Day 27 Foncebadon - Ponferrada (April 14)

I didn´t sleep too well so I got up early. The view is beautiful from the albergue. It is very cloudy, but the sky looks great! We left around 8:30, and it was 32 degrees F. A bit chilly. We started walking and we saw a few snow flurries. We made it to the Cruz de Ferro and there were quite a few pilgrims there taking photos. Cullen´s buddy, Ramon, took picture of us depositing our stone (and an arrowhead for a coworker) on the pile. To imagine the millions of pilgrims who did this very thing was grand. We walked the 7 miles to Acebo. It was really hard on the knees, but it is great to be in the mountains again. Acebo was a beautiful town. ONe of the few that actually seemed prosperous. We picked up a delicious orange, a banana and some chocolates at Josefina´s Tienda. We passed by Manjarin, the real atmospheric place. Not for me, sorry. It seemed like we had to walk around the entire city of Ponferrada in order to get to the municipal. I was so aggravated after walking 18 miles. They were slow in checking us in and they weren´t very welcoming. The showers were good though and the toilets ample and the clothes line was fine. The kitchen seemed well equipped, many prepared a meal for themselves. There were 2 sets of bunks in our room which we shared with a young Spanish couple. from Barcelona. Last year they walked from St Jean to Burgos and this year they are walking from Astorga to Santiago. So, pretty much they skipped the entire meseta which is too bad. Met a young American woman from Park Slope in Brooklyn. She hadn´t done a lot of prep work and she was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She decided to take a bus to Sarria and just do the Camino from there. We had dinner with Kate, Kaija (Finland) Brigitta (Finland), Patricia (France) and Bjorn (German). Thank goodness they all speak English!