Laredo June 02

 Before getting to the account of the day, I want to mention another option for getting the €€ back:  challenge the charge on my card. How is it possible that a store that sells computers and has techies on hand cannot effect a return on a credit card unless the holder of the card is physically present?  We'll see what happens!

I did not sleep well last night, up at 1:30 and never really went back to sleep.  It is a good thing I chose the short route because it is only 20 miles as opposed to the official, inland route, which is 32 miles, NOT kilometers.  A tall, lanky young man who hikes in socks and tevas and wears a yellow plastic poncho passed me just at the junction where the route choice kicks in.  He was headed up a frightfully steep hill, while I chose to hug the highway. I wonder how much of Spain I will be crossing on the N 634.

I left my hotel at 6:30:

But those grey clouds took over and it rained.  It rained and then it didn´t and then it did again, and then it rained really hard, and finally stopped.

Horse figuring out which route to take or waiting for the bus:

You know when they REALLY want you to go that way:

Sometimes there was a little pedestrian corridor beside the highway:

Ready to pounce and scared stiff:

There was an all too short and very pleasant stretch of cliff walking:

The hotel is located at the far end of town, so by the time I arrived, about 2:15, I was plum tuckered out and happy to know that tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado (quite past its prime) were packed away in my suitcase because hunting and gathering was the last thing I wanted to do.  Though grocery stores are closed on Sunday in most places, this being one of them, panaderias tend to be open.  There is nothing like a fresh loaf!

It really was an exhausting day: boring, long, very long, elevation, asphalt, rain, cars, motorcycles,  yeah. Not related to this at all, but something I just have to tell is a bit of the Daf today (Bava Metzia 94a).  It goes like this:  if you are going lend something to someone with a condition attached, say, Igor wants to borrow your car and you are OK with that so long as he returns it with a full tank of gas, you state the condition first: Yes, Igor, if you return my car with a full tank of gas, you may borrow it.  Of course, the discussion does not end there, but oh, one other bit that is noteworthy is that the condition has to be reasonable.  You cannot, for example, say, Igor, if you have my car detailed and install a new sound system, you may borrow it. Uhuh!