Today I have perfected my gangstah walk… Step, limp, step, limp…determined to not let my foot get the better of me, I override common sense, pop some ibuprofen and tough it out, relying heavily on my poles.

While researching this walk I met a woman from Australia on line. Bev and I considered walking together, but all the stars didn’t line up… However, we ended up here at the same time, and so planned to walk together today.

She met me in the village I stayed last night. We had coffee and set off for one of the biggest towns on the Camino, with a spectacular, can’t miss Cathedral.

As we leave the village we are shortly presented with our only ascent for the day.

As we near the top, we can hear the distinct sound of cow bells and the low groaning calls of many animals… We are excited to witness this special event…as we come over the top, there is a huge herd of sheep on our right, all heading our way… We realize we can’t dawdle or we might be stuck behind them for a while. I had to video it as the sound is so special…

We now go down our only descent for the day and head towards civilization…thank goodness we miss the turn off for the alternate route through the park, we later find out it is 4 kms (2 1/2 miles) of mud…

The 6 1/2 miles (10 kms) through first the industrial area, then the new part of the city and finally to the old town seems to take forever as I gimp along…I’m kind of wishing I’d taken the bus like several other pilgrims we saw at the start of this part…

As we get into the old town, our excitement builds… Soooo beautiful. The Cathedral rises before us like some castle from a fairy tale.

We are disturbed though by the plight of so many of our fellow pilgrims… It is fiesta weekend and there are record numbers of pilgrims on the trail… The town is completo – fully booked. We see many dejected pilgrims wandering around not knowing what to do.

As we get to the Cathedral and just minutes from our hotels (that we booked ahead), I hear someone call my name.. It is Kevin from Kona who I had met 3 days before on the trail, he’d taken a day off to recupe an injury… After we chat for a moment, he tells me he has no room. And doesn’t know what to do… He would walk to the next town, but fears that is probably full also…I’m sure he is right, pretty much everything is booked everywhere by 2pm right now…it’s the busiest they have ever seen it in May.

I think for a moment, and in the spirit of aloha and the Camino, I offer to share my room with him if there are two beds… This is something I would not have done probably my first week, but have become so used to communal living and bathing arrangements, that it just seems like the right thing to do…everything in my life right now is so completely different from normal, what’s one more thing … He has a very gentle, sweet energy, and is so appreciative.

When I get to my room and remove my boots, I’m dismayed to find that my big toe on my sore foot is white and numb!!! Oh crap! Not good! I have this room booked for two nights, but was already planning to head out tomorrow morning… Now I know I must take a day of rest.

I’m beginning to see that one of my learnings on this Camino, is to surrender my strong will…I like to think I can make anything happen …and yes, that I have control over my life and body…there is clearly a higher power with its own agenda here😄

I have wanted to walk this entire path, but now see that I may be forced to take a bus or taxi here and there, as my body teaches me to chill out, that everything is perfect even if it’s different than I had envisioned.

I keep asserting that I’m open to whatever experience is in my highest good as I continually seem to get knocked off my center and have to regroup…

I’m now actually looking forward to a leisurely walk around the Cathedral tomorrow, dinner with friends his evening, and the room to myself tomorrow😄