** Quiet time **

A new dawn...and yes it's true a good nights sleep makes such a difference.

The "kids" fro St. Xaviers and I were both fascinated by these boots topping off the fence posts.

The bridge at Portomarin.  And the nearly empty resevoir, that moved an entire town!

These steps nearly made my knees buckle...just thinking of climbing them...actually weren't that bad once you got going!!  This entire town was ups and downs though...and what little I saw...was worth it!

This church was moved from the valley floor below.  Each stone was marked and then taken down and put back in place high above it's original home.  The result is a new old church, clean sharp and still beautiful.  There is an air in this one of being used, where some of the others you sense are rarely used or on their way out..as are the villages they are a part of.  Loved the contras here of the modern tree candelabra (which reminds me of many a menorah I've seen!) and the fragile attenuated looking Christ.  The Spanish have a special knack for making the crucifixion powerful and real. 

I have to be honest, I actually started to laugh when I saw this one.  My first thought was ...barbecued ribs!  Really not sure what he's holding and has his teeth on, but it certainly made me think...of food!

So little of the polychrome left, but what is was beautifully displayed.

The canopy.

Once again, gotta be brutally honest...I'm not 100% sure this Madonna was in the Portomarin church....but she moved me like few others did in her incredible simplicity.  The only comparable ones for me was one on the wall in Burgos and the one in O' Cebreiro.....with the flash photo incident!  All the others were...as I refer to these kinds of things...too "pink and fluffy" aka, girly for my sensibilities.  These are so serene, gentle and approachable.

So you thought coming in to town was interesting...this bridge over the ravine was quite interesting too, especially for those who aren't the greatest fans of heights!!  But I'd watched four cyclist barrel across so I knew it would hold, at least as long as my nerves would!!

My theory, a form of stile to get up to the next area quickly...not quite sure why, perhaps grazing animals??

The purple school room. Yeah this deserves a moment more than some of the others!  The group from St. Xaviers, well they kinda took over most of the space in the little village before Ligonde.  So, when Lille Marie, Evalille and I got there, the word was "nada" as far as a place to lay our heads!  So, after a little help from one of their group, who had perfect Spanish, we determined there were rooms in Ligonde.  But only 7 places remaining!  This meant we had a minimum of 4 km to do in less than an hour, at least as far as we could determine.  You can't imagine how funny we must have looked, darn near running down hill to the next village.  When we got there...no one was taking our money, no one was stamping our passports, no one was concerned at all.  There were open beds everywhere, so we plopped our stuff down and got ourselves all cleaned up.  Long before the hospitelera showed.  So all was good, we had a place to sleep in what was once a school house.  Very basic, very clean and very comfy!

Now below are two very interesting pictures.  We had to convince the young men in the restaurant to allow us to order and eat outside.  It was glorious weather...so we did prevail!  As a result, we got to watch the traffic, or what passes for rush hour traffic.  First the cows heading in for milking.  Then came the Caballeros, heading out before any other pilgrims...gotta beat the morning rush.  Oh wait, they were actually putting on more miles before the sun went down!

This one was taken a bit earlier in the day.  I was on my own, and decided it was time for a little pause, a little meditation and some lunch.  So I park myself in a field, taking off my lovely red pack and settle into some bread, cheese and fruit.  Behind me I suddenly hear familiar sounds and grab for my camera.  As I spin around to snap a picture of Caballeros on Camino, I realize I must have looked "picturesque" too, 'cause the head Caballero was snapping a picture of me at the same time!  We both laughed and waved....  I have to say, Spanish horses are beautiful (the men on them weren't half bad either!)

Apparently my mojo was returning too, as I was beginning to notice the flowers again.  This is a combo of white spirea and I believe the pink are a type of honeysuckle!  Ahh...life is good.