Maureen admiring a somewhat strange and colorful mural on the side of a little chapel
on the way out of Ponferrada.

Some serious peregrino who spray-painted this concrete sewer paper with "Santiago
or death!" Close to Villefranca de Bierzo, our stop for the day.

On arrival at the Refugio in Villefranca de Bierzo, this guy was giving a group of Spaniards
a impromptu lesson on how to use a horse to do the Camino. Maureen caught him later
whipping his horse, and tried to give him lecture in her broken Spanish using words
like "Mucho male" and asshole!

The 25th of July is the main St James/Santiago holiday, and a special ceremony was
held with a procession bearing a  wooden statue of St James carried through the streets
of Villafranca before returning to the main church in town where the priest  gave a
sermon to the gathered which emphasized how St James/Santiago and his followers
(pilgrims to Santiago) helped Spain from being overwhelmed by the Moors.

Above and below - dinner at our refugio, consisting of a vegetable soup, followed
by eggs and chorizo, and natural yoghurt for desert At our table, which is the one
on the right, are four Americans from New York, all of them teachers. It seems virtually
all the English speaking pilgrims we have met are teachers - not an accountant, stockbroker
or lawyer amongst them! Funnily enough no Australians yet. Note Tony's
collarbones sticking out, hope he doesn't end up looking like Tom Hanks
in Cast Away.