You can't beat a sunset over beautiful Galician mountains, with a glass of red Bierzo wine, some delicious olives and birds as your orchestra.
Today was a wonderful day. I have come to realize that I am not here to suffer, I am here to enjoy the simple pleasures the Camino has to offer. I was told a couple if days ago that on the Camino, it takes two weeks to get over the physical pain the Camino puts you through, than it takes about two weeks to deal with the emotional past you came on the Camino with (deal with the emotional pain), and the last week and a half to two weeks you spend figuring our why you're here now and what you want to do going forward. Because I only have two weeks to play with the Camino, I don't have the time to deal with the physical pain (the first 5 day were enough).
For the next week I'd like to do a couple of things. I'd like to get to Santiago by Friday night so that I have a day to ether spend on Santiago or visit Finistere (the end of the earth). If like to be able to re-read some of the letters given to me by my dear friends and actually spend a day focusing on the more important things in life. And I'd like to be able to walk to Santiago with little or no physi al pain. If that means I have to skip a town or two to get to my destination, than be it.
Today, Leigh Ann and I walked from Villafranca del Bierzo to O'Cebreiro. And let me tell you it was a beautiful walk through the absolutely gorgeous Galician mountains. We started off early and killed the first 10km fairly easy. We stopped off for lunch and to re-patch our feet. The next 6-7km weren't so bad. I wast in as much pain as before (thanks to Leigh Ann's pain drugs) and I was ready to tackle the second half of the day.
We got to Vega del Varcarce and Leigh Ann had a wonderful idea to take a cab for the rest of our journey to O'Cebreiro. Not only were our feet hurting by this time, but this morning we shipped or backpacks to O'Cebriero so one way or another we had to get there by the end of the evening if we wanted to get into clean clothes.
When we got to O'Cebreiro, I was speechless from the beauty of this village. It sits on top of a mountain, and all that's around you are charming stone buildings, rolling green mountains, and birds singing to you. It's a beautiful evening.
Tomorrow I get to say good buy to Leigh Ann. She has been absolutely wonderful to me for the last week. She has taken me under her wing in the first two days, showed me the ways of the Camino, taught me what to do with my feet to ease the pain of blisters, and had been both my walking buddy through out the day and my roomy at night. Leigh Ann is one of my Camino angels and I wish her all the best on her journey in life post the Camino. I can only wish that our paths cross again in life.
Tomorrow Cacabelo & I are taking another beak, not because my feet are hurting this time, but because I'd like to finish the Camino and walk into Santiago at least a day before I have to get on the plane and return to my normal life. So, tomorrow will be a day of figuring out how to get to Saria from O'Cebriero on a Sunday when most of Spain is shut down. Let's see what happens.
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday. On my walk to Villafranca yesterday, I met a fellow New Yorker. A 24 year old girl, Stephanie , from White Planes. Stephanie finished college a few years ago and has spend the last two years teaching English to kids in Spain. She's a great young lady and I'm on a mission to recruit her into our NYC Camino Pilgrims group. Hopefully I get to run into her again along the Camino. She's a couple of towns behind me, but I hope she catches up.
One last thing I cant pass up to mention here - today I had a couple of helping hands along the Camino.
Thank you Melissa for the lovely letter that made my morning today and made me tear. And thank you little Avery for lending me a hand and sharing my day with me. Both of you traveled with me in my heart today. Love you both.
Stay turned for more news from my Camino.
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