Day 25, O Pino - Picarana

22,77km, 33 454 steps

There, but not there

It's wisdom to listen to your body and treat it well. Yesterday sucked a bit more energy out of me than I estimated and I didn't eat enough as I was tired and didn't feel like chewing, biting or swallowing after the over 30 kilometers I had done.

Today has been a long day. There has been unexpected rain and a thunderstorm that made me search for shelter rather than walking ahead. As my body is doing it's best to recover from yesterday, I've been hungry. So hungry. I stopped to eat like every two hours. My feet are aching through the pain killers.

I met the lovely American couple again, we shared a room last night. We figured out plans were so different that we probably wouldn't run into each other anymore. This morning we said our goodbyes and I left the breakfast place feeling sad that I wouldn't see them again. But I did. Several times during the day.

The walk was ok. Some amazing scenery and some not so. I was worried about on what time I'll get to Santiago with all those breaks, but tried to keep my pace slow enough so I wouldn't wear myself out.

Then it started raining. Literally a minute after I took this picture:

I stayed in a shelter for a minute or two, but decided to keep walking. I was so close. The rain didn't bother me much. It was better than heat and sun. It kept me going on with a nice place for a while. Then I heard the thunder for the first time. I was in middle of nowhere, there was houses around me, but nowhere to stay comfortably for a while and wait for the rain to ease.

The second time I heard the thunder I checked my map. There was a cafeteria on the road in a bit. I ran parts of the journey as I was a little scared. This is where I draw the line. I'm not going to walk in a thunderstorm. So I made my way to the cafeteria. Got me a coffee and sat down. I needed a proper break anyway, so it was a double win.

I saw the first flash and counted. It was 5 kilometers away. So not close enough. Scary outdoors, but having a shelter made it a lot better. I enjoyed the break and continued my way once the rain stopped. I decided to go for a few more kilometers and then find my way to Santiago.

I took a bus. Meet with a friend from a few nights ago and we went for a dinner. Has a few glasses of wine and chatted about everything. It was a good night.

She went to get her Compostela and I headed to the albergue. I was a bit exhaust after the day, but my mood was good. When she got back we sat down to drink wine I got on my way to the albergue.

I was truly surprised when she showed me the cheese cake she got and the red velvet cupcake that was serving as my birthday cake! It was so amazing! Two German women joined us for a nice chat. They sang to me happy birthday and I was happy. I felt surrounded by love.

(Yes, my birthday is tomorrow, but it was good to celebrate it a day early.)

Eventually we were loud enough that a man came to tell us to be more quiet and we were forced to move downstairs. Our little party died and eventually we decided to go to bed.

I gave the remaining cake and the rest of the wine to three guys sitting in the cafeteria. They seemed to think I was an angel and they all wanted to take photos with me. It has been trending past few days, apparently I'm becoming a tourist attraction here. Random people in random situations want to take pictures with me. This hasn't happened in years.

Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting my wings back? It would be a good reward for the pain I've been having where my wing on the left side would be.

The pain is real. It feels like someone is cutting my back with a knife. It doesn't matter if I have the backpack on or not, it hurts. The painkillers are not helping to that pain any more than they are helping on my feet. So yes. It's painful.

Tomorrow I'll finish.

#CaminodeSantiago #CaminoPortugueseCosta #CaminoPortuguese #Camino #pilgrimwithadragontattoo