Sarria to Portamarin

¡Hola!

Yesterday we walked about 22 kilometers from the town of Sarria to Portamarin. The trail was very scenic and extremely congested with pilgrims! Everybody is so friendly and constantly saying 'buen camino'! It's so cool to run into so many people from all over the world and I am so amazed at how many Americans are here doing the Camino too.

It took the majority of us about four hours to finish the hike. When we finally reached the outside of the town we had to walk across this huge bridge that was over a beautiful river. It was so cool! Our albergue was a little ways over the bridge and close to the Cathedral! The owners of the albergue were extremely nice and we had a great patio to hang out in. Some of the students made dinner in the kitchen at our hostel and some went out to find food.

We are getting really close to Santiago and we only have four more days of 20+ kilometers until we can get our Compestelas!

Overall this trip so far has been physically demanding for a lot of us. Luckily our blisters have began to callous but I think we are all still a little sore.  We are hoping for sunny cool days as we continue to approach Santiago!

Now for a funny story:

On our walk Saturday from Samos to Sarria Ashley and I walked together the entire time.  We were incredibly chatty and right in the midst of one of our conversations , we looked up and saw two of the most massive pigs I have ever seen blocking the trail. They were just casually walking the trail, stopping to eat grass. Ashley is not a fan of pigs and was extremely nervous about having to pass them. Up until then I had no reason to dislike pigs. I tried to calm Ashley down  and let her grab my arm as we approached the pigs...Ashley's anxiety rubbed off on me  and as we got right up to the pigs they started to attack me...okay, some might use the word 'sniff' but  I'm choosing to say 'attacked '. So the pigs started to attack me and I FREAKED OUT and by freaked out I mean started screaming and running in the opposite direction with Ashley right in front of me. Another pilgrim past the pigs on the trail started laughing hysterically...we didn't really find it funny until we were safely able to pass the pigs and see the photo he took of us... So some random pilgrim on the trail has a hilarious photo of Ashley and I running from two giant pigs (monsters). And no, sorry to disappoint, but we do not have a copy of this comical picture.

Adios everyone! Looking forward to completing the Santiago and returning to the U.S!