Back in Valencia, after a long week of walking. We started about 205 km out of Compostela de Santiago in Ponferrada, but on the second day I traveled in car with the bookbags because my foot was destroyed. So I missed out on 29 km and apparently a two hour climb up a slope. Darn. No, but truthfully after that day sitting out I decided I didn´t care how bad my foot hurt I wasn´t going to sit out anymore. The first day was really hot and not that pretty. You could tell we were still in the province of Leon because the landscape was still mostly dry. Still not knowing the tricks we stopped at a restaurant and tried octopus (which is famous in Galicia) sandwiches and potato/fry things (like patatas bravas just different). Needless to say that afterwords we couldn´t move so we just laid down in a little plaza right by. Later we found you stop for breakfast, maybe a light snack, and you start very early in the morning... not at 12 like we did that day. That night and most of the trip we stayed in Albergues which are basically like hostels for people doing the camino. We met people from all over, some that had started the camino three weeks prior in France. The next day we arrived in o cebreiro (me in car, Esteban by foot). The town was adorable little stone buildings and some houses still roofed with straw. There was the first time of many times that we tried cheese with honey which is sooooo good. It taste different in every little town, because the cheese changes every 30 km or so. The view from this place was beautiful, as it was up on a mountain itself and you could see all the land/mountains surrounding. I love the people to. The people of Galacia are different, there accent is similar to the italians. Not pronunciation, but the intonation, the song that they carry in there sentences. They are very sweet too, humble and always willing to help.
The next day (by far my favorite day... it was absolutely beautiful the most beautiful landscapes I´ve ever seen. The kind of landscapes that make you angry at your camera for its inability to even slightly capture what you´ve seen.)We had made it to tricastela (our next destination) by 2 pm and after a short lunch I, the well rested one, decided we should keep going. We were originally going to stop in the following town but once again I said "let´s keep going". I thought another 11 km, thats nothing but after about 2 I thought I was going to die. My foot was killing and my legs aching. Somehow we made it Sarria by about 9 pm. We looked so goofy limping into this city with our walking sticks, hiking backpacks, and worn our faces. The city was much bigger than any of the little towns we had previously visited and so I suppose because there were people other than those walking the camino I felt a little goofy showing up dead in my hiking gear. We contemplated getting a taxi to take us to dinner that night because we literally could not move. One thing is 40 km, another is to do it up and down mountains and with big backpacks strapped to your back.
After Sarria the camino wasn´t as pretty but it was a lot of fun. We met a lot of really fun people some crazy catalan women that were hilarious and hyper active, some from malaga (southern spain) and became better friends with a policeman from Madrid. I tried my first "clara" which is half draft beer and half either tonic water or fanta limon. I prefer it with fanta límon, but I actually liked it... more like loved it! We tried awesome wine, white, red, all types are very tasty there and more "pulpo". I kind of liked it in Melide which is supposed to have the best octopus. I prefer to cut the outsides, tentacles and such off and just eat the meat inside. I wasn´t crazy about it though. The night before we made it to Santiago we met up with one of the ladies we had started the trip with and lost. It was good to see her again, and we ended up eating dinner with her and her friends. I think these were some of my favorite moments hanging out with all of the people that we met, eating, laughing, talking, talking and more talking! It was the first time I saw a mix of people from spain all together and was surely entertained by the little comments they would make about the others. Kind of making fun of, but all in good fun.
We thought the last day would be much easier as we only had to walk 20 some km rather than 40, 35 or 30 but it really didn´t turn out that way. We just barely made it to the church before mass, but we did. The church is absolutely gorgeous. When we finally could see it I just stopped and my jaw dropped. I wasn´t sure weather I should admire it or cry. I think after walking 200 some km, waking up at 5 am starting to walk, you kind of start to go nuts, emotions included. It almost becomes an obsession to reach Santiago and then when you get there... it´s like um okay now what?
The walk was definitely one of the coolest things I´ve done in my life. It was tough at times, glorious in others. A metaphor of life I suppose. Passing the different landscapes, watching houses, food and people change. Walking with confidence, walking because you have to, walking because you want to, walking through the tears and pain, walking through the smiles and laughs, walking by yourself, walking by your friends. I can´t wait for my foot to heal and to try again... next time I want to start in France! :)
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