Rainy, Muddy, Rainy

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I have had a lot of sun these past few days...not! It has rained constantly for three days straight. By the time I reach my albergue in the afternoon, I am soaked, freezing, and tired. Earlier last week I was on my own again after saying farewell to Suzana and Patrick, and walking father ahead than Nancy, Katrine, and Tom. But, when I arrived in Ponferrada, I met up with Nancy and Katrine again! Even though we had only been apart for a day, it was really exciting to see them again.  We are planning on walking together until Santiago seeing how we all have almost identical schedules. Oh, and I am jumping ahead, but I only just realized that I will be arriving in Santiago de Compostela on Friday the 13th! That will be an interesting day! Now, after leaving Ponferrada, I was about to embark on my last day of walking through the province of Leon. Yesterday, I conquered the steepest climb of the entire camino and arrived in Galicia - the final province I have to walk through before reaching Santiago. Although the hike was draining, the views were spectacular! I was once again surrounded by trees and walking on dirt paths rather than on the highway. Once I reached the summit, I was welcomed by a large grey cloud and I was showered with chilling rain...it wasn´t really what I was hoping for, but still, Galicia is beautiful! And, walking in the rain isn´t too bad. It´s cold, and irritating, and cold, and uncomfortable, but I think that it is best to experience Galica in the rain. The mist. the fog, and the chilling atmosphere create a mystical environment. In one of the albergues I stayed in, I attended a church service which was, well, very, very different than I had expected. The priest made us stand in a circle and say ¨Buen Camino¨ in our own languages. Me and Nacy were the only ones who spoke English, so Nancy thought it would be funny to make everyone say ¨Up your bum!¨¨, but then we decided against it for obvious weekends. Then, the priest asked for volunteers to have their feet cleaned. Luckily I didn´t volunteer because we had to clean other peoples feet and then kiss their feet. After walking for eight hours a day, I don´t want someones stinky feet anywhere near my mouth. Afterwards, we had to go around and hug all of the pilgrims. I don´t know why, but I noticed, and Nancy noticed that alot of people were running up to hug ME...why am I so special?? But, when I was hugging this one lady and we were doing the double cheek kiss, her head went one way, mine went the other, and we ended up kissing on the lips. She smiled, and then went on to the next pilgrim. When I was telling Nacy after, she said that she would have to keep an eye on me at night...she didn´t want to see me sneaking off to that lady´s bunk. We couldn´t stop laughing. Today was the worst day wlking, not because I was tired, but because it was pouring! The dirt path I was walking on actually turned into a river and I had to hide under a tree for a while! It was crazy!! After a long and wet day of walking, I arrived in San Mamed; a quite albergue just off the road with a beautiful garden, amazing showers, and rooms with only eight people. And, I have no snorers in my room. Over the next few days the camino is going to get a lot busier though. Because Sarria (the city I walk through tomorrow) is the 100km mark and therefore the minimum distance you have to walk in order to recieve your compostela, thousands of pilgrims start from here. I have already been walking alongside large groups of people and it is not fun. I miss the solitude and quite walks. But, I have planned my last few days so that I am staying in small cities where I will hopefully have some peace and quiet. Other than that, I am almost done my pilgrimage! Onlly six more days before >I reach Santiago, and eleven days until I reach Finisterre! I cannot believe the end is almost here! Stay tuned for more crazy stories. My next post will include one about a strange man named Kurt from the States. There is something off with him and he is just really weird, and sometimes scary to talk to. Bye for now!