Yesterday, we decided that we needed to do about 30 km in order to keep on schedule. For those of you doing the math at home, yes, that is about 20 miles. So we started out from Molinaseca pretty early (still not as early as all of the other pilgrims) and made it through Ponferrada (a fairly large city) pretty quickly. We met up with our Barcelona family in a suburb outside of the city. We looked up and saw a young boy sprinting towards us and I immediately knew who it was. He is the only person I have seen running at any point this whole trip. We walked with them for a bit and dad thought he lost me for a second because i stopped to get some ice cream from a convenience store. Obviously if you know me, you are not surprised by this. We left the family in a tiny pueblo about 6 km from where we wanted to stop in Villafranca. At this point dad and I were feeling pretty good still, but the last 6 km were up and down hills, which was rough. When we got to Villafranca finally, it was down in a valley. Dad and I started to disagree about where to go because we both always know where we are going, but we finally made it to our hostel on the complete opposite side of town. To say I was tired of walking would be an understatement. The hostel was very nice and clean and we both immediately showered. I decided it was too late to nap because I wouldn't be able to sleep, so o went exploring because it was a very cute town. And I wanted churros con chocolate. The motivation was mostly the second reason. I passed three beautiful churches and a park with all these gorgeous flowers. I got to the churrería and it was closed!!!!! Heart breaking. So instead, I stopped at a cafe and had some dessert that I am still not quite sure what it was, but it was delicious. We explored a little more and then we had some tapas for dinner, including pulpo (octopus) for dad. Dad has gotten tired of the typical pilgrim meals, so he was happy to mix things up. We both passed out early last night and pretty much slept through the night for the first time this trip.
Today was our recovery day (LOL). We walked along the highway for a very long time through a ton of small towns. I was thankful for that because the alternative was straight up and straight down a mountain. However, we got to the last 2 km and those were winding up a hill. I was cursing the mountain the whole way, which probably wasn't very pilgrim-like, but I was so annoyed that the mountain wasn't ending soon enough (irrational, I know). We finally got to the top to this tiny tiny town and are staying in this super hippie albergue. I'm talking vegetarian menu, organic wine, and a porcelain hole that functions as a toilet and a shower. But the people who run it are very nice and it is clean, which is what matters. We wanted to go to the next town up, but we didn't have another 4 km of hills in us.
I am starting to get used to the pilgrim lifestyle, much more so than I was at first. But I think the thing that has surprised me the most is how challenging switching from albergue to albergue everyday. It would be nice to be able to stay in one place more than one night, however that is not the way of the way. My body hurts, but I am still so thankful to be here.
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