September 9, La Toja, Combarro, Pontevedra

As we left Santiago this morning, the bells of the cathedral were ringing as if to send us off.

It was a longer ride in the bus today to get to la Ría de Arousa where we got on a boat and got a tour of the area along with trying mussels and seeing how the people farm and gather them here. It started as a sunny tour on the top deck, then we all moved down to the lower deck where we took turns looking out glass bottoms of the boat, and then they filled our tables with mussels for us to try. Most people if they had tried them previously didn't like them, but this time I think almost everyone did and enjoyed it likely because they were so fresh.

Back to the bus after that taking us to La Toja and the hotel there for lunch. It used to be an island that no one used or lived on, but then the water there was found to have super healing powers after a farmer had abandoned his dying donkey there and then came back to find him all better. The hotel was incredibly grand, and La Toja is a very pretty island and the one of the favorite places in all of Spain for the mother of one of our directors Christine. Another long lunch and then type to go out walking and explore the town.

I walked around with some other people at first, but then went off on my own for a little me time and to try and find a bathroom. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but one of the highlights we found on the island was a little church completely covered with scallop shells on the outside of it.

After that we got back on the bus and headed to Combarro. It is a little fishing town that we got a short tour of. We have homework on this trip, and one of the questions was about some little huts on sticks, and we found out that they were used for drying fish and meats elevated from the ground to keep animals out, and with small slits to keep out the sun but provide ventilation. We didn't have that much time there because we were behind schedule but had a little time to walk around after that and there was even a little table set up next to a restaurant with the typical food of the area.

traditional foods we tried: empanada, chorizo (a type of sausage), octopus and wine

Back on the bus after that to the hotel in Pontevedra. There isn't that much exciting there, it was more a convenient place with a parador on our way to our next destination. I went on a run around the city and in a park with Anna then out to dinner with a big group of people. After that we went to two different bars and then I went back to the hotel with Laura while other people tried to find other people from our group who had ended up at a karaoke bar.