Olives and a brown lima-type bean are a standard finger food served with drinks in bars in this part of Spain. Tonight at the Hotel Moya in Monesterio (Km 108), they have treated me to a new and now my preferred variation: A small dish of chopped, cold tomato, onion, and boiled potato drenched in olive oil and vinegar. It is fresh and delicious. It makes my “Cerveza con Limon” go down very smoothly. I’m rehydrating, killing time on the Hotel bar’s outdoor patio waiting for 8:30 p.m.—the hour when the Hotel’s restaurant first puts out its “Menu del Peregrino”.
I’ve reached here during the siesta hour after a 38 kilometer day from Almadèn so an earlier meal was impossible. Instead, I took an afternoon power nap. You enjoy the evening, the sun setting, the air cooling, the people relaxed and rested. I walked through cool, cork tree forest as dark gave way to dawn this morning, and then survived some 34C degree afternoon torpor. Last night in Almadèn, the mass in the local Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Gracia wasn’t celebrated till 9:30 p.m. Too bad—this pilgrim and a half dozen others were dead asleep safely tucked in at the refugio before the priest even got to the offertory. I’m enjoying the luxury of a private hostel room here tonight. I’ve left Andalucía and crossed into Extremadura today. This name makes me think “extremely” durable … hard.
