October 11
Today's trek from Ourense to Cea went through some beautiful landscapes and interesting villages. It took an hour to leave the Ourense outskirts and quickly started our ascent through mountain villages. Most interesting seeing two eras of houses - century old homes in ruins and nearby, large country estates with beautiful gardens. Like many little European villages, over the decades people have left their small farms, but others are buying cheap property to build luxury homes. It's a beautiful area and therefore not surprising that new landowners are enjoying the land in different ways rather than trying to farm it. Cea is a much larger village with many stores, and according to a store owner, their economy is not just dependent on locals, but also on outlying villages that are too small to have their own stores.
Besides the weather being cooler, there are many signs of Fall. For one all the different fruits are ripening, as are the acorns and chestnuts, which were falling and nearly missing us. I guess that's why this season is referred to as "fall".
Lastly I want to mention that as we entered the area of Galicia the language has changed to Galician. It's appears to be a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese, and therefore communication is a little more challenging.
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