4/24-As Good As It Gets

500 miles...I cannot listen to today's song without thinking of Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman in "Identity Thief"..in the car...on the road trip...and she is singing along to this song.  Funny.  Here's the link:

https://youtu.be/_JDpjGN3qNg

I didn't sleep a lot last night...there was a caucauphony of voices snoring...which is okay, as long as you are not the last one to fall asleep.  Didn't seem to matter much...I packed my things and happily headed out around 6:45. There is a mileage sign to Santiago that has traditionally accumulated stickers from all over the world...until the end of the Camino season when the stickers are scrubbed and the whole process starts all over.  Look carefully at those stickers...oh my goodness, there's a Brother Ass Brewing sticker..how on earth did that get there?

I walked about 27 kilometers today...not quite 17 miles.  The weather was perfect...temps in the 60s.  I loved the day, the path was very muddy because of all the rain over night but all afternoon the sun was peeking through the clouds and I was in a long sleeved shirt.  The path gains in elevation before dropping into Zibiri on a walkway studded with ankle breaking rocks.

 I met Polly, a wiry little speedster my age from Pennsylvania, Jackie, another woman my age from Australia who I have so many things in common with it's scary, and Francine, a 50s-something woman from Holland.  Delightful people.  So delightful, that three of us ended up at the Larrasoana Albergue together.  We walked down to the market to get a cold beer, and found out Oliver, who owns the market and has done 8 Caminos, would be happy to fix us a Pilgrim meal.  Sold.  We showered and went back to a veritable feast.  I sense Oliver is something akin to a Trail Angel...giving back to the Camino, and in a very real sense, us.

I have new blisters.  Sigh.  I know I need to slow down...and stop to take my shoes off, but it was muddy and I'm not about to set my backpack down in that muck.  I just kept thinking...I'm almost there.  They have been popped (I don't believe in that infection stuff...I am armed with Neosporin) and will try to do better.