Yesterday I got an email from Alysson Siwik, the director of the Gila Vonservation Coalition, saying there was another important water meeting coming up.  For what it is worth, I pray for the Gila River every day , especially when I  walki by an acequia  head gate.  Our whole system of water distribution came to  NM from Spain and in the north the Spanish lingo is still used -mayordomo and parciantes; on the Gila, we just say ditch, but the practices are the same.  I've even seen sheets of heavy plastic like we use to back up the water for individual fields or rows.

I  am in Galicia now - the home stretch!  It is wet and incredibly green; the trees covered with moss.  Old, gnarly chestnuts - they are either not planted or so long ago there is no order - also many big, old walnuts, whose fallen nuts I see people cracking, one against another, moist and flavorful.

I took another detour Monday and  Tuesday, to see another monastery, this one at Samos.  It is one of the oldest and largest in Spain, with a small town serving the monks and visitors wrapped around it.  A lovely slow moving clear stream flows past with so many trout in it - we saw one giant one about eighteen inches long!

I've been ordering trout quite a bit for dinner as I know it will be local and fresh. The pilgrim menu generally costs about 8 to 12 euros (mulltiply by 1.5) and consists of three courses, with bread and wine included.

My knee is not better and I have had plenty of rest, so I guess I am headed for the surgeon when I get home.  As long as I take 3 to 5 ibuprofen tablets a day, use my sticks, especially going down hills, walk slowly,  I can do  the 10 km a day without too much pain.

Here are some recent photos.  Love to all, mary