El Camino – Day 36

Salceda – (Boavista) – Lavacolla

16 kms (total: 796 kms).

+ 4 kms round-trip back to Boavista to meet up with Michael and take part in his Wise Pilgrim Portrait Project.

3 hours and 44 minutes (+ 2h20 of Wise Pilgrim Portrait Project photo shoot, lunch and photo breaks).

6 – 22°C., overcast all day.

Favorites: wake up much later than usual (8 a.m.) after a very good night’s sleep (exhausted as we were by the walk and a jug of sangria at diner!); fiery skies at sunrise; convince my friends to walk back 2 kms to Boavista for the photo shoot; see the surprised expressions on our fellow pilgrims’ faces when they saw us walking away from Santiago!; meeting Michael; enjoy a short walk in a forest of sweet-smelling eucalyptus.

Downs: see so many people converge to the same spot at the same time; have a waitress (under her boss’s directives) dispute all my explanations as to why I don’t use a paper napkin and why I’d have liked a glass of water from the tap rather than from a plastic bottle (the napkin was thrown away in spite of me not touching it for « hygiene » reasons, and she would have also charged me for a glass of water from the tap); everything rather than thinking logically and protecting our planet, I’m still mad.

Stayed at Albergue de Boni (12€/night, hydromassage in the shower included!), along the road, on El Camino, in Salceda.

Met up with most pilgrims we had previously passed by, on our way back to Boavista, which made them smile. Reunited with the Brazilian gang, friends of Marlón’s, at the albergue in Lavacolla.

                                           Oh wow, we’ll be in Santiago de Compostela tomorrow!