Laughter and Tears

It's been a while since my last post. So, what have I been up to these past few days? Well, I've met an amazing group of people who I have been walking with, I climbed to 1,505 meters above sea level, and I think I would have been killed if I decided to stay in an albergue I had originally planned to stay in. But let's start from the begining. A few days ago I met Nancy, Tom, and Katrine, and over the past week we have become quite close. Recently I befriended a younger couple from Barcelona, Suzana and Patrick. They are so amazing to walk with and our evenings are always filled with laughter. Now yesterday was a very special day. I climbed to the highest point on the entire camino, Cruz de Ferro. At 1,505 meters above sea level, I had amazing views of the lush green hills and wildflowers growing on the side of the mountain. It was immaculate. The reason Cruz de Ferro is such an important symbol of the camino is because this is where you are forgiven for your sins (so they say), and you can leave a blessing in the form of a rock or other item of importance for the loved ones in your life. Before I left for the camino, all of the books I read said that you are to bring a rock from your home country and you are to carry it until you reach Cruz de Ferro. Then, once you add your stone to the pile, you are forgiven for all of your sins and are freed from the burdens in your life. After Cruz de Ferro yesterday, I only had another 2km of walking before I reached Manjarin (the town that was supposed to be my destination for the day). My guidebook described Manjarin as a mountain sanctuary - a place where you could escape from the real world (seeing how it was 10km from the nearest city). Manjarin is also a ghost town, or it was until Tómas "renovated" one of the abandoned houses and turned it into an albergue. I had arranged to stay here with Patrick and Suzana, but when I arrived at 1pm, they were no where to be seen. And seeing how the albergue was in fact the entire town, it was weird that I couldn't find them. I thought they might have already checked in, so, I went to do the same. But Tómas informed me that I couldn't check in for another hour...hmmmm. Maybe I had passed Suzana and Patrick somewhere on the trail, so I sat sat outside for twenty minutes waiting to see if they arrived. While I was waiting, Tómas approached me and began to explain the rules of the albergue. Dinner was at 8:30pm, the bathroom was anywhere outside, and I was FORBIDDEN to leave before 7:30am! WTF?! I am forbidden to leave a place? Usually the albergue owners kick you out in the morning, but here I was not allowed to leave until I was set free. That's kind of sketchy. Along with the fact that there were no beds (only the floor), there were no windows except for the tarps covering the holes in the walls, the door was a plank, and Tómas was a dirty looking old man with few teeth that were all yellow and brown, I thought it was in my best interest to walk another 7km to the next albergue. I practically ran away from that place! But before I left, Tómas asked where I was going with my backpack after I showed an interest in spending the night. I told him I was going for a walk, but that I would be back later to check in...ummm, no! This place is freaky and I think if I stayed I would not be finishing the camino...I would be dead. The next 7km though were brutal. It was all down a very steep hill and on loose rocks. By the time I reached Acebo at about 3:45pm, I was exhausted and my knees were killing me! I also found Suzana and Patrick in Acebo too. They said that they took one look at Manjarin and just kept walking...they figured I would do the same. Once we checked into the albergue (which had three beds left! Thank God!), I collapsed onto my bed and took a nice long siesta. In total I walked 29km!! I haven't walked that much since the first day. It was tiring. That evening at the dinner table, me, Patrick and Suzana were in tears because we were laughing so hard about what could have happened if we stayed in Majarin. Tómas may have eaten us, we would be locked in a cellar until 7:30am and may or may not be released, or Tómas would make us kill the only cow in town to eat for our dinner. What was even more hilarious was that everyone that I saw up at Manjarin earlier in the day all ended up at our albergue! I guess it was the right decision to leave. We also joked about why a middle aged man would want to move to the middle of nowhere and live by himself while running an albergue?! Was it his decision or was he exiled to Manjarin? Who knows. We also pondered what Tómas would do IF we left before 7:30am. Would he hunt us down? How would he know if we left? Honestly, we really didn't want to know the answer. All in all, it was a very memorable day. I will never forget it...mostly because whenever I close my eyes Tómas' face still pops into my mind. Today, me, Suzana, and Patrick all decided to walk to Ponferrada (an easy 15km). But, Patrick had a pinched nerve in his back and it was excruciatingly painful for him to walk. They ended up only walking 9km before we had to say farewell. It was hard to part ways. We had grown so close over the past few days and we had so much fun together. But there was no way Patrick could continue on, so it was best that they stayed behind. This is the first time I am actually the one who is ahead of the group. Yesterday Nancy, Tom, and Katrine stayed in a town 12km before Acebo while the rest of us continued on. Now I am all alone again. But, I have a few short days coming up, and the others all have very similar schedules to mine, so I am positive that I will see them all again. It would be so crazy if we all met outside the cathedral in Santiago!! That would be such an amazing way to end the camino! So, after leaving Patrick and Suzana, I walked to Ponferrada. What is neat about this town is that there is a fully restored castle that once belonged to the Knights Templar. The castle is so beautiful, and it is really amazing how the castle has been incorporated into the modern metropolis of Ponferrada. Aside from the castle, there isn't a whole lot to do here. I think it will be an early night though so that I get a full nights rest (not like the last two nights where I was sleeping next to horrible snorers, one who sounded like he was whacking a seal against the wall). By next Friday I will arrive in Santiago de Compostela! It has gone by so fast and I can hardly believe that I have already walked this far! I'm almost there; just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep walking, walking, walking. Bye for now :)