Today’s theme continues with olives, but branches off in a different direction, at last. You need to understand that walking leaves one with a lot of time to ponder the trivial, as well as the important.

First the olives.

Different amounts of cultivation effort are noticeable. Here is an hard-working fellow who circles each tree. Others seem to take a linear approach.

There is a lot of pruning going on. Large branches are cut and the trees of all ages are thus maintained…

Wildflowers abound…

A gorgeous rose appears in an industrial yard…

In Castro del Rio, we reserved rooms in a 16°C former convent or monastery (not clear which it was). Friendly family-run hotel now.

One of our group was feeling quite ill. She had walked 21 km in the sun, at a pace far exceeding mine, but that was apparently not the problem. As the best of a bad lot of Spanish speakers, I was nominated to accompany her to the emergency clinic. Off we went. I could hardly keep up, on the hike to the clinic, but from there I had a grand time as medical interpreter. The doctor was kind and friendly, as I described the cough, sore throat, etc. She even showed me her tonsils so I could confirm that they were lumpy and infected, and needed antibiotics. Then it was across the street for an extensive discussion with the pharmacist about the 4 medications being prescribed. Having completed that business, we were off to the bar (of course) to join our friends. That got even more interesting when our patient began to feel faint. Gwen, our emergency room nurse from NZ, had her stretched out on the floor of the bar for awhile. Sorry I didn’t think to take pictures!

Meanwhile, Antonio, the head of the local pilgrim association, showed up and was making calls to try to find accommodation for us as we move at a walking pace through the environs of Cordoba on a 4-day holiday weekend. Much to his surprise (but not ours) it was very difficult.

All that got sorted out eventually, more or less. We decided to stay in Castro for a rest day.