My Camino Journey

In Viana

There is almost nothing more satisfying then rounding a bend or coming over the rise of a hill to see the edge of a town.  Today was another long walk.  There were no little villages along the way for rest stops. All in all it was a very good day. I had looked at the guide book and noticed to extremely steep hills after Los Arcos and decided to skip forward just around the two hills that dropped in a steep decent. The guide book puts red exclamation marks where danger areas are which is very helpful in planning.  Yesterday at the town before where I stayed I met three girls that were having blister problems and so I offered to show them about relacing their shoes and about the liners to wick moisture away.  They were very happy and ended up walking with me the last two kilometers and then sharing a room.  When I told them my plans they started talking among themselves and also decided to skip the steep areas.  This turned out very nice because after about 13 kilometers today we shared a cab to Viana.  So what would have cost 28 euros was only seven. 

my new friends

This morning as I started walking

This pretty much how the whole day looked

Buen Camino! scratched in the patch of cement

Are we there yet?!

where I am staying tonight

the street in Viana

Yesterday at the albergue I stayed at I met a man that is walking to Tibet, all on charity.  He started in Portugal and walked the Camino to Santiago.  Now he is walking against the flow of pilgrims.  He started after he was totally broke because he sold everything he owned to help pay for a friends operation.  It was interesting because he mostly decided to do the walk because he needed a new challenge.  He estimates he will arrive in Tibet sometime in 2015.  I only had a few euros in my purse because there was no atm in the town but decided to give it to him so he could get some food.  I think what he is doing takes a lot of courage.