Fonfría

9pm

Albergue A Reboleira

We set a new personal record today. But not the kind we like. The PR of the day was arriving to our albergue later than any other day! A little after 6pm. And with a 7:40am start... that’s a long day. 

But it’s ok because HOLY MOLY it was a stunning walk. One of the hardest we’ve had in a while, with the notoriously steep climb up to O Cebreiro. We took a nice long break after the worst of the climb, spending  about an hour in a beautiful albergue bar in La Faba. The whole menu is vegetarian! Excellent coffee, excellent breakfast, excellent atmosphere and staff. 

After our beautiful break, we set off behind two guys and their pack mules. Actual, literal pack mules. 

Never a dull moment. 

The rest of the day was up, and up, and up, and up. Somewhere in that climb we met Lus, from Chile. We chatted with her off and on when we could catch our breath. She lives on a farm in Patagonia and has 30 chickens. Her grandchildren love the baby chicks.

Like Eva the other day, Lus shared her deeply personal Camino story: She was going to walk with her husband. They were going to walk three years ago, but decided to put it off another year. “But then 2 years ago, he passed away. I wanted to do it last year, but I couldn’t. So I said, ok. This year Sergio. This is our year. And here we are.” 

Here WE are, she said. Them. 

Sergio is with her for every step. 

She even persevered after a nasty fall the other day which almost knocked her teeth out, bruised her ribs and cut her legs. Again, such strength. 

Up and up and up we kept climbing (officially passing into Galicia!), until we reached O Cebreiro at last. Such incredible views, and a lovely lunch awaited us.

(we were also passed by people riding horses up the worst of the climb... insert jealousy eye roll here)

One thing I was NOT prepared for is how much climbing we still had to do after O Cebreiro. And in the heat. Ohhhh what a difference the heat makes. But we MADE IT! After the last and worst of the day’s climbs, we came upon some unfortunate pilgrims having to check out of their albergue after already settling in, having discovered bed bugs. NO THANKS! I didn’t want to even be within a one block radius. We high-tailed it out of there and kept on keepin’ on. 

At one point I came across a rather sizeable snake slithering across the road. Not my favorite thing, but I just pretended I could speak parseltongue and willed it away. 

We strolled into our albergue very tired and hungry and READY to be done after our strenuous day, but feel so proud of all we accomplished and the optimism we were able to maintain. 

It’s really the perfect albergue situation, if you ask me. We have our own room and bathroom, but it’s a busy place full of pilgrims with a large communal dinner. We chatted with new friends from the US, Korea, and Spain. Everyone loves and appreciates the “Camino family” you make along the way, and you just never know when someone will make their way into your life. Tonight I finally formally met Hye-Rim, a woman around my age from Korea who I’ve passed and casually chatted with several times, but we’ve never really gotten a chance to talk. Tonight we were seated next to each other at dinner, and she’s lovely. Studying international nutrition. How cool is that?? These community dinners never get old.

Have you ever found yourself in a beautiful place or moment and thought, I can’t believe this has been here all along, existing in a way that makes my heart sing, and the only difference is that now I know about it. Now I know how much I love it. 

How many other places like that are there in the world? How many other incredible sights and sounds and scenes would ignite my soul like this?

I would venture to guess there are many. 

And I can’t wait to discover them.