09/07/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 30 : Espresso Love

Bit of an interesting day: I went into our coffee stop and asked the guy for "An espresso and a cafe americano" - our usual order. The guy said, "I am sorry, but I don't know what an espresso is." I looked at him and for lack of a better response, I said, "are you serious?" He nodded his head - he was serious. Still thinking he was joking, I looked at the customer sitting at the bar with his beer. He gave me a blank look - not revealing if this was some joke or the barista really never heard of an espresso. I said, "it's the stuff that comes directly out of the coffee machine," pointing at his espresso maker. Wow! The guy had really never hear the word espresso. I said it a few times just to be sure (this conversation was all in Spanish). For Janet's Americano, she ended up with a double espresso, not a single espresso and water. This may be why she had superfluous energy on the second climb of the day!! --

Also in town, we were in the front of the grocery store - removing excess food packaging so we wouldn't have to carry it over mountains. A woman customer came by and walked out of her way over to our little corner, "I'll take this for you." Janet, being the recycling queen said, "noooo!" There was a trash can in front of the store, but no recycling. We always try to sort everything properly and this lady was going to put cans in the trash! We insisted - and so did she! It was weird. In the end, she kind of won out. Janet said, "Darn, I was saving that box for my little trash can." Strange things happen here with trash and recycling and the locals! --

A fair bit of hike a bike today, but I'm exculpated because this is the section Janet designed. Haha! Anyway, I definitely enjoyed it. Hoping Janet did too. --

In 2019, we went through that "brecha" shortly after watching the Vuelta riders come over Alto de Escrita. Last time it was cool, but this time it is warm and humid... another thunderstorm coming our way in a bit... --

You can probably see why we like it here so much. There are so many great vistas! --

A hard day today, but worth the climbs to see the white hermita de la Señora de Nieve. Thanks for encouraging me up all the climbs!

Paula G.