As fast as it became late summer yesterday, the weather changed again just as quickly. Tonight at about 3 o’clock it was stormy. The wind whistled and howled like waves along the corners of the house and then it began to rain, and it did so violently. Roof tiles, rubbish bin lids and everything else that was loose clattered all the time. So sleep was over. At 8 o’clock at breakfast it was still dark and the rain had subsided. So I thought I would venture out. Anyway, I wanted to go to the post office in Portomarin before I headed for my next destination in Lestedo. That went quite well for about an hour. But then it got darker and darker, not to say darker, and the rain intensified. My new rain poncho got its money’s worth. I felt like diving with a wetsuit. The wind whipped the rain into my face, so that the water often did not come from above, but from the front or from the side: Horizontal rain! So my diving mask was missing! Fortunately, the Way of St. James here in Spain is very well signposted, so that you don’t need any guidance as long as you’re not blind and overlook the signs, milestones and path markings at every fork or junction and even on straight stretches every few hundred meters.
After approximately 10 km I was fed up and stopped: Casa García in Gonzar, Lugo. The only ray of hope was my meeting with a young couple from Cancun, Mexico. I told them that I first visited Cancun about 20 years ago for a cavern diving course in the Cenotes of Yucatan and also visited Mérida and Chichén Itzá. The doline-like limestone holes that are filled with cool rainwater, i.e. fresh water, at the top and that show a phase like in a glass with oil and water at a depth of approximately 2 to 3 metres, through which one suddenly gets into warm saltwater that comes from the Caribbean, inspired me. I was so fascinated that I went diving there several times in the following years. These experiences are among the most impressive I have experienced in 50 years of diving. Sergio is also an enthusiastic diver, not certified, but his brother is a professional and takes him with him more often. His wife Katalina unfortunately didn’t speak English so well, but as a Mexican you don’t need that in Spain either! The distances to the breaks became shorter and shorter. But the breaks became longer and longer. I met them again in the Meson Labrador in O Hospital, Lugo, where we had to immortalize ourselves photographically. The next day didn’t get any better, at least as far as the weather was concerned. On the contrary, it gets colder and wind and rain do not let up. I now wrap myself in my blanket and hope for tomorrow.
