Holy fudge. Just got done with a 16 mile walk that seemed 10,000 miles longer than a puny 16. After doing the same “we finally made it to our destination” dance, only to find out that we were 2 miles away, we finally made it to our destination! Now that we are here, our window seems to open up into a bus station that seems to additionally host a semi truck unloading area. To convey the extent of our exhaustion correctly, I feel as though the exhaust sounds coming from these trucks are inside the walls of my brain but I am so incredibly thankful to be right here, right now, on this bed and not up on my feet.

For all you “Ariane Follwers” out there.. she is doing fabulous. She walked those 16 miles today, right by my side and had a smile on her face for 98% of it. The last 2% were spent wandering aimlessly due to another Peregrino’s bad sense of direction. Needless to say, we both wanted to give everyone the finger.

We have recently met a new friend who has tacked on to our traveling duo, making us a trio. The second we met, my mom and I both knew she was a great addition. We’re surely staying friends far beyond the trails of the Camino. Her name is ibufén gel and she works miracles on the soles of our feet, essentially soothing our souls in general. We’ve already made plans to smuggle more of her into to the states to improve our quality of life back at home.

Okay now for some pictures. I am starting to lose track of when and where each picture is from. All of the villages are starting to look the same and the trail is beginning to blend together. This was our view looking up from our walk home from dinner in Santo Domingo de la Calzada..

A gorgeous statue outside of where we stayed..

We woke up late this morning, I had a horrible time sleeping last night. So coffee was necessary..

Since we started pretty late today, we ended later than usual. We ran across BLOOMING sunflower fields though so it sort of made up for our late arrival. Holy yellow!! The buds of these ladies are bigger than my face.

and more.. even when they’re dead, I still think they are beautiful.

We took a pit stop in Grañón for some tea and a breather. My mom is so backpacker-chic with her messy French braid sipping her té con leche 😉

So here is my girly moment.. Embracing my messy hair has been an understatement on this trip. If you know me, you know my hair is nuts. I decided to cut all my dead hair off right before we left and I’ve made a vow to not touch it (Not that I have a choice, curling irons and hairspray are frowned upon in backpacking situations) in hopes to have my strong healthy hair again. I’m not going to lie though, I’m secretly loving it…

Bare faced and barefoot, right up my alley.

Some blooms for your viewing pleasure. I took SO many pictures of all the flowers today but I only feel like posting one, I’m that tired.

A really tiny beautiful church right outside of Santo Domingo de la Calzada..

Holy hay! …

I’ve been really enjoying all of the architecture everywhere, especially on all the doors in the villages. I love it because it shows the history. The buildings have such strength to have stood this long and now after all this time they look so withered. I’ve been feeling really inspired being surrounded by it all.

Well, we have a million more pictures and they’re all gorgeous. I’m pretty exhausted and I just want to share these with you for now. Maybe I’ll post all of the pictures that didn’t make the first cut sometime when we have a day planned to rest.