Day 35 – Santa Irene

An older couple walking hand in hand ahead of me.  
In terms of public displays of affection, the Camino is a pretty  sterile place.  There are legends about apps for finding dates on the Camino and such but this exists in the dark Camino not in the light of a pilgrim day Camino.  The average pilgrim is too stinky, sweaty, tired, and frumpy to feel amorous let alone exhibit it publicly.  

The relationship with ones fellow pilgrim is more like sister/brother and we tend to go at lengths to maintain each other’s dignity in less than home-like conditions. 
Bathrooms come in various configurations but a common washroom with multiple separate, non-gender specific stalls for showers and toilets is not unusual. 

Recently a women and I checked into one such alburgue at about the same time and realized that we both were headed for the showers simultaneously.  I sensed (ok, and felt) a slight hesitation to performing this process concurrently.  

So I tossed my bathroom bag back on my bunk and said, “You know, I think I’ll go find a beer and headed out the dormitory door.  A little while later while I was sitting on the porch nursing my Estrella Galatia,  the woman stuck her head out and said something to the effect of,  “The bathroom is all yours now.”  Later as more pilgrims arrived, it got more complicated. 

Tonight’s dinner was a mixed vegetable salad, bread, and a KAS naranja (aka orange Fanta).

A modest meal after a long 28km walk.  I pushed myself as far as I could partly because tomorrow I walk about 20km into Santiago de Compostela, the official end of my Camino.   

I haven’t adjusted to that notion yet. I’ve reserved a couple nights in a budget hotel near the city center.   I’ll write about it more after the fact.
Fiat under the grape arbor.

Buen Camino,
-jgp