A Coruña to Ribadiso: Day 09

A Coruña to Ribadiso: Day 09 - 1st Day at the Albergue

Meaningful Moment

Well, just a little bit of time before we reach the albergue. This is the starting point of the whole point of this trip. We will spend the next two weeks helping pilgrims adjust to this particular resting place, and in the process, if desired, share thoughts, feelings and emotions about their Journey to Santiago de Campostella.

Date	31 Jul 2026 (Friday)
Weather
Total All Caminos:	2450 miles
Lodging (Deb & I):	Municipal Albergue de Peregrinos de Ribadiso da Baixo (room provided)
Total Lodging:	€ 700
Airplane(s):
Total Airplane(s) / Trvl Insrnc:	$ 1000 / $ 199
Buses / Trains / Taxis & Rides (Deb & I):	€ 10 Taxi to Estación de Autobús $ 14 Monbus from A Coruña to Santiago $ 13 Monbus from Santiago to Arzúa
Total Transportation:	$ 265
Food (Deb & I):	€ 40 food and pastries
Total Food:	$ 544

Random Thought of the Day

Well, we have had the turnover. Tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Deb and I turn on the lights to greet the pilgrims to a new day and help them on their way towards Santiago pick up. Estella. 

Marvelous dinner tonight. Cooked by Rick and Susan. Pimientos padrones, all kinds of Spanish, sliced sausages and cheeses, marvelous salad and all wrapped up with some great dessert choices.

On the Road / Notable memories

6:00 a.m. Up and getting ready for the bus trip to Arzúa.

7:00 a.m. Arrive bus station. 

7:30 a.m. Depart A Coruña.

8:30 a.m. Arrived Santiago de Campostella.

9:00 a.m. Depart Santiago de Campostella.

10:00 a.m Arrive Arzúa. Coffee stop before shopping.

Could have made my first mistake of the day. The town of Ribadiso is to the north. The albergue is to the east. If we had simply started walking towards the town of Ribadiso, we would have missed the albergue by miles. 

12:00 p.m. Arrived at the albergue. Met the current volunteers. Training starts in 30 minutes. 

Susan, Rick, me and Deb

American pilgrims on the Camino volunteers at the Xunta albergue in Ribadiso.

Susan and Rick are wrapping up their tour. 

Deb and I are starting our tour.

________________________________________________________

The universal translator

I'm sorry but I don't speak Japanese. Of course, that's not how I said it because those words are in English. But I remembered enough to say in his native language that I don't speak Japanese. 

Somewhat humorously, the only other words that felt appropriate in Japanese, and we're the only other words that I remember how to say in his native language, were that my name is Larry. 

As I was watching the interactions with the cashier, I would have expected him to be frustrated and flustered and frozen in fear. Because I would have been.

He was doing much better than I would have been. He had something that I lack: patience. And it showed through. 

Each time he handed his phone over to the other half of the business negotiation, some omniscient - omnipotent - omnipresent entity that I could not see - nor hear - nor feel - nor touch recorded the other person's words and then switched them nearly real time, almost instantly, absolutely magically from the romance language of Spanish to the the indecipherable character driven language of Japanese. ... And then vice versa.

Over and over I watched this exchange and I could not help but imagine how silly the idea of a universal translator seemed in 1968. 

That Captain Kirk would merely speak in American English and the alien of the week would simply understand in the alien language of the week seemed ludicrous, at least at the time. 

My job was to show this person to their bed and explain where the showers and laundry facilities

Having some kind of rebellious moment against the technology of 2026 against a life experience of hard work learning Russian and Japanese and German and Spanish by book and hook and crook, I felt compelled to use what little I remembered of my Japanese and hand signals. 

All of a sudden I felt not like an Amish person who chooses their lifestyle, but more like a person struggling against change. 

What was the point of all that hard work to learn to build simple sentences when a phone could do it in seconds or less. Is it all right to regret that kind of advance in technology?