Today was different. I woke at 6 as usual and didn't know what to do. I went down to the hotel breakfast at 7:30 and spent a long time reading the news and drinking coffee. I wanted to see the Botafumeiro but is was hard wo find when it happened. I didn't know what else to do so I went to the Pilgrim Mass at 9:30. It was about half full in a large Catherdral and was just a regular mass in Spanish.
After I went out to a bright sunny day and saw young Max come into town. I went to the Cahterdral square and looked for others I knew. I saw a sunny stone bench on the north side and sat down. My body was fine walking around but everytime I stopped things swelled up or stiffened up. It felt like my body wanted to walk.
I chatted with an Italian girl who had started on the Via de la Plata and switch to the Primitivo. She was not done walking.
Through some WhatApps messaging I learned the Botafumeiro was at 11:40. I headed back into the church and found it much more crowded than the earlier mass. I talked briefly with Fergus and Tara. I found a spot where I could see but not too far from a door I knew I could escape. The Botafumeiro was pretty cool and even though there were many loud and clear announcements about no phones or cameras when the proceddings started the phones when up and the recording started. I escaped before the mass started ... hey, I did a mass already.
Robert messaged me to meet for lunch and I met him and Camilla. Robert was a little rough from the night before but Camilla was delightful. As we left lunch I ran into Jim and I said, "Beer?" and he said "Yes!". The first sidewalk cafe we found featured our Colorado friends. We had a few drinks and then walked around the Cahterdral square before heading back to out hotels for a little rest.
I had to wash my pants and shirt to get the pork chop from lunch that I dropped on my lap out. A little lie down was nice too.
Jim messaged me and we where back to the sidewalk cafe where we found and joined Boti, Thomas and Fergus. We were looking for Wayne and Angela for dinner. Jim went off to find them and I drank with the boys. A bunch of beers later I got a message from Jim and went to met them for dinner. It was there I found that Becky was missing because she had been ravaged by bedbugs in an albergue that only she had stayed in and had to go to the hospital. Yuck!
Dinner was great and for the first time in a long time I got more food than I could eat. After dinner we headed our separate ways and I immediately ran into Boti on his own. We got drinks until Fergus messaged and we joined a larger group. A good bunch I had seen but only a few I knew well. After that group broke up Fergus, Boti and I went to another place and closed it down. Strange that in a country that doesn't have dinner until 10pm the bars all close at midnight.
I said goodbye to guys I may never see again but feel like I got to know pretty well. Today was strange day. It may take some time to process.
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