Megan and I starting the day off with hip openers.
As we left our apartment in Azura at 6am we encountered a bunch of other Pilgrims looking for the Camino. It looked pretty comical seeing people going in every which direction. Megan saw a baker opening her shop and asked her where the trail was. She pointed it out to Megan, Megan gave her a quick hug as a thank you, and showed everyone the correct direction.
Once on the trail, I had one of those magical conversations where someone was speaking French to me and I was speaking English to him and it appeared that we both understood what each other was saying.
The morning was a bit foggy and cool, which I think makes perfect walking weather. I was wearing Megan’s hiking shoes so my feet had nice space. They were still sore from being in tight shoes for days, but they at least had some reprieve.
The evening before, we all decided that we had such a nice evening that we should find a place to all stay together again. Eileen and I found an apartment in Lavacolla. The pressure of getting somewhere quickly was off of us, so we were able to have a nice walk.
We came across Patrick and Laura having coffee so we joined them.
We all walked together for a while but then separated during bathroom stops.
Since we were not in a hurry, we had a really long, leisurely stop for lunch. It felt great to put my feet up and Sonali’s leg needed the rest. After our lunch stop I found a pharmacy so that I could purchase some ibuprofen to help reduce the inflammation.
We walked through more eucalyptus forests.
We had another decent sized ascent to make around the airport. We met these cousins who were finishing up hiking the North Way of the Camino. They told us that there were hardly any people on that route. At most in a day, they may run into 20 people. The food is also supposedly fantastic on that route. One of the guys was telling me this story of one of the days on the trail was so hot, that he seriously thought the bottom of his shoes were going to melt. One of the men was the graphic designer for Funky Buddha Brewery and he was talking about the fun beers he got to design for. They are out of FL and don’t distribute in MN. I really want to try it if down in FL in the future.
As we got into Lavacolla we found our apartment. Mark and Eileen were already there. Megan, Sonali, and I all took naps. It was great!!
Eileen is a chef and made dinner. They are remodeling their CA home and turning the basement into a bodega.
Patrick and Laura came by after dinner to hang out. Laura had some serious blisters that she needed some tending to and Eileen helped her out with that. I was showing Laura this one that was in between my toes and it seriously burst open and sprayed me right in the eye. It was disgusting and hilarious.
We had a great night and it was sad knowing that we were going to have our last hike into Santiago tomorrow.
This day of hiking was dedicated to my inlaws, Dieter and Eunice. We live close to them in Minnesota and they are a big part of our lives. Eunice wanted to be a grandma for a long time, before I was ready to be a mom. She loves spending time with my girls and makes them feel very special. She always has something special planned with them. She is very selfless and really shows her love through taking care of others. She spends some of her time volunteering for various organizations that she is drawn to. She loves to cook and bake, a skill she learned from her mom and thankfully is passing down to my girls and passed down to Brad. When I am on my adventures she really steps in and helps Brad out with taking care of the girls, something I really appreciate and am extremely grateful for. Dieter shares my spiritual side of experiencing the divine when in nature. He has an eye for beauty and takes breathtaking photos. He really enjoys good wine and has introduced me to some of my favorites. My girls love him and enjoy getting silly with him. Gretchen admires how well he can play the guitar and aims to be as good as him. Brad really looks up to his parents and really wants them to be proud of him, which they are and do a great job of expressing that. They are extremely healthy and take great care of themselves. They have many interests and really dive into them. They enjoy the outdoors and traveling. I am very lucky to have them in my life.
Mama With Wanderlust 