Hospital de Órbigo-Astorga 10 miles

My jet-lagged ass finally fell asleep around 1:30 this morning, but before that, I got hit with hunger pangs so bad that I had to answer them (it *was* dinner time according to my confused system).

I was the only woman in a bunk room with three dudes and I tried so hard to quietly eat crackers from the loudest packaging ever created. Sorry, amigos. I know I woke them all up because ALL. OF. THEM. SNORED.

Up at 7 and out the door a little after 8 am; the last one, which I will blame on the fact that it was my first morning doing the wake-up-and-pack routine. It was still dark out when I left. And raining.

I was annoyingly chipper those first few miles, greeting every animal I encountered in Spanish:
“Hola, vaca. Moo!”
“Hola, perro!”
“Hola gatos!”

I met so many people and I had to really restrain myself from peppering them with a million questions because, while it was just my first day, they’ve all been at it for a month now. I met Pat and Sean from Manchester, England, Chad from Boston, Joe from Palo Alto, Donna from Charlottesville, VA (more on her in a bit).

About seven miles in, I came across the most amazing donativo, which is the Camino version of Trail Magic. It was like an oasis in the desert. I sat down and ate some good shit and played with a very sweet doggeh.

As I closed in on Astorga, my stop for the day, Donna caught up with me. Everyone caught up to and ultimately passed me because 1) I’m slow, 2) I took a ton of photos, and 3) I kept dancing while I walked which had to have some impact on my pace, right?

Donna invited me to join her and friends to dinner. She texted me a while later to say she was going to the Palacio de Gaudi so I joined her for that too. Donna is a retired badass living her best damn life. She’s a former elected official from Albemarle County, VA, and we totally bonded over politics.

At dinner, I met her friends who came from California, North Carolina, and Northampton, England. It was a total hoot. We’re all walking to Rabanal tomorrow so hopefully I’ll see them again.Read more