Day 38. Palas del Rei

The operative word for this morning’s walk was “fog,” a heavy fog that lingered for three hours. Our 7::00 am breakfast was two blocks away from the “pension “ we stayed at last night, so we left from the cafe at 7:40 with Jim from New Zealand. Today’s 25 km trek had us going through a variety of terrain, climbing 400 m for the first 15 km, then descending 100 m to Palas del Rei. Once again, we were presented with two options: the longer, more scenic route or the shorter one along the highway. We chose the former.
I spent a bit of time with the guy who lost his wife five years ago while on the Camino, and his spirit has improved measurably the last few days. The medication he is taking for ankle pain is working, and he is much more positive; in fact, he commented, “ I can’t see how anybody could see this Camino as anything but a positive experience.” He continues to talk about his wife, and how much he misses her, but he’s generally happy, sharing jokes, and getting stronger. I, also, connected with Tony, an Australian fireman, who began planning this trip immediately after seeing “The Way.” Tony revealed that 12 years ago he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had robotic laparoscopic surgery, just like I did 16 years ago. He has also been dealing, more recently, with seizures. I also met Michelle from Germany and Dubrogo from Croatia, chatting with them for over an hour.
Cathy and I just returned from a 6:00 pm dinner where we had the unfortunate encounter with two Canadians from Toronto who came up against bedbugs ( the female did but not the guy) , so Cathy is now in full-blown alert for bedbugs, researching them on the Internet and checking every nook and cranny in our bedroom. Cathy does have ONE bite from last night’s stay, has scrutinized it thoroughly, comparing it with the 55 or bites on this other lady, nervously wondering if we may have had a bedbug visitor.
As we near the end of our Camino, many of us are making plans to reconnect in Santiago with people who have shared their journey with us in open, honest, and meaningful ways. We’re already sensing that while we’ll have a sense of accomplishment, there will be much sadness as we go our different ways.En savoir plus