Day 14 : @ the post office

Day 14 : @ the post office, originally uploaded by raoul_dewinne.

In the morning we had to pass by the village of Los Arcos where we paid a visit to some fellow countrymen who are volunteering as hospitaleros at the local refugio. A short note on those refugios: in Spain and southern France pilgrim's hostels dot the common routes providing overnight accommodation for recognized pilgrims, i.e. travelers who hold a credential. In Spain these are called refugios or albergues. Sometimes these hostels are run by the local parish, sometimes by the local council, and sometimes they are privately owned or run by foreign pilgrim's associations and their volunteers. Beds can be found in dormitories and usually cost between 4 and 8 Euro per night. Pilgrims are usually limited to one night's accommodation. The style of accommodation is somewhat similar to those provided by the simpler class youth hostels, or the French system of Gites d'etape.



Today we broke our speed record. Steering a total weight of 200 kg downhill at 68.9 km/hr is pure adrenaline :-)



As it had really sunk in very well yesterday, we had to find a way to become lighter and the sooner the better. Ourselves, we got light enough by now, but at our hotel in Logrono we examined our baggage one more time for things-we-can-do-without. Trying to outperform each other we managed to pile up another 6 kg of luggage with the intention to send it back home. We crammed it all in my backpack. At the local post office we found out that the well stuffed backpack was actually too big for the maximum allowable box size. But with the help of a friendly employee and a lot of tape we were able to make the box fit (more or less) around the backpack. Featherlight we left for an exploration of the local tapas specialties.