Oh what a hard walk! I had the most enjoyable evening last night. The auberge was great and kind of poured into the street. I can't stress enough how odd it was to enter this town, as far as the eye could see there was nothing and then this church steeple just appeared out of nowhere and each step just brought it to the surface. This group of wonderful folks is A and K from germany two adorable twenty something gals, full of smiles and happy, they met on the way. Three Irish folks (I really have found I gravitate and enjoy the Irish on this trip so much). M who is just entering her sixties and is hilarious, "Father" who you would never guess is an Irish priest, he is a hoot and nothing phases him. J a retired humble retired Irish police officer, and M from Seattle who I am guessing is a few years older than I am, really nice guy eager to keep a bottle of wine on the table.
I was on a different level than this gang and thankfully being in a room with only one other person I got to sleep in a bit. When I stumbled out of bed and got ready I came down to the restaurant area and was thrilled to see P from Amsterdam, what a character, we met in Vianna where I thought was the last time I had seen him, he quickly said, "what were you doing with the cute police officers?". Ends up he was in the square that day when I was dropped off. I started walking with him and his buddy and he shared he was about to drop out, that today would decide it. Their pace was a bit slow for me with some quick adjustment stops that seemed rather often so I continued on. The gang last night knew I would get a late stop but they said to meet them in Boadilla at the private auberge so I knew we would all be together this evening. The wind yesterday was awful, the wind today was unbearable...when I finally thought that I saw the town I was mistaken and thought I would throw a tantrum right then and there. A Spanish guy of about thirty something came up beside me and while he spoke no English and I spoke no Spanish it was nice to know someone was going to witness the death of me, I had comfort in this strangers presence. With the town insight the rain started, my first real rain...I guessed I was twenty minutes out and had to make the decision to pull over and batten down the hatches (throw on rain gear and cover my pack or just continue and be wet. I decided I needed to learn to deal with the rain in the proper fashion and quickly threw on raincoat and secured my pack. By the time I arrived at our wonderful auberge everyone was arriving and we are freezing. The host/owner is a young guy from Brazil with long black hair, dreadlocks and a knit black cap I suspect never left his head. He worked so hard to cater to the pilgrims, hospitality was tops on his list and he brought out blankets, started a fire and went into overflow mode welcoming people in and finding a place for them. Had it been sunny this would have been a dream spot, a huge courtyard, a loved place...but as it was we were crammed together but no one seemed to mind. The true spirit of the Camino was present all around and the people all assembled there were the best of the best. We had a wonderful pilgrim meal with the whole gang from the night before and were quick to get into bed, with the cold rain we were all eager to just get to sleep.
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