Arca (O Pedrouzo), Day 34

The second to last day was a short one, just as we planned it. We started in the morning in our regular groove, quiet and thoughtful, and stopped for breakfast and sellos in a town about 10 km from the start of our day.

Breakfast was a pastry and coffee, and good conversation. While sitting at the tables in front of the cafe we saw a few friends from earlier in the camino pass us by, waving hello and heading on their way.

It has been kind of frustrating seeing so many people on the trail these past few days. The number of people has seemed to increase tenfold, which has similarly altered the noise level on the trail. It is kind of hard to get lost in thought without headphones in this section of the Camino.

We continued walking and decided not to take any breaks until we reached our destination, which was a cool 12 km away from breakfast.

It was a pretty smooth walk. We walked and talked and ate some cashews on the way.

When we arrived into town we saw that the municipal albergue was packed. The doors had not opened yet, but hoards of people were sitting outside waiting to be checked in. This was a little bit concerning because these places do not accept reservations and we wanted a 5 euro bed for the night.

We made it in and had an entire wing of 8 beds with friends that we have been walking with recently.

We made our way into town for some food. Lunch was great, but demonstrated a prime example of what happens when my eyes are bigger than my stomach. We walked away from a good deal of food, but were so full it didn’t matter much anyway.

We ate calamari, patatas bravas, eggs and bacon, and croquettes which are potato things that are fried and crunchy on the outside and mushy on the inside. It was all very delicious.

We all walked back to albergue and most of us took a nap which lasted several hours. When we woke up we went to town again for a few groceries.

There was nothing special in the store and so we all went back.

For the rest of the night we sat in our bunks and talked about the luxuries of everyday life back home. We were all tired and excited to reach Santiago.