We walked from Triacastela to Sarria today. Marybel’s heels are holding up with extra padding. The distance in the book is 21 kms but we have found that our guidebook has been incorrect for us as it only measures distances from city limits to city limits. It does not take into account going into the city looking for our respective albergues. So this means that we actually walked more than what the guidebook states.

The route today is fairly easy. I am bulding up stamina as I now find walking 10-15kms is a cinch and going to 25 kms is only slightly exhausting and doable. 30kms is still a challenge but we find that we do not need to push ourselves to this limit.

Though Marybel is suffering from Archilles Tendonitis, she still manages to walk ahead of me. She stopped at a cafe ahead on the route and we find that I am only 20 mins behind unlike when we first began where I was more than an hour or two behind her.

On this route, Pepe whom I met in Viana caught up to us. He is still suffering from blisters but he walks 40kms a day. He wants to reach Compostela De Santiago by Sunday. What a determined man! He advises us to reach the Compostela’s office by 10am and then attend mass at noon where we can hear our names mentioned in the service for having completed the camino. After that, we can buy another guidebook to lead us to Fisterre, the end of the world.

We reached Sarria by 2:40pm making really good time. We were quite hungry and stopped for a pilgrim’s lunch $8.60 with a great tasting beer called 1906.

We learned that there is a storm front coming next day or so. The temperature will be around minus 5. It is starting to feel cold but we are equipped with warm clothes and toques so all is well.

We reached our albergue A Pedra and our hospetelaria, Jose, examined Marybel’s heels and advised her to take another break to help heal better. “Patience” and slow down was his advice to us. He also examined my toes as I have been hitting them against the rocks. My two big toe nails have turned black from the hurt. This is common on the camino. He joked that I may have to bury my toe nails in Spain. Strangely, I am not hurting from my toe nails and I know that I am all right. I am taking his advice of another break and will stay in his albergue for one more day. The cost per bed is only $9. He is most hospitable and provided us with some relaxing gel for sore muscles as well. His albergue ia clean and comfortable so staying here for another day is easy to do.

We examined our notes and guidebook again. It will be another week before we reach Compostela De Santiago whereas it takes an average pilgrim 5 days and superfast pilgrims 3 days. We need to take an extra couple of days for a difficult route ahead where the stage is 40kms but it is a Three Shell hike. Breaking this up into 3 days is a logical thing to do.

Sarria is in Galicia. Here, the people speak a different spanish lingo called Galego. For once, Marybel is disadvantaged on the language front. She cannot understand what they are saying when they speak Galego. She says it is a whole different language all together, not spanish at all. She still manages as the people will switch to formal spanish once they know she cannot speak Galego.

Galecia is famous for their pulpurias. They are bars that serve octupus prepared in a special way. I have not tried them yet but there is no doubt that we will find an occassion to do so prior to reaching our final destination.

My camino is taking it slow. I feel that I have not been treking much but my feet and shoes show tales of walking a lot. We have skipped some parts of the camino due to weather and health. Oh, well. It turns out that we have to make the camino our own way to ensure we get to enjoy it to the fullest.

We have met many pilgrims. All have stories to share. Some we meet again and others will never cross our paths anymore. I am most grateful for one constancy, my best friend Marybel. I would not have gained so much with my camino if she was not here to share it with me. It is incredible that she is still here with me on the camino while undergoing pain and suffering. She is more resilient than me as I would have quit the Camino if I suffered her pains. Remember, I have been pain free since my healing in Villar Del Mazarife. Yes, I suffer from the slight aches and tiredness (oh,yes and black toes) but Marybel’s pain levels are much greater than mine. I see her swollen ankles and how she winches when she walks and it surprises me that she does not call it quits. I must have done something good in my past life to have a friend such as her.

In gratitude for all the good in my life,

(It looks worse than it really is…lol)
Hilda 🙂