and...we have found internet again!!!!

So I have lots and lots to catch up on. We have been without internet for about four days now I think. But I took notes about what I wanted to write about so this may be a long post!

OK....day 7 Los Arcos to Longrono

I thought I might fall over from exhaustion after that day. It was so hot!! I was sunburned in some very odd places, like my hands, my left forearm and my left side of my neck. It was honestly one of the most exhausting days of my entire life. As we walked up to this nice, peaceful looking albergue with a beautiful fountain and garden....there was the WORST SIGN I HAVE EVER SEEN. It said ¨Completo-Full¨. After 17 miles, all i wanted to do was sit. But on we had to walk...

As we were walking, we were saying to each other, if we send out positive thoughts, the next place will be good. We were doing our very best to send out positive energy. Well it worked!! We ended up staying in a donation only albergue that was in a church. We slept on mats on the floor which didn´t so much matter because we were both so tired. But the most wonderful part was they cooked us dinner and breakfast! The dinner was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. These priests made us the dinner and all 100 or so people sat at long tables and had dinner together. THe entire atmosphere and energy was just so amazing. I can not say enough about what an unforgetable experience it was. We ate salad and pasta and had fruit and yogurt for dessert. Not everyone spoke the same language and it was ok. Everyone just laughed and had a wonderful time. I hope I never forget that night.

Before dinner, I went to mass. The night before had been a very rainy night so I didn´t have any dry clean clothes to change into after my shower except my pajamas. My pajamas are long black leggings-long underwear pants and my shirt is a blue pull over thin shirt. So... I went to mass in my pajamas. I felt sort of silly but the mass was a really beautiful service. Then, at the end, they made all of the pilgrims go to the front for a special blessing. There I was, in the front of the giant church in my pajamas.


Day 8 Logrono to Ventosa

Because of our killer day the day before, we just decided to walk 20KM which I think is about 12 or 13 miles. We started out and the walk went pretty quickly for me. Kirstin was having some blister and leg issues so I got to Ventosa before she did. The albergue wasn´t open yet so I just sat and waited.

As I was sitting there, my stomach started rumbling and I was thinking I needed some lunch. So I asked in some very broken spanish where the market was to a guy sitting next to me. He said he couldn´t find it but would ask the local lady that was walking by. The lady told him there was no market, only 120 people lived in the town but that she sells bread. Just as the bread woman went into her house, the most adorable man walked by pushing a wheelbarrow full of vegitables. He was everything you would hope he would be. He was old, wearing overalls and no shoes. He started talking to me in Spanish and I did my usual smile and nod. He was very funny and had very little teeth.

After we were all checked into the albergue, I went to see the bread lady. She wasn´t downstairs so I knocked on the wall and sort of yelled ´Pan´ (bread in Spanish). She came down and I bought the bread. After, she tried to ask me some quetions but I didn´t understand her so I just kept saying ´No se´(I don´t know). Then, she grabbed my head and kissed my check and sort of pushed me out the door. It was very touching and very odd.

We went out to dinner to the one restaurant in town with a bunch of other pilgrims. The big dinners are so much fun. We are some of the few Americans so its really interesting to talk to everyone else from Australia, Peru, Canada, ect....

Day 9 Ventosa to Najera (OVER 18 MILE WALK!!)

OMG that day was so so so long. It was probably the most miserable day I have had. The entire day was windy and cold. I was sort of just really unhappy all day. The most notable part of the day though was in the morning.

I left the albergue abuot 6:15 a little bit before Kirstin. I got to use my cool pink head lamp because it was pitch black outside. I went along and as I was walking, another girl from Canada (her name is France interestingly enough). She touched my arm to stop me as we were walking and we both turned out our lights and looked up. The stars were so beautiful. The entire sky lit up and it was incredible. Some of my books I have read about the camino say that the ancient pilgrims used to use the stars and that they pointed them to Sanitago. It did seem to look that way. The stars aligned and just pointed in the way we were walking.

Because of the dark sky, we sort of didn´t make it on to the trail. We walked along the highway for about an hour and a half. I was pretty sure everyone was really lost (there were about 4 other people walking at the time). After about an hour, I looked back at France and said, I think we are lost. She just smiled and touched my arm and said ¨You are never lost when you are on a road, it will take you somewhere¨. It was such a smart and profound thing to say. I wanted to hug her at that moment.

The day only went downhill from there. It was really cold and just a horrible horrible day. I stayed inside and layed on my bed for most of the rest of the day.

My time is almost up so I will write about today a little bit later tonight when I have more change to put in the computer.