May 7 Ponferrada

In order to stay an extra day in the refugio we had to pitch in and
sweep and mop the floors. It's a big place of 180 beds, so it took a
while. Meryl seems to be on the mend. Gary gave her some antibiotics
which appear to be doing the trick.
Last night we bought makings at the supermercado and constructed our
own bocadillos and ate them in the court yard at the refugio. It was
interesting seeing how all the pilgrims operated, some cooking huge
feasts and some scavenging what they could. Our yogurt provided
someone with a healthy breakfast! The "God will provide" crowd, I
guess. About 20% seem to have blisters or other foot problems causing
them to hobble slowly around.
Today we toured a huge castle built by the Templar Knights. It was
pretty amazing to stand where the defenders would have stood and to be
able to see what the archers couldd see through their slots. The
walls were so high I had to look over slowly to lessen the shock!