Day 8 - Noja (595) to Guemes (579)
Despite the weather forecast predicting sun, we woke up in a very gloomy Noja. The first part of the walk felt a bit weird today - the sky was grey, and we passed through very empty and dark villages and countryside, meeting stray dogs, sick cows, and witches’ murals.
Spencer was quite in a bad mood, feeling a bit Camino burnout!
So we decided to stop at the first town for a coffee and a huge piece of cake, I think this helped a lot to improve the mood!
Also meeting Wolfgang again lifted the spirit quite a lot!! After the caffee the sun also started to come out and the landscape became much better, walking immersed in green hills and fields, the only downside of the day was that we walked only on asphalt!
We were the first to arrive at the alguergue in Guemes - La cabana del abuelo Peuto and it is an amazing place! The hospidaleros are super welcoming and they offered us lunch! I still need to understand the history of this place, it must have been funded by this guy who travelled all around the world, it is literally full of objects from all over the world and there is the Land Rover that he probably used for his travels displayed here as in a “museum".
Sun and wind are the best for laundry so we washed most of our clothes before lunch.
I got a huge scare when Steve fainted right next to me, he seems fine now but I really freaked out :O
We have now been chilling in the grass and it feels absolutely amazing and peaceful. Let’s see if Spencer will ever wake up from his nap.
Spencer did wake up and I ended up totally sunburnt after the nap, will I ever learn?! We spent the rest of the afternoon defeating a bit of boredom, we tried and failed to write some thank you notes, and guessed people’s job.
Finally, at 7.30 we all gathered and they explained us a bit about the origin of the place and about the priest who funded it. Dinner was not so eventful, we sat at a table with mostly french speaking dudes and at first it felt like lunch at work (awkward), then we started chatting a bit with a girl from Israel.
After dinner, the priest invited us to join in the “chapel”, which was not a chapel in a religious way but more an area of reflection designed as a teepee and he explained us the meaning of the painting on the wall, representing the journey in the Camino and in life.
Since the bed were big enough we shared the same one and had a nice and restful sleep. Not much snores this time :D