so little, so much

unbelievably, anna and i are only 50km from santiago. i am literally not sure how this happened. weren´t we being jostled awake on a french train at the spanish border just the other day? ridiculous.

the road is so much more crowded now that we are out of sarría, the last place to start and still receive a compostelum (certificate of completion), including so many more slackpackers and the like. despite that though, i have managed to walk most of the past few days walking alone, in part because i am so slow with all my injuries and blisters, and in part because i am simply enthralled by the scenery and the people. last night, anna and i split up for the night and i stayed in an albergue run by a christian organization that provides free housing and food to pilgrims. it was absolutely magnificent to be holding a conversation in german, spanish, english, swedish, and italian all at once around a table of homemade food, complete with jokes and laughter and this sense of community. there were a few familiar faces--some people who have caught back up with us or who we have now caught up with again--and everyone shares the same sense of excitement. we are all so close!

i´m still in a lot of pain from my achilles and have experienced quite a bit of numbness in my toes at the end of the day also. i wish i had trail shoes with me, rather than hiking shoes, and while my back has been great the whole time, you can bet that next time i will carry less weight...

anna and i will be in santiago by sunday for the pilgrims mass, but its unlikely i´ll be able to post before then. be well, be safe, and wherever you are in the world, i wish you a buen camino.