outnumbered the Spanish, and thus “City of the French” or Villafranca came to be. (Bierzo is like a county in Castile Leon)

Villa Franca de Bierzo has one of the first Puerta del Perdon s we have come to. These Doors of Forgiveness (Pardon) allowed a “gimme” to anyone who reached this door.

Meaning if a pilgrim made it this far, and you were too infirm or sick to make it the rest of the way to Santiago, the parish priest would meet you at the door and say “Good enuf” as if you walked all the way to Santiago, still 200K away. Seems like cheating a little, but then again, those pilgrims did not have chocolate croissants to sustain them. We do.

Here is the convent of San Francisco. The coolest part of this is that Saint Francis of Assisi slept here once!

Saint Francis paid a few Euros extra for this view of the castle in town (as seen from the convent above)

Its quite a pretty town,and I tried to get some good pics in the light rain that was falling

Look at this carpet of buckeye nuts! There were no OSU fans around to make necklaces!

This sculptors store was on my picture taking walk.

…and here’s the master at work. I so wanted to chat with him, but did not want to disturb him. Taking a picture of such a cool workshop will have to do!

Here’s a quick pic of what 8 euros worth of important energy supplements will get you at the local supermercado. However there were two 49cent Napolitano’s when I left the store.

This dahlia is for my daughter hayley. thinking of you baby girl!

Here’s a picture of our Albergue de la Piedra, and our room when we checked in.

It’s pretty good by hostel standards… no bunk beds (im too old to sleep on top) with the showers and bathrooms one floor down.

Note how clean it is… thats before we dump our packs out

At first I thought our albergue was named Piedra, like a female version of Pedro. (Hey, we were just happy to get a bed, so i did not spend time researching the origin of their name). Well I was wrong. Piedra is rock. And there is a big ass rock right in the lobby, going up through the second floor!

Here’s the ground floor reception area. Note the Piedra

And here it is on the second floor. Super cool if you ask me.

So, the title of this newsletter? Steve, Drew and I just sat down for dinner,when Ying, a woman from Singapore, came in to the restaurant.She was with us 2 days ago at the Albergue Verde in another town. She joined us for dinner, and eventually we learned that she walked 40K today, or 24 miles! Badminton is the most popular sport in Singapore, and it is really hard to reserve a court to play… you usually have to play really early in the morning it is so popular. So on a roll, I asked “Is it true you can get a ticket for chewing gum in Singapore?” Drew and Steve chuckled at what they thought was an urban legend,but Ying, said Yes! That is true! In fact no store or grocery sells gum in Singapore (because, no joke, they really want to keep sidewalks and their city clean)! You’re not even allowed to bring it into the city. I said how would they check that? She said the X-ray scanners at the airport look for it! I believe it, but any readers out there who have been to Singapore let me know if this is true.

(If it is true, this would be a great ice breaker to use at parties. Thank Triviacus Maximus)

Oct. 8, 2024, 7:34 p.m.

The Cuatro Amigos