Day 2: Small steps forward

Dear traveler,

I was dreaming about something very nice when suddenly, the light turns on in my eyes. What? Wait a minute..

I see my folks a bit confused, just like me. Around us, some pilgrims already packed and are ready to go, others are rustling a plastic bag or packing up a sleeping bag. My god, what is wrong with these people? in a matter of minutes, the entire room was rustling and whispering, so no way we could sleep anymore..we're waking up.

I see that my dad is not feeling quite good. His legs hurt and he barely walks. He's thinking that maybe we'll stay here another day so he's going to ask somebody. I tuck in my sleeping bag for one more minute.

He returns disappointed and tells us that in an albergue you cannot sleep for more than one night. It's good that we know this now! We will have to move forward. We hardly get ready and go in the kitchen. We are the only ones left from the dozens of pilgrims that wandered around here this morning. Apparently, until 8 a.m. we must leave.

We find something to eat in our backpack and we get something sweet from the vending machine from the kitchen, to settle down our hunger up to the first store. I receive a little pie from the host, and now, we really have to leave the monastery.

I hate that dad doesn't feel well. Although the weather is great, I don't have the same good mood as yesterday.

I look at the monastery we slept in. It's really a special place. Last night was too dark for me to see something.

We start walking straight following the shells. We find a sign that shows us 790 kilometers to Compostela. I'm not sure what this means, but it seems a lot. And yes, that's our final destination.

We take small and slow steps. My folks say everything hurts..their legs, back, hands. They walk like little robots. I feel some tiredness in my feet as well, but I'm not complaining. 

We enter a dense forest, then in the first village. Mamarmot says that today we should get to Zubiri and that until there it's less than we walked yesterday. But I have a feeling that today we will stop earlier. At least this is what I overheard dad saying. 

We reach the next village, very neat and I can see on a sign the name Espinal. My folks are discussing, checking the list of albergues received from the Pilgrim's office. 

Dad says it would be better to stop here. Hmmm..we walked just a little, I didn't even get the chance to get tired or ask to be carried. Truth is, we did not climb any slopes today. 

-"Yes marmot, I know we did not walked much, but I need to recover a little so we can walk more tomorrow."

We stop at an albergue that looks totally different from the one we saw yesterday. It's very small and I thought all are big, like the one we slept in yesterday. The hosts tell us to return after noon so we can check in so we continue walking slowly and stop in the first coffee shop. It's good because I was kind of hungry. 

I don't get what dad asks the lady from here, but she brings us orange juice and something that resembles a pie. I taste it and it seems the best thing I've eaten in my life. I heard it's called Tortillas con Patatas, which means something like a potato pie. Oh my god, it's delicious!

My folks discuss about what to do next, but I loose them at some point when they talk too serious. Instead, I take a look around in this beautiful little town, where everyone has flowers at their window, at the birds and a scattered pilgrim that crosses the road from time to time. Hm, and I thought everybody left before us.

We return in the afternoon at the albergue and we check in. We wash the clothes we wore yesterday and my folks start organizing the backpacks. I understand we have to ditch the tent, as clearly we left with too heavy and useless luggage. 

My folks choose one of the backpacks and they fill it with the tent, the tent lamp, the pot, cutlery and a small portable gas stove - yes, that useless - and some clothes they believe we will not need anymore. They decide to mail the backpack to Leon, a city where, according to Mamarmot's planning, we will arrive in 3 weeks. 

Wait a minute, our tent will stay there, alone, until then? I hope we'll still find it when we get there.

The hosts help us send the the package and now we are free to get some rest and enjoy the day. 

At night, we go out to wander around a bit through the village. After a few hours of sleep, dad feels much better. We hear music somewhere in the distance and we go to check it out. 

We find a party, with a concert and people dancing in the street. A true fiesta. I receive some colored balloons. So much fun out here!

Back to the albergue, we find the rest of the beds in our room already taken. And we thought that no one stops in this village.

Look, it's John, happy to see us again. It seems that yesterday's walk was difficult for him as well. We have dinner together and my folks swap tales with the other pilgrims, about the road and blisters. I am amazed by the big plates of food, which apparently are called the pilgrim's menu. Everything is delicious. And there's desert too!

Here the lights don't go off but we're all tired after this hearty meal so we go to our beds. The top bunkbed is mine now, haha!

I tuck in my sleeping bag, thinking about the fiesta and tortilla con patatas. 

I ask Mamarmot:

-"We did not walked much today, will we still reach Compostela?"

-"Marmot, we may not have reached the destination we planned today, but it's important we made some small steps forward."

I doze off thinking about what new things we'll discover tomorrow.