Santiago... here we come!!!!!

My feet felt GREAT today!! It would make sense that on day 11 with only 2 days left, I figured out the perfect sock/shoe/moleskin combination.

Today I woke up in a cozy little albeurge above a bar in a town called Palas de REI. We were sincerely hoping we´d walk into the town yesterday and see a huge REI store but alas, it didn´t happen. We did take a picture next to the REI sign with all of our backpacks and are pretty sure REI will want to use it for their catalog cover. It was our last long day today, 16 miles. We were going to push for an 18 mile day to cut a little off tomorrow but really liked the albeurge a couple kilometers short so decided to stay with friends here. Met some great people on the trail today; a man from Switzerland that has been on for 2 months but flew home after 1 month for his daughters jr. high school presentation, 2 grandparents from France who just retired and a man from Sweden who met the love of his life on the camino. He said romantic encounter.. I´ve decided love of his life sounds a lot more fun. Today was typically of the last few days for scenery. We did walk through our first eucalyptus forest which smelt FANTASTIC as it covered all of our smells. I think I´ve figured the mystery as to why I don´t smell very good- I think it´s a combination of walking 16 miles a day, the 90 degree weather, and the fact that I´m using laundry detergent to wash my hair and body. Weird that it took me so long.

Speaking of weather, today and yesterday were perfect. The previous few days were close to 90 and we broke into a horrible sweat, but the last two days have been warm with enough of a breeze to keep us cool. We really couldn´t ask for better country, company and weather.

The albeurge we´re in tonight use to be a hospital for pilgrims but now sleeps 80 or so. There´s a river right next to it that we soaked our feet in as soon as we arrived and then spent some time soaking in the glorious sun while writing in our journals. We know almost everyone staying in the albeurge so are looking forward to one of our last nights with our 100 closest friends, some good cheap wine and the beautiful spanish countryside. Tomorrow will be a nice 13 mile day, followed by a 12 mile day that will end in Santiago!!!! Can´t believe we made it this far. Heck, can´t believe I even made it at all.

Buen camino