O'Cebreiro to Triacastela

Today we left our hostel/albergue in O'Cebreiro at 7am and walked 21.5 kilometers through mountains. We stopped at three cafés before reaching our destination in Triacastela. Along the way, we met some guys from Indiana who started at the "beginning" in France. They are about 700kilometers into their journey with roughly 135 left. We met an older couple from Holland who have all the secrets on how to protect your feet. Unfortunately for us, they started foot care months ago. we passed multiple times during the day and are staying at the same albergue. Abel walked with many people today and invited a girl from Sweden to eat dinner with us. It is such a good time being able to interact with people from all over. "Buen Camino!" Is spoken often and can lead into further conversation. Almost every Peregrino (pilgrim) is super friendly and it's a totally different culture. 

I ended up walking by myself do a whole today and it was an awesome time of reflection. It's a shame that it takes traveling across the ocean to spend that time. (Note to self...do this more.)

I have been recalling most of the Spanish I took (this is a miracle), so it makes simple interactions easier. Otherwise, it's basically a game of "find the words I know in a huge mumble of a conversation and try to answer correctly".

We have some long days ahead of us. Tomorrow we will travel to Sarria, which is the minimum starting point to get a Compastela (also a further distance then we walked today). The Camino will be much more crowded after today. While finding a bed will become more of a challenge, it will also allow us more conversations to talk to people. 

I'm also loving being able to debrief with Zach. (Note: if you can ever bond with your sibling...do it). Please pray for him as he is battling allergies while we are in the mountains. Hopefully once we are out of the forest it will clear up. Until then, we bought some meds today and are praying they work! We both only have 1 or two small blisters, so we will take care of them now so the next 6 days will hopefully go well. Sore shoulders and calves are also part of the deal but we are doing great! Loving each step. 

Most of my pictures today were on my camera, but here's one of some of the mountains we climbed over today!

Sorry that these posts are so scatterbrained. We love you all! (Sorry that I can't say we can't wait to be home...yet.)

Shout out to Elyse... I wish you could come here and speak Spanish to everyone. Be my translator! Love you and miss you!