Hola España!

The day started with a totally bizarre experience. I ran into a woman who I had spoken to at a Brandi Carlile concert in July! Her name is Kay Kay, (yes, really! Her first and last name are the same) and we decided we are destined to be friends. We are planning on getting together after we both get home.
Anyhow…after that I walked down to the water taxi, plunked down my 6 Euros and boarded the teeny tiny boat to cross the river. Voila! I’m in Spain! And to my sister’s point, I can now ply my fluent Spanglish with wild abandon! I’m walking by the coast again but it’s more forest-y if that makes sense. I’ve cooled my heels somewhat on collecting pilgrim friends. Allowing it to happen naturally instead of trying to collect them like tokens.. But I am seeing what people mean when they talk about a Camino family. You do see many of the same people throughout, and when you run into each other it’s like long lost friends- greeting with a hug. I think it’s sort of like when kids go to summer camp - the friendships form so quickly because of shared experience.
I ran into Almuria (the South African vía Dublín nurse) yesterday in Caminha. She didn’t have the time off to do the whole Camino so she was heading for the train station to take her through the next couple of stages. Today I saw Silva from the Czech Republic. She had caught up to her friend Hannah and they were making slow but steady progress.
My body and feet seem to be holding up ok so far. I have made a resolution to stay away from the bakery. Lycra only stretches so far..
About a mile out of Oia, where I am staying tonight, I came upon a small field with a beautiful black horse. It was overlooking a gorgeous section of coast. I have been looking for a place to leave Katie’s stone, and in my mind’s eye I had been looking for maybe a big field with horses. But with the view from this place I started thinking maybe this was it. I ultimately decided to wait and think about it overnight and if I felt that was it I’ll go back in the morning. Then, as I was looking through my pictures from the day, I noticed that I had taken 4-5 pics of cats. I HATE cats. But Kate loved them. So now I’m thinking it’s a sign. I’m gonna sleep on it.
I mean- I know that Kate is in a better place already. The stone placing thing is more for me. When I think of her last days I have this image in my head of her all alone, laying prone in that hospital with nobody she loved there to rub her back or hold her hand. I want to replace that image with one of her in a setting in which I know she would have found joy.Read more