June 7 Arzua to Arca Do Pino 14 miles

Song of the Day:  "One Day More" from Les Miserables:

One day more!

Another day, another destiny.

This never-ending road to Calvary

Can you believe we only have one more day until we finish this hike!  It's hard for us to comprehend that we have now walked almost 470 miles and only have 12 more miles left.  I'm not sure how it will feel on Sunday morning when we wake up and have no walking to do!  For the most part, walking (and eating and sleeping) has been our primary daily mission in life this past 5 weeks.

We had another beautiful walk today,  mostly through heavily forested hills.  I have to say, the scenery since we entered Galicia this past week  has been nothing short of spectacular and ranks with some of the best hikes Linda and I have ever done.   Galicia is the green part of Spain, as it gets the most rain.  Incredibly, we have had no rain this past week,  only sunny or partly cloudy skies.

After about 6 miles, we stopped for a snack.  At the cafe, we ran into Montse from Palo Alto, near us in San Francisco.  We  have not seen Montse for 3 weeks since we hiked through the snow with her.  After hiking the first 400 miles by herself, Montse's  husband and two children have now joined her for the last part of the hike.  This was her 50th birthday present.

As you can probably tell from many of the pictures this past week, this is cow country!  Based on some of noises we heard coming from the barns yesterday and today, it sounds like it was slaughterhouse  day.  It was a virtual Little Shop of Horrors, with the animals making some very mournful sounds.

When we started this hike, we were given "credentials" which is basically a passport like booklet.  Along the way, all the hotels, restaurants and churches offer stamps to indicate where you stopped along the way.  It makes for a terrific record of the trip.  We will end up filling two of these books each.  I have included a photo of Linda's credentials here.

For the last 60 miles of the hike, you need to collect at least 2 stamps per day, to "prove" that you walked the Camino.  So, Linda has been very diligent about getting our stamps this past week.  The credentials  will be used by the "examiners" tomorrow when we receive our "Compestela".  See my posting from a couple of days ago for more about that.

I have talked about the various business models the Catholic church uses including charging admission to the church, museums, charging for turning on the lights, etc.  Yesterday, we went into a church to get a stamp.  The volunteer giving the stamp then asked us for a donation in exchange for the stamp!  

We arrived at our hotel today around 1:30.  Several of the hotels along the way, including today's, have offered clothes washing services.  For about $7, they will wash a load of clothes.  However, it is then up to you to dry them.  For our hotel today, our room is on the 3rd floor.   They have a clothes line at the 3rd floor level!   I have included a picture of Linda leaning out our bedroom window and hanging clothes!  Most days we simply wash our clothes in the shower or sink (or bidet...) just using a bar of soap.  So, it is a treat when we have access to a real clothes washer.

One health update:  Linda's toenail came off today.  I think Linda is actually relieved to get this out of the way.  She said it doesn't hurt, more of an annoyance than anything.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.  Although the hike is relatively short at 12 miles, the trail will be packed with hikers.  In addition to the normal heavy load of the past week, we are told they bring in bus loads of tourists who hike this last 12 miles only, to get the "feel" of hiking the Camino.  However, they don't receive a Compestela.  Then when we arrive in Santiago, we understand the process for getting the Compestela takes time, as the lines can be long. In any case, it will be a real feeling of accomplishment to finish this after 34 days of hiking!