Back in black

Yesterday when I finally decided to get out of bed it was around 8:00. I would have thought sooner, but sure enough I was the last to leave the room. In Triacastela I slept without ear plugs for the first time and I was gonna try to do it again now in Barbadelo, but a woman with the snoring abilities of a battleship rendered that impossible. But I was as well rested as sleeping on the Camino has allowed me and despite the fact that, as always, I didn't really sleep but drift in and out of conciousness I was energized.

I met some great girls from Valencia again and had breakfast with them. Then to my surprise Isabel appeared. I thought for sure I'd never see her again. She normally walks 40-50 km's a day and since I hadn't seen her since Villafranca I suspected that she had already finished. A Swedish couple had adopted her and slowed her down to help her enjoy the Camino. It was good to see her again. They all left and I found a nice bench for prayer and meditation.

It was a little after 10:00 when I finished and started my journey for the day. I was back in full force. Not only was my poop solid again and my fever appeared to be gone but my legs were also feeling much better. I started walking faster and faster and faster, getting back into a rhythm I hadn't been able to keep up with for quite some time. I went past the girls, Isabel and even my favorite Brazilian (only stopping with him to take a picture at the 100 km mark). I zoomed past so many people, picking up speed as I went along. I felt as if I wasn't walking anymore but gliding along the countryside. I almost ran down the hills when the slope leaned that way and I hardly slowed my gate when having to go up the following slope. It was a great feeling. There I was, all dressed in black and I was back; Back in black!

I got to Portomarin a little after 13:00 having walked straight there without a break. I sat down to have some lunch after stretching. When I was there the cool Argentinian, Gustavo Raoul, came up to me and asked me if I was the guy everyone was talking about. I didn't really understand until he said that everyone was talking about this giant of a man that sped past everyone travelling incredible fast. I laughed and said yeah I guess so. He was amazed and told me about some of the descriptions which were kind of cool. Gustavo wanted a picture of me as I was leaving and there was a group of bicyclists leaving at the same time, which he asked to take our picture. When they saw me they called "Train Machine!". They had been on the road at the same time as me but I passed them and arrived before them in Portomarin. They told me that I was like a train and they had dubbed me the Train Machine!

When I was leaving Portomarin I realized that the route you take into town and out of town just leads you to the center and then around Portomarin to pretty much end up close to where you entered the town. A very long and interesting path which I don't think is calculated into our km's. As I was making my way further along the Camino I couldn't help but feel like Galicia is just one big mountainous area. It's like we're still in the mountains since we're always going up steep hills or down steep slopes. To me it feels like it's always up steep slopes but I guess that's because they take longer. I wasn't quite as fast as I was before lunch, but when I passed people that left Portomarin as I was arriving there, they called me Speedy Gonzales and others cheered me on. I even caught up with the bicyclists again, much to their surprise, and this time I remembered that I have a camera on my phone and I took a picture of them. I keep forgetting I have a camera on my phone since my camera is caput and so I try and remind myself every chance I get.

I ran out of Speedy Gonzales juice just before I arrived in Hospital de la Cruz but I still had some energy to go on, just couldn't go as fast anymore. After stopping for some orange juice, I kept on going. Soon after I headed out the weather got really cold and I had to take out my fleece jacket. I was wearing my long pants and now my black fleece jacket so I really was back in black. I wasn't walking very fast at this point but I had energy to go on. I passed a couple of towns where I could have gotten an Albergue but I decided to go on just a little further. I had a destination in mind but I didn't want to jinx it so I just kept on moving, waiting for my energy to run out.

When I was about out of energy I asked for an Albergue but there was no space. The next Albergue had to be close by, I thought. But I walked on and on, passing at least 2 Albergue's that were closed for some reason and even a beautiful hotel. I had decided that I would only sleep in Albergue's while I was on the trip and I only have. The hotel was not an option. I kept on walking and walking and at this point I was pretty tired. Every house I could see in the distance I prayed for it to be an Albergue but my prayers were unanswered for quite some time. I'm actually amazed at the distance between Albergue's in that area, there's gotta be a business oportunity there.

Then I finally saw one, at avant Palas. I was so glad to see an Albergue but I didn't like the look of it. It was 20:15 and it didn't sell food and looked somehow ominous. The hospitalero told me that there was a bar a 100 meters away and there were more Albergues in the town of Palas del Rei 1 km away. I knew that if I went in and took a shower I wouldn't walk 100 meters to get food and I'd not get the necessary energy needed for the next day after such a long walk. 1 km more now was in fact easier than a 100 meters later. So, I walked on 1 km more. I met Kasha on the way and she was sure surprised to see me and I her. She had sped up her trip so that she can also walk to Finisterra after Santiago.

Anyway I arrived in Palas del Rei after walking the 44 km's from Barbadelo that day!!! Check it!!! It's funny, earlier that day I had thought about how cool it was that Tori had walked 47 km's and that I hadn't really crossed the 40 km mark even though I had grazed it when I walked to León (39,6 km's). But I wanted to have at least one day on the Camino where I went more than 40 km's and here it was. I knew I was going to pay for it the next day but I was glad for the experience so I accepted the consequences, as expensive as they would prove to be.

The Albergue I found was beautiful and sure enough they had a washing machine and dryer, a great restaurant and a wonderful staff. The women that helped me couldn't speak any English so I was helped by another guest that was Spanish and spoke good English. I chatted a lot with him and his friends, but more on them in next day's blog. At 21:30 I had taken a shower, my clothes were being washed and I had finished dinner. I went upstairs, enjoyed the internet connection there and despite being very tired took my sweet time to get ready for bed. I was so pepped up on energy after this amazing day and it was truly a feeling of conquest to be all the way here in Palas del Rei.