The Second Day To The End

Finisterre day 2

Since we were only going to walk 19k on this day we decided to sleep in.  The bed was SO comfy.  Listening to it pour rain all night, I just didn't want to get up and the thought of putting on all that damp stuff that just does not dry out in this weather was beginning to test my mettle.

Because we had all moaned and groaned together about the rain the day before, when we finally did get up and come down for coffee, we met our friends, johncasey, Brett and Barb who had devised a plan.  Guide book out, johncasey informed us that the way to the next stop would be mostly along road with no shoulder to speak of.  He had it on the good advice  (another Camino rumor) of some other pilgrims he had met that you should just taxi through this certain section.  That it would be too dangerous to walk, especially in the rain.  This sounded good to me.  John was not having any of it and really unbeknownst to me was personally committed to walking all the way.  As for me... It really wasn't that important.  I seriously considered going with them until johncasey heard that John was walking and said if he was walking, he wanted to walk it too.  Barb had been having some stomach issues and was struggling with her thoughts out loud to me as to why she wanted to taxi forward.  I looked at the partly cloudy sky and said, well hell if you guys are walking, I'm walking! I thank (or curse) my brothers for making me this way.....Damnit it all!!!

We packed our packs and their contents with plastic trash bags the guys had bought to keep things as dry as we could in case of what seemed to be, inevitable rain.  I'm finding that my pack cover is just not cutting it in these kinds of deluge.  I always end up with a puddle in the bottom of my cover no matter how tight I cinch it.

Ok we are all set.  Johncasey said he was going to the room to pack up.  About 25 minutes later and much pacing back and forth, John and I decided to leave.  I hoped no one would be offended and I wasn't when I learned later that it would be about an hour and a half until they finally shoved off. And I thought women were slow to get ready.

It turned out to be a really great day with overcast skies and no rain.  Perfect walking weather!  The sections of road we had to walk were minimal and even though it was pretty scary with little to no shoulder, it was a Saturday and the traffic was light.  We had plenty of walking on pretty forested paths and empty country roads. At our usual midday stop, we met an Ozzie walking back to Santiago, a round trip that is done more than I had first imagined and would come to learn is quite a common exercise. No thank you very much. He informed us we would be better off staying right there for the night as he had not noticed an albergue at the town the guide book had us stopping in 7k down the road.

When the day is done, I am usually pretty spent and wanting to be through.  This time, with it so late in the year, I also worried that the lone albergue in town would be closed for the season. The Ozzie was coming back to haunt my mind.  Sure enough it was pretty quiet when we got to the town of Maronas and I was hoping and praying the place would be open because the next town was another 13 kilometers away and I just couldn't do it.  As I clicked along, paranoia had me looking seriously at empty barns and chicken coops as possibilities for down for the night.

You can imagine by now that I would be ok with one last dorm situation. Sure enough Casa Pepa would be the place.  We walked in and the only person there was an old man sitting at a table in the bar.  I asked "albierto?"  Open?  He called for someone and a person I bet to be his son appeared and said yes he had two beds.  12euro. Done.  Picked our bunks, took showers, went to the bar, ordered vinos.  Typical is the routine we have become so comfortable with on this journey.  It was then our
friends johncasey, Brett and Barb ambled in along with Suzanne, a German girl we had walked with since the very beginning in Orrison! Always such a fantastic homecoming. We truly have become "family".

We all had a great pilgrims meal and I really tried to savor the experience of one last night in a dorm, with all my equals slumbering and snoring around me, knowing it would all too soon be just a distant but profound memory.