We have survived the section of the camino known as the "leg destroyer!"  Last night we all agreed to get an early start and met for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. so that we were on the trail by 7:30.  In case you were wondering, yes, we had toast again for breakfast. We are on an all-toast-all-the-time-for-breakfast diet.  We started off under cloudy skies which was actually a welcome change to the hot sun.  We did get a little wet (fine mist for 10 minutes at a time) but the temperature was warm and the cool mist made the hiking a little easier.  Everyone arrived in Arzua eventually and are settled into the albergue for the evening.  We have only 19 kms to go tomorrow with the final 20 kms on Thursday.  The time has gone so fast.  It is hard to believe we are nearly to Santiago.

We are getting close to Santiago!  Only about 65 kilometers to go and  we are getting an early start in the morning to walk our longest day yet - a whopping 29 kilometers.  We are planning to stop in the town of Melide to sample pulpo (octopus) as we make our way on the camino.

Murtaza's birthday party was great fun!

We arrived in Sarria this afternoon after hiking around 14 kilometers through the rolling hills of the countryside complete with wooded trails and beautiful waterfalls. It was a nice change in terrain compared to the steep mountains we climbed yesterday! Before our hike we visited a Benedictine monastery and toured the grounds for about an hour. Although we did not get to hear the great singing voice of one of the monks, the group was blessed to hear a new and modern version of Amazing Grace sang by a few of our group members. 

We celebrated Murtaza’s 24^th birthday this morning by attempting to sing Feliz Cumpleanos at breakfast and giving him a card signed by our whole group. We have heard that there is another surprise planned for this evening so be sure to check back later with an update!

Hola,   Friends, family (Nick: “Hi mom/family!”) and fellow readers from Taylor!

Just adding on to what John said, today we began in Astorga and bussed having several close calls to dogs, bikers, and cars that were driving on streets made for one car (how we haven’t taken out the side mirrors on any of these side streets is beyond me and a testament to how amazing bus drivers in Spain are). Today for me and many Peregrinos was the most emotionally and physically taxing today. First we stopped in Monlinaseca to look at another lovely arch bridge and Ponferrada which had a pretty awesome castle. We went to Cruz de Ferro where pilgrims leave a stone, representing the physical embodiment of a burden. Since we have done our day of silence I have been thinking a lot about burdens and how having a mental reminder can be just as heavy as a physical one. It was very moving to see the Cross built on a mound of stones that pilgrims from all around the world had left. Some had left pictures of loved ones lost, stones written with helpful proverbs, encouraging words and flags. The physical act of removing the stone from my pack and needing to place it on the cross made me think a lot about what we hold onto and why. Like many people I get stuck on my own issues and forget that sometimes what we need is to let go. Obviously it is not as simple as plopping a stone a cross and there goes your problem. By acknowledging what I had been through I felt lighter and more able bodied. And even though I did not know what my fellow pilgrims had been through I felt bounded by our own burdens. After this emotionally taxing experience we then had to climb O Cebreiro, which can be summed up into two steps. Step 1. Buy a hat, step 2. Hold the heck on.  It was only 8 km but it was by the far the hardest day for me. It was a blistering day, with few clouds and no breeze. Being a Minnesota girl I am more adapt to dealing with blistering cold and not blistering heat. We were told by Tony that the first 2k would be the worst; I would argue that it was preceded by the equally terrible slight incline 6k. Many of us stopped about 2k up and stepped off the path to look at the beautiful overhang. We took several beautiful scenery photos with some very sweaty people in them. The vending machine that was at the top of the mountain was like an oasis in the middle of the desert, you do not know true love until you have had Fanta Limón after climbing a mountain (equal to having a cold cerveza in O Cebreiro). After taking a lovely break with Alex, Charlotte, and Pat we were off only to stop because Pat had forgot his staff at the bar. We all eventually made it (us being the back group) we explored the town of O Cebreiro which has a lot of Celtic influence as seen through its architecture and culture. However all is well in Spain, we did get hailed on while running into our Albergue. But! The room Charlotte and I are in looks like the Shire from Lord of the Rings. Wishing much love to everyone state side and whomever else is reading this!

Hasta Pronto!

Taylor

A post from John.

Today was the day of the much feared hike up to O Cebreiro, the highest point along the Camino.  We began the day with an 8 o clock breakfast in a restaurant close to our albergue in Astorga.  After a wonderful breakfast of toast and more toast, we listened to presentations from Jarred and Charlotte and hopped on the bus to begin the drive to the beginning of our hike.  Along our drive, we made three stops; the first was at El Cruz de Ferro.  Meaning The Cross of Iron, it is a place for pilgrims to put a stone and along with that stone leave a memory or idea that one wishes to leave behind with their camino.  I feel like leaving this memory behind was a much more emotional experience for many of us than we had intended, and the ride to the next stop was much calmer.  At the next two stops we saw a cute little stone bridge and a castle in Ponferrada which was built back in the early 1300’s.  As it got later in the day, we realized that it was going to be quite hot so we hurried to the start of our hike up to O Cebreiro.  The climb, although just a piddly 8 Km, was a vicious incline along the beautiful mountains of Spain.  During an ascent comparable to 2 hard hours on a stair-master, our group sweated quite an impressive amount.  Although we may have felt like dying at the time, the view of the distant mountains complemented by bright yellow flowers was well worth the effort.  Although some (Vivek) completed the hike by 1:15, the majority of us arrived a little more than an hour later and spent some time wandering around the quaint city of O Cebreiro at the top of the mountain where we listened to Patrick’s presentation on the church of St. Mary.  At 4 in the afternoon we hopped back on the bus which we took to our hostel for the night.  Unfortunately, the exact time that we arrived at our hostel the rain started, and we all ran as quickly as possible through the rain to our place for the night.  As of now the rain has stopped and we are all taking our own siesta, showering, and eating.  In all, today was one of the more beautiful days along the camino.