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Day 20--Cacabelos to Vega de Valcarce, 24 km/15 miles. A long ascent through vineyards, the beautiful town of Villafranca with its Romanesque church with the Puerta del Perdon (if a pilgrim couldn't make it to Santiago due to illness or injury, going through the door of this church would achieve the same fast track to heaven), then a long trek up the valley with the river Valcarce on our left. We have seen the Spaniards, Gracia and Max a lot since Mazarife, and today we zigzagged with them a lot. They are funny and are always looking for the special dish of the region to try--yesterday it was botillo, pig stomach stuffed with sausage and chicken, etc. We passed. When we arrived at our sleep stop town, the place where we were thinking about staying didn't look great from the outside. We looked at several more places before settling on El Paso Albergue--looked clean and well kept from the outside. Opening up the door to the kitchen and reception area, guess who was sitting at the table--Padre Freddy! His knee and ankle were doing better not carrying the heavy pack (he had it shipped to Santiago!). We all had a big laugh--it was the 6th night we had ended up at the same town (5th in same albergue) without discussing it. He called us his angels (I guess because we helped him with his knee and ankle problems). Maria, the hospitalera at the albergue was hilarious--she washed our clothes, helped us cook our dinner, gave us fresh veggies from her garden, got Clare to help her feed her horses, and there were 3 kittens! The place was newly redone and very clean and we had our own room! One of our 2 favorite albergues so far on the Camino!
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