Camino Day 8: Heading home to Salamanca

Today's Schedule: (3/29/16)

9am Leisurely wake up
9:56am Jose and I walk up to the grocery store
10:40am Breakfast in the albergue
12:01pm Everyone walks up to the mall
3:12pm Head back to the albergue
3:29pm Walk to the bus station
4:14pm Bus departs Salamanca
5:41pm Stop in Vigo to load/unload passengers
7pm Bus stop in Ourense
9:05pm Half hour stop in Zanabria to grab a tapa and drink
11:58pm Arrive at the Salamanca bus station
12:00am Two taxis to get us all home
12:14am the next day, we're home

Distance Covered: 297 mi by bus in 6h 51m, 4.3 mi by taxi in 14m, and 2.1 mi on foot
1h 10m

While being a relaxed day, it was still exhausting. We slept in this morning since we had nowhere to be for several hours. The albergue folks told us that we were welcome to hang out in their community room and store our bags there until this afternoon. There is only one departure each day at 4:10pm and it's an 8 hour ride. José and I left the family chilling in the albergue playing games while we walked up the shopping center to buy breakfast items. There is a large Carrefour supermarket in the mall so I picked up fruit, yogurt, and pastries for everyone to choose from. We spent a couple hours hanging out at the table and playing games. Around noon, we all walked up to the mall to find something to eat for lunch and get enough food, snacks, and drink to last us for the bus ride home.

 Mom took the kids to eat at Burger Kid while José and I went in search of something a little more. We settled on Pans and Company where I found a delicious toasted style sub sandwich with three different cheeses melted inside. I love cheese and Spain has no shortage of cheese here. After the mall, we walked back to the albergue to collect up our backpacks and head off to the bus station. After hiking the Camino, a half mile walk isn't really anything thank goodness.

When we arrived at the bus station, I tried to use the automated machine to buy our tickets and it was giving me a headache. I asked the older lady at the window for assistance and she came out to show us how to use the machine. We finally ended up with six tickets in hand and only a 45 minute wait for the bus. Our seats were towards the back of the bus. The girls sat with José and I with Justin next to Mom. Overall, they behaved super well for having to sit so long in a bus. Mia was started to feel a little queasy from the swaying of the bus but we made it home without any major accidents.

We had a stop about half way through the journey were everyone had to get off the bus. The bus driver stopped at a café so everyone crowded inside to order a drink and use the bathroom while we waited. There were more people than chairs so people stood around sipping their drinks and lining up for the bathroom. Quite a few people moved outside to get their smoke on and the time went quickly.

 It was close to midnight when we finally reached Salamanca. Thankfully the taxis were lined up along the street outside so we divided into two groups and headed straight home to bed. Mission Complete.


16,10€ Carrefour
15,60€ Pans y pollo lunch KJ
17,44€ Lunch at Burger King JEJM
1,00€ Carrefour (Bollo chorizo)
13,87€ Carrefour
106,80€ Alsa Buslines 17,80 x 6
13,70€ Restaurant Perales (drinks on the way home)
20€ Taxi back to the piso
Total Daily Expenses: 204,51€