Today, Margaret and I got up at god-awful early. I was finally sleeping, for the first time this whole trip, sleeping so well that my alarm actually was needed to wake me up. But the bus left at 7:04. And boy, they weren’t kidding. We got to the bus stop and waited. The correct bus pulled up at 7:03 and by the time we got over to it (15 feet), it was pulling away! We did get on, but man!

We got to Minos in swift order. It was 7:15 when we started hiking; still dark, very dark. We had a lot of trouble getting and staying on the Camino. We were on it several times and accidentally left it. Twice locals on car or bike corrected our course, just as we were about to go off again:

Thank you strangers!!

We hiked past the pig, Ponte do Porco. It was illuminated in blue light, kind of a strange site. After about an hour, we crossed the stone bridge and started up the long hill, and I realized I was very hungry. Waiting was silly because we seemingly climbed for another hour, so we pulled over to a drive way for a quick breakfast (boiled eggs and energy bars.)

Several peregrinos passed us as we hiked. We are very slow going uphill. Margaret is faster than I, uphill. I am faster than she, downhill. 

About 9:00 we came to a cafe. Cafe is stretching it. It is a bakery that has a hot drink machine. I had a hot chocolate, a croissant-like thing with chocolate (I was hungry!!) and then got ,,,something else! I had eyed the large pie, but didn’t know it was an empanada. It was! I didn’t know they came that way!

We set off again, more up the hills. The day was 100% on asphalt. We also aren’t taking many breaks. I think it is to get the day done before the heat. But, I think, if it weren’t to be hot later in the days, I would benefit from longer sitting down breaks. Also, there aren’t as many placed to take a break, not as many as I thought there would be, especially outside of the cities. Not as many cafes as I expected, or even benches or pull offs. I heard there are springs or places to get water – also have not seem many of these.

I don’t know – I don’t remember the day, now that I am tired. And I am tired! I can’t get my watch to give me daily miles, but we have done ~15,000 steps. We went up. We went down. Mostly we went up. 

We got to Inglesia St. Martin – a church and agreed that we would call a cab. Despite 2 nitro patches and 2 beta-blocker tablets, I was getting really tired. I know these are baby miles, but it’s all I can do. We did call a taxi, but they didn’t speak English. I tried my Spanish; the results were not good. Not …effective.

Note to Self: Learn more Spanish before coming to the Camino!!!

So, we walked down. It was fine. We got into town and I sang at the church near the graveyard. That was nice. No one was there (no one was sitting there, mean,) so I could sing to my heart’s content. I’m pretty sure, since it was open, someone was there. Hopefully they didn’t mind my singing.

Then it was more downhills on more hard surfaces. We had to go into town to find our luggage and we wanted to get stamps at the tourist office. 

They were so helpful at the tourist office. I cannot highly enough recommend a stop there!

Luggage acquired, we then had to lug it up steep hills and back down. We got to our apartment. Casa Tipica Betanzos Casco Historico – (did not like: expensive, stairs… lots of stairs). It is beautiful, but …more stairs. It is about 8 feet in width and 3 tall stories high. The kitchen is on the ground floor, with a table to eat at. Up the first flight is the bathroom and a twin bed – mine. Then up another set of stairs up to a double bed and another twin. I would love to sleep up there, but I have to go to the bathroom too often.

I forgot to take my diuretic at 3, because we were out to dinner. Then I forgot to take it later, as we were still out at 5 or 6. When we came home it was too late. It takes 5 hours for it to start and then stop working. I can’t go anywhere, because I have to go to the bathroom every 5-15 minutes during that 5 hours. 

I am in trouble now, because I didn’t take it. I will be all bloated and it will be more difficult breathing. It will take 5 days to get over that mistake! But the up side is – I will probably not have to get up at night very often tonight! That makes for a better nights sleep!

The joy of being on the Camino has worn off a little. Every day is sort of the same, only in a different city, (but more or less very steep and hilly.) I think getting it done in 5 days would be great. At 10 days, it starts to seem like a chore. The people who are doing the French Camino, which takes a month – they are reaching this state of ‘just keep getting it done!’ I so respect that! So I gonna fake it till I make it. I am pretty sure the joy will be back tomorrow. 

I am tired. Margaret is tired. I don’t think she will walk with me tomorrow. I have to remind myself to do less. I am so very, very lucky to be able to do any of this walk. I don’t have to do it all, even if I think I can…but I will likely walk everything I can. So far, I can. That is pretty cool!

Be kind to others, you don’t know the burdens they are carrying. 

And LiveFullyB4youDie.

Love y’all! Goodnite!

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