Day 2: Walking through the city of clouds

Dear traveler,

I slept like a log and I have no recollection of what happened around me.

No bag rustling sound, no nothing. But now that I opened my eyes and I see that the backpacks are ready, I realize that I'm the last one who was sleeping. My folks are already dressed for the trails and the other people in the room have disappeared.

We get out in the chilly morning air and we start slowly with our direction forward, towards the ocean, with a short coffee stop for my parents. We decide to follow the shell and we're led out of the village, straight through a sugar cane field. I don't think I have ever seen anything like this. This plant is very tall and I'd rather say I'm in a tropical forest. Sandy paths take us left and right and here and there you can see a panel with information or an observation tower for birds, I believe.

Slowly, the sights are starting to get blurry until everything that surrounds us become white as milk. 

We've reached the ocean. But what I don't get is why I can't hear it. 

The sand dunes are as tall as hills and I wonder where all this sand came from. Our trail rejoins the wooden bridges, that we see today for the first time. A few meters ahead, from the bridge, a stairway splits through the dunes towards... I have no clue towards what. Everything is white. But when I reach the stairway, I can hear them! The waves that crash on the shore are loudly echoing around us, as if we were on a small island in the middle of the ocean. As far as seeing it, well, that still doesn't happen, but now I know that we are on the right path.

I remember from when I was little and I believed that clouds are things you could step on, fluffy and soft. I outgrew this idea a few years ago when I walked through a cloud on our way to Roncesvalles. It was just cold and wet. But being here, now, I can't help but think about a city that was build on crests of clouds. The bridges were built so that people can go by foot, without flying machines. And the sand, well... I'm still unsure about how it got here, but I can say that it's as soft as I imagined the clouds would be.

In the city of clouds, the houses would be built on those flat kind of clouds, I forgot their name, but they gather around Fuji's peak from time to time. Amusement parks will not need too much as what is better than jumping from cloud to cloud?

In the city of clouds, you would never know where you are heading, but maybe I'll draw a map. I would start from here, from this bridge that might lead to the ocean.

As we walk, the sun kind of ruins my imagination, struggling to fit in the landscape and slowly scattering the mist from our way. Now, the clear blue sky brings me back to earth, Figuratively speaking, of course.

I find out that we are getting closer to a big city and I am glad, because into the kingdom of clouds I kind of got hungry.

Mamarmot promised me that we will go to a pastry shop for pastel de nata and other goodies, but given how long we've been walking, I think she chose the farthest location possible so she can do the tour of the city in between. When we finally get there and I enter the shop, I don't know where to look first. I want this, and that and everythiiing.

It's not long until our table fills up with cakes. Okay, I forgive Mamarmot for all the steps we walked up to this place. We also have breakfast after we devour everything. You know it's going to be a good day when you start with the desert!

After all this we continue our way that leads us out of the city and back to our favorite bridges. We don't hurry too much as who can even move after all those goodies? 

We take advantage of the sun outside to lay on the sand like walruses or to dip our feet into the water. If I could, I would walk the entire Camino barefoot through the sand and water, but unfortunately, that doesn't work so well. Besides, these people have some huge and scary algae around here.

A signpost tells us that we have 187 kilometers to go up to Santiago and my mind already starts calculating, although I must admit I did not plan to do math in my holiday. So we walked quite a lot and I still feel good!

This thought flies as soon as it lands, along with our bridge that leaves the beach and enters and area filled with shrubs and nothing else around or under the bridge. I wonder if this is what's next after a city of clouds, a city where there are no paths and ground, just green as far as your eyes see. Nice combination. 

However, the afternoon heat starts tormenting me as soon as the ocean disappears from our surroundings and my right leg starts to bug me. Yes, I know what you'll think, that I am bored, but this time it's not like that. Mamarmot assures me that as soon as we leave this area we will enter a village where we'll stay the night, so I am trying to keep my patience at bay although it's not working so well. From time to time we meet some familiar faces from yesterday's albergue and I realize their feet are not in the best shape either. 

Our way to this village is more than long, but I am relieved when we leave the wild area and we start seeing houses. Of course, from where you start seeing the village until you reach the location you're looking for, you walk enough to make yourself wonder why you left the couch today. 

At the albergue, we're being told that there is no room and it will be complicated to find a place in this village. They recommend us to go to the next village. I don't understand or I don't want to. All that I want is to sit right here where I'm at. My parents don't give up and they call at all the albergues, hostels and hostels from the area, but no luck. It's the first time I see them concerned, looking at me and thinking that we cannot call it a day here.

Unfortunately, the inevitable occurs and we have to keep walking. I cannot enjoy this village at all, which was actually nice. Old windmills are lined up the coastline, and although they don't work anymore, they are a beautiful symbol of this place.

Just being next to the ocean again enlightens my mood a bit but the pain in my leg is not helping. We soon reach a road that takes us through a pine forest and Mamarmot tries to cheer me up as best as she can. 

A small chunky dog tags along and although it's hard for me to walk, I switch my attention from my leg to what the dog is doing. He leads us for a long time, more precisely, until we enter the next village. Here we find a camping in the pine forest and we hope we'll be able to stay and we won't have to walk further. I say goodbye to the doggo who seems to be turning back in the city of windmills now that he accomplished its mission. It seems he was a lucky charm for us as we find the last tent to rent and in a matter of minutes we settle under some tall pines, next to a family of cats.

My leg keeps hurting so bad that I can barely walk but boy, the things I'd do for these cats. After some rest, food and a massage, I feel a bit better. We find a nice place, decorated on the inside as a medieval castle, where we play ping pong and foosball until it gets late. I would stay a bit more but my folks say it's important to get some rest after a day like this. They are still worried about my leg and they assure me that tomorrow's trail would be shorter so I can recover. 

Back to the tent, we get the cats out of the outer layer and unfortunately I'm told I can't have them with me in the tent tonight. At least I tried.

I feel like home here and I'm enjoying the sound of the wind. It's been a long day... I wonder why we weren't welcomed in the city of windmills. Maybe it's because I'm from the city of clouds and somehow, the ones from the city of windmills don't like these guests very much. Or... maybe it has nothing to do with it.

I snuggle in the sleeping bag, that feels like a fluffy cloud carried by the wind that echoes through the pines and I slip into the world of slumber.