In Merida

Merida is the town with more Roman ruins than any other outside of Italy, or at least that's what they say here. It's wonderful to walk around the city, the theater is just spectacular, the bridge is more than 1/2 mile long, 60 arches, all Roman. There are many little temples and arches and acqueduct parts around every corner, it seems. Pretty incredible, I would say.


The last two days have been like previous ones, through vineyards, but with a twist -- these were vineyards with wet earth. This wasn't your normal black dirt mud, this was bright red clay and I have never walked through anything like it. There was just no point in stopping to hit the stuff off the boot since it just started to glom right back on. So I just kept walking, and usually when the clay was 3-4" thick, it would fall off and then start accumulating again. It was pretty good exercise for the calf muscle, I think.

Business on the Via de la Plata is cutthroat. Walking into our destination town yesterday, a little girl on a bike came and told us, don't go to the hotel, go to the albergue, because the hotel is dirty and expensive. Well, I remembered that last year we stayed at the albergue and were none too pleased, so we went to the hotel anyway. Turns out that this modest hotel has private rooms with bath for the same price as the communal rooms in the albergue. And, if you can believe this, the little girl telling people to avoid the hotel is the daughter of the albergue owners and has apparently been instructed to do this. How could a parent teach her kids to engage in behavior like that? Shameful. I guess that's unrestrained capitalism for you.

I've been walking with two Austrians on and off for a few days, but tomorrow we go our separate ways. The father in law stays here for a day, the son in law goes 38 kms, and I will stop after about 20. Of my many Caminos, this is the most deserted I've ever seen, there is really no one out there. But I suppose that some start in Merida, others in Caceres, others in Salamanca, so I expect there will be some more walkers soon. I don't mind walking alone, but companionship is nice once in a while!