Day 26 // Melide – Pedrouzo // 34.9 km

I didn't manage to get up very early this morning so I decided to have breakfast in one of the first villages I pass through. The morning is nice, cool and cloudy. Perfect for hiking.

I am eating my sandwiches and again I find a friend. Of course, one bite was not enough so the doggo kept looking at me for 10 more minutes.

I am feeling weird today. I guess it is because I feel the end of the Camino coming. I can't understand the feelings that I have right now. My eyes get watery. I see an old man really struggling to move forward. But me? I feel as if have just started. I have no pain. What exactly is God trying to tell me? Am I going to experience the same things that the ones in pain do? I would love to help them, but how? Why is it so easy for me? And every day gets easier. The closer I get to Santiago the easier it gets for me. And not just physically. But inside I feel like it's getting lighter every day. I think God is walking with me today and smiling. But I don't get him. What is he trying to show me? Maybe the answers will come later. 

I enter another bar and I saw a “sign” that the decision about going to Muxia was right.

There were no signs before. The Camino once again shows how powerful it is. Thoughts and wishes fly out in the universe here. 

As I sat there and had my morning Coca-Cola, I was watching a fantastic family of pilgrims - a man, a woman and two dogs. The woman had a red shirt and the lady dog had a red bag. Same with boys - they were wearing blue. Dogs were carrying bags with their bowls for food and water. And both dogs had a little stick on their bags. True pilgrims.

The lady doggo must've gotten injured (or gotten a blister).

Both of the parents stop to check their doggos, their paws to see if everything is ok and move forward. 

As I kept walking I saw kittens playing. I stopped. I realized they want me to play with them. And I have all the time in the world, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and all the days after that. I am in no rush and I dedicate some attention to them.

I see a family of dogs approach. I lured the kittens away to a backyard. As I was doing that the owner of the dog family put leashes on them and we all continue our hike. 

Since I have so much love for the cows here, I wanted everyone to know the word in Latvian.

I realized that all this time I've been thinking and praying about my big dreams and had forgotten about the small ones. Time to change that. Because while on Santiago, nothing is ever too late.

I saw Oliver from England in one of the bars, I had met him and his Spanish friends Diego in an auberge a couple days ago. We continued the hike together.

Today's path is taking us through the beautiful forests again. But this was something new and special.

And some new tree with “beans”. Even Diego didn't know what it was.

Both of the guys had planned to do a lesser distance, but I told them about the mass the pilgrims are having tomorrow in Santiago and the fact that it only happens on Fridays, so they decided to come with me and reach Santiago tomorrow. When Diego started struggling I tried to cheer him up in many different ways. I didn't want to feel bad about making him go all these extra kilometers. Everything turned out to be fine. 

These are the legs and shoes of a pilgrim. My shoes have holes in them, but I'm glad they're making it until the end.

A couple of kilometers before the final town of the day we get information that all the auberges are already full. And that's only one of the towns. Imagine how many people are currently on the Camino? And how long the line tomorrow is going to be to get the Compostela? I think it'll be around 3 hours. 

We decided to go to the church. But as we entered the city we saw a huge line. They explained to us that this is the only place left that you can spend the night in. A gym hall with 250 spots. We stood in line. We managed to be the people that get mattresses.

I took one too despite having one already. The gym mattress was bigger and softer. I thought to myself that if someone comes short I'll give it to them. When I came back from dinner I saw that a lot of people didn't have a mattress. At around 9 PM a man walks in and asks Diego if there are any mattresses left that he'd really need one since he did more than 40 kilometers today. I told him to take mine. He was super happy and told me he'd buy me breakfast tomorrow. I couldn't help the people that were struggling while hiking, but I hope I was of some use in this situation and that the man could get a good nights rest. 

Our trio after a great dinner.

Goodnight!