Day 28: Samos - Sarria (12km)/ Portomarin - Hospital da Cruz ( 12km)

Monday . . . this was our 4 week anniversary on the trail! Also meant 1 week till Ireland and 2 weeks till Carbondale!!! Exciting stuff.

The weather Monday until the evening was snow free and above freezing. Just how we like it.

The trail was again green with lots of forests and rivers.

We decided to take a bus or hitchhike today because we want to get to Santiago by Thursday to have more time on the coast. We found a 2 euro bus in Samos that left at 2. Perfect. Then we were able to keep walking in the evening and make it to Hospital da Vega.

The last couple hours of the day we crossed back up into the snow line. The whole day we could see the snow just above us. So we spent the last hour playing catch with snow/ice balls. We also played Justin´s game where you threw up snow balls and keep walking to see if they hit you on the head. A very silly game, but fun all the same. We both got nailed a couple of times.

Monday was the something broken, something stolen, something lost day. Justin´s flip flops broke, the first pair to break since the trip. He has 1 more good pair and 2 Spanish back up ones, so he´s still doing well. (Side note: the number of comments on his flip flops has increased proportionally to the rise in snow so now it´s up to 74!) I also sat on my Thai sunglasses and broke them.

Then when we were waiting for the bus, I got my walking stick stolen!! What!! Who would steal a walking stick? I´m hoping it was a very poor person with a limp who couldn´t afford a cane. I´m going to continue thinking that so I will still feel good about humanity. It was leaned up outside the bus station with Justin´s. They left Justin´s and just took mine. Who knows. Justin told me he was planning on figuring out a way to ship mine home for xmas too. Oh well. Asi es la vida.

And then I put my umbrella in my belt and it slipped out when we were walking. So that´s lost. But only a few more days on the trail, so no big deal.

We got into Hospital da Vega around 6. The town is about 50 people with one bar and one alburgue. We were the only 2 in the alburgue. It was nice because it had lots of heaters so we were able to hand wash pretty much all of our clothes and have them dry by morning.

Justin made some soup and pasta for dinner that we had brought with us and then bed.

And now for today . . .

Day 27: Triacastela- Samos (10 km)

Hola! Sorry for the long delay! We have been without internet for a few days. Dan called us today to make sure we hadn´t been swallowed up by any snow.

I´m going to start where I left off, so I´ll try not to get ahead of myself.

So this is Sun the 30th. We started out in some snow, but by Samos it had cleared and we were quite happy to be walking just in rain.

The trail was very green and lush. Galicia feels a lot like Ireland (it does have a lot of Celtic influence) with lots of trees and so far a lot of rain. Also more stone walls and sheep.

We stopped early because Justin started feeling fluey and had to lie down. He had a little fever, but it went away with some tylenol.

The only alburgue in Samos was pretty basic so we got a hostel for 27 euros with a private bathroom. Not too shabby.

We didn´t do much the rest of the day especially since everything was closed and we didn´t have a kitchen. I went on a nice walk along the river in town and saw either a stork or a heron who thought I was folllowing him.

We went for our second real dinner out in the evening and got some homemade chorizo as well as some croquettas which I love. They are a mix between mozzerella sticks, french fries, and something else. Here´s some info on them.

And now for Lunes . . .

Day 26: O Cebreiro- Triacastela (21km )

Hola!! Sorry for the confusion. The last post was written this morning because we didn´t have internet last night and because I fell asleep about an hour after getting in.

And thanks for the advice we did stay on the highway all day.

So today was probably the most miserable weather yet. All day it snowed, maybe an inch an hour on top of the foot plus we had already. The plow trucks were coming regularly so that helped. We got to know the two drivers very well.

Most of the day we spent staring at the road with our heads hunched over from the intense wind. If we looked up for a moment our eyelashes would freeze. It was pretty hard core.

Early on we saw a car stuck in a snow bank and helped pushed them out. Lots of shouting and Justin almost getting run over a few times.

After about 4 hours and 13 km we got pretty sick of the whole thing. We had passed the two high points and were going down, but the weather seemed to be getting worse. So we gave up and decided to try and hitchhike if we saw any cars.

The first one we saw was a nice SUV with a warm looking fellow inside. We both stopped, thumbs out, and watched him drive smoothly by. Justin got a bit angry and hoped for him to get stuck in the snow.

Low and be hold, 15 minutes later we see him stuck in a snow bank looking a bit sheepish. We spent a while trying to help him with no success. Another young couple stopped to help as well, but still no luck. The young couple was very nice and drove us the last 9 km. Hooray!!

We also got a much better view of the scenery from the car than we would have staring at our feet in the snow.

Our alburgue is relatively warm with a kitchen. It´s still snowing here though, but not sticking as much. Hopefully tomorrow as we leave the mountain completely we will enter into rain instead of snow.

The bags between the socks worked well and my feet were drier. Justin liked his socks with flip flops and still refuses everyone´s advice for shoes. What can you do? I´m regularly checking him for blackened appendages.

The rest of our group from last night went farther today except for two young people who we are eating with.

Thanks for all the support, advice, questions, concerns. We will take the highway tomorrow most likely, and if we get too miserable we will hitchhike again. Our thoughts are we are doing this for fun, not for our free ticket into heaven, so it´s ok if we ¨cheat¨.

LOVE to all and warm dry hugs!!

Day 25: Villafrance - O cebreiro (29 km): BLIZZARD!!

We are currently on top of a mountain in a blizzard. Yikes. We hope to book our way down this mountain and find somewhere less snowy by the end of the day. It´s about a foot right now and still snowing. We plan on taking the road down and not the trail since it will be paved.



I´m wearing two pairs of socks with plastic bags in between (i now fully recommend bringing water proof shoes of some variety) , three pairs of pants, two shirts, and three jackets. Justin has flip flops with two pairs of socks, two pants, 4 shirts, a jacket, our towel as a scarf, and a hat.



Yesterday was beautiful but very very very snowy. We got in at 6 and were totally beat. The whole town was covered in fog and it looked a bit like we were on the edge of the world.

One of the highlights from yesterday for me was getting to talk to my parents, grandma, aunt megan, zoe, and eli!!!

I´m going to eat my eggs and toast now before hitting the road.



Thanks for all the Thanksgiving wishes!! We miss everyone!! LOVE and WARMTH!!!

Day 24: Ponferrada - Villafranca del Bierzo (27 km): Turkey Tapas!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have just finished our communal dinner here at Villafranca at the alburgue Amawalker recommended. I have not been healed yet by Jesus because I got in trouble for icing my leg. He said he would heal me after his dinner.

I felt a bit sad all day being away from home, but I´m trying to make the best of it.

Before I forget about the rain poncho. I like it because it´s easy to get on and off when it starts raining instead of having 3 different things to put on possibly. The downside is that I can´t get to my bag easily from under the poncho and I look kinda crazy.

And I forgot to include my sleeping bag and pad on the packing list. The pad I have yet to use in the winter except for pilates because there is always plenty of beds. So you might want to think about not taking one.

We were a bit tired and sore today from our big walk yesterday. The scenery and weather were both still very lovely today. Walked in the valley with lovely views of the mountain all day.

When we got into the alburge we ran into a lady from a few nights back and found out a pretty wild story. She was traveling with her friend of 5 years who we met a few nights back. He disappeared right after we met them. The police came into our alburgue looking for him the night after we met tham. We heard about that the next day but didn´t think much of it because we didn´t know who they were looking for. So she told us today that apparently he ran off with that adorable French gay couple we told you about and didn´t speak a word of it to her. So she is going on without him. Nuts. I can´t believe he would just leave her without a word.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with everyone at the alburgue. I said what I was thankful for and a few other people did as well. It was a bit hard to explain with all the languages we had.

I am thankful for: family, Justin and his family, warmth, food, water, legs to walk, the means to travel, holding hands, pilgrims, alburgues, the camino, thailand, my bed in the US, parents who taught me how to be a helping person, love, socks, and hats. To name a few.

Tomorrow the alburgue we were supposed to stay at half way up the mountain is closed so we will either get to the top or stop earlier. There is talk of rain tomorrow. Eek.

That´s all for now. Love and thanks to all our readers and family!!! Abrazos!!

Day 23: Rabanal - Ponferrada (35km)

Yello! It´s cold! It was -3 in (celsius) this morning. BRRRRR! At 10AM! Yikes!

Well, we walked in the snow yesterday. About 3 to 6 inches for a few hours at the top, maybe drifting up to a foot. Still in the flops, but the weather was splendid! I nailed Aleza between her back and her pack with a great snowball, and the snow was stuck in there for hours. Awesome.

We did 35 f$%&%/ kilometers over a %)·=%(!Q$· mountain! How cool is that? In the snow.

Also, interesting to see the comments on our blog - you are all fools to follow in our path. But thanks for the comments nonetheless!

In response - Garlic Soup (AKA Sopa de Ajo) is the best thing ever.

OK, not much to say.

We saw about a jillion puppies on the top of the mountain, and about a jillion giant dogs wandering on the highway and through the villages. At night we saw 3 200+pound Saint Bernards prowling for dinner and we froze. They sniffed us and passed. I felt as if I were stranded in the African savannah and had been bypassed by a pride of lions, full already.

Alright, talk soon!

LUV4EVER

J (Justin)

Packing list

For anyone planning a camino, here is what I brought and some thoughts on it.

- smart wool socks
- compression socks
- liner socks
- running socks
- sports bra
- regular bra
- synethic underwear 3
- Nike yoga capri pants
- Nike long yoga pants
- thick long underwear
- synthetic leggins
- synthetic tshirt
- long sleeve zip up synethic shirt
- fleece long sleeve zip up shirt
- long sleeve silk long underwear (thanks Jan!)
- thick fleece jacket
- wind breaker type jacket
- rain poncho that covers my backpack
- warm gloves (not waterproof- would have preferred that)
- hat
- New Balance trail runners (not waterproof- that would have been preferred. i really like having regular shoes instead of boots though)
- Chaco walking sandals (great for hiking in for a change from my regular shoes)
- Cell phone and charger (good for calling ahead to alburgues. we got ours in thailand so we can use SIM cards)
- camera and charger
- i pod and charger
- long book
- 3 notebooks and 3 pens (i used up 2 pens and 2 notebooks already)
- head lamp
- ear plugs
- eye cover (great for alburgues!!)
- 1st aid kit ( most important so far: vasoline to prevent blisters, icy hot, ibuprofen, super glue, small thing of duck tape, bandage wrap, sewing kit. haven´t used: water treatment pills, stomach problem pills)
- toilet kit (very minimal. scissors are great to have)
- bungee cords
- baby wipes

I would have liked to have slipper socks for the alburgue. Let me know if you have any questions about what I packed and why!!

Love and warmth!!