The Way to Santiago - Part II

From Alto de Poio to Triacastela - 14km

I woke up at 5 am a bit lost. Someone was already shuffling things around, the sound of zippers and quiet voices and shushing evident. I was wondering if I was still in London time but noticed it was still pitch black outside. The snoring was now breathable silent.

I decided to keep on sleeping and an hour later, more shuffling, lots of loud speaking and the turning on of lights. "what the f*%$?!" i thought. So unconsiderate. 

By 7 am I was wide awake and up, almost packed. Just two woman speaking some strange but familiar language. Dutch? I thought. No. Czeck. Aha. 

I came out and bumped into Esther at breakfast. She had also decided to take it easy. "Shall I wait for you?" she asked. I didn't really know if I wanted her to wait, but I told her that I would take it easy and she was most welcome to join me. 

I got my Piligrim passport on the bar across the street and a big glass of fresh orange juice and was ready to walk. Yey.

So off we went. The sun was shining, the grass was green on our side of the mountain, and there was nothing else I wanted more. We even got a pancake for free on our way.

No worries, no phone in my hand, no Citymapper of use to show us 'the way'. The Pilgrim's road was all marked with yellow arrows and shells on walls. I realised the side road walking the day before was not what I had been supposed to do. No wonder people had given me odd looks. 

It all made sense now. If only life had yellow sign posts showing the way all the time in life. So simple. 

The magic of Santiago's trail is there is not much to think about except getting to a certain point without blisters. All the rest is just spare time to either breathe and enjoy, if your mimd allows you that. Disconnect from life and re-center yourself.

Esther proved to be a great road friend. She was super spiritual and very perceptive, and up for learning living a life in a different way ( she'd never been in a hostel and decided to give it a try).

So in Triacastela we found the Albergue Xacobeo, a nice hostel and decided to share bedroom with another 8 people. She suffered with the snoring choir, but all in all she appreaciated the sharing community vibe. And hence how she became my partner in 'the way'.