Ehime Ken - Iya to Kochi and on to Matsuyama
In this area, Mari says people are very kind to pilgrims. (ie People will let pilgrims use their toilet.) The distances between temples can be as much as 87 km - a long walk. The road is designed to permit easy walking with a small sidewalk and a good shoulder - it would be great for biking.
The 100 Yen store is awesome. We would never have gone into this store, except that Masao needed more underwear. This is not your average Loonie store. One does not need to launder clothes. One can buy underwear for 100 Yen ($1.00), socks for the same price, and wear them one day! I could not bring myself to do this, as I believe in the principle, "Take only your memories and leave only your footprints." But we found many very useful things there. The underwear, at $1, is better value than the $8 cotton underwear from home. The socks are great. A new bra was $5 for "you know who". This is a great value store, and they seem to be in every community. Chinese goods are high quality, low cost in these stores.