Ribadiso Albergue : Day 13

Meaningful Moment

Date	04 Aug 2026 (Tuesday)
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):
Total Transportation:	$ 265
Food (Deb & I):	€ 21 groceries € 8 churros and coffee € 15 Drinks, fries and ice cream at Meson Ribadiso
Total Food:	$ 633

Random Thought of the Day

Incredibly, all the pilgrims were out of the albergue by 8:00 so we could clean up the campus right away and get done a few minutes early.

Nice walk into Arzúa this morning with Deb. Cloudy and just a little bit of drizzle but not a big deal. 

Guardia Civil mounted patrol keeping a presence on the Camino this a.m.

The Xunta Albergue de Ribadiso da Baixo is next to a working farm.

Afternoon yoga to relax

Someone joined me! LOL 

Notable memories

Today has been a different kind of day: 

• Soup spill in the kitchen requiring a cleanup
• Pilgrim self-treating a blister so we offered some bandages
• Lost wallet eventually found between the mattress and the wall
• Chatted in some little German with a pilgrim from Saarland
• Sprinkles then rains, then stops. Sprinkles then rains then stops. 
• 3 generations of Brits are here. Has me think of my son and grandkids.
• Guardia Civil on horseback came along this morning on the Camino, doing a patrol. Show the flag.
• Spent most of the afternoon in a wooden chair reclined way back against stone wall in the shade of the roof overhang. Reading one book by Helen Thayer called Walking the Gobi, and another book by Jorge Lewis Borges called El Informe de Brodie. When I'm not reading, my eyes are closed and I'm feeling the breeze blowing over me.
• Did an afternoon session of yoga. Eventually someone came over and joined me.
• Bedbugs at the neighboring albergue. We just got four of their clients. There will be washing of clothes tonight. Offered them water and cookies to take the stress down a notch while they get organized here. Bed bugs are every hiker's nightmare.

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A Constant Companion

Everyday he has come around. Kind of straddling and rolling and plowing along. 

His red moppy floppy hair bouncing up and down, sometimes covering the brown eyes. 

A short guy. An intense guy. Knowing what he's looking for and knowing where he's looking for it, he visits us on an irregular schedule.

I don't know much about him but I do know that his Spanish name is "Quisco" which I had to learn was something like the lard Crisco but say the word "key" for the first syllable instead, thus coming to the correct pronunciation of "Keys-ko".

I like the sound of that name, it sounds macho. 

When I look at him, I don't necessarily see macho. But I do see determination and purpose. 

And I don't want to see him have to be macho. 

I just prefer to think that if he has to scrap down with some other mutt, he'll come out on top physically, literally and allegorically.

The first couple of days Quisco kept his distance. But at some point something changed. I turned to put my side to him. I bent down squatting; I stuck my hand out and just held it there so that he could check me out.

Quisco ran his nose along my hand and up my arm. I was in his club.

Quisco