Day 24 - Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo

Today's walk took me from the near outskirts of Ponferrada, windingly through the city, and out through a quiet, residential part of town. Walking in, we noticed all of these work zones marked along the road...except that there were no workers. It's a theme I've noticed before throughout Spain. Hitting the city itself, we stopped at a bar for breakfast...and found all of the road workers, smoking and drinking...at 10:30 in the morning.

One note for pilgrims: Cacabelos at the time only had one open albergue. I don't recall if there were others that just weren't open at that time yet. But this one was a bunch of walk-in closet sized particle board rooms around the exterior of the church. Bathrooms were not attached. It looked less than desirable (cold and clausterphobic) and made me walk more than 10 kms further to Villafranca del Bierzo (which actually was a lovely town).

How do I live a Spanish lifestyle when I'm back home in the United States? In Villafranca del Bierzo, I had to wait around for the grocery store to open...at 10 am...and it still opened 15 minutes late. Stores have a posted opening time (usually 9 or 10), but nobody is there at that time to open the place. Then they close for siesta at 2, even when it's not summer, and re-open at 5 pm. By 8, they're closed. Dinner's rarely served before 8pm, with most Spaniards eating from 10 until midnight. Nothing but bars are open on Sundays. Oh...and every other Monday is a fiesta when everything but bars are closed.

If you go to a bar in the morning to get a cafe con leche and a magdalena, you'll find all the locals...drinking whiskey, cognac, or orujo...for breakfast. The bars are completely mulitpurpose, serving "breakfast," lunch, and dinner, along with drinks (everything from zumo de naranja to cafe to cervezas). More importantly, they serve as places where local townspeople go to socialize. Drinking alcohol is very inexpensive with a glass of beer or wine costing only a Euro.

So. How do I go about implementing at least siesta at my job?