Due to our long 50k day, and the subsequent longer days where we pushed a little to get to a decent town, we have managed to catch back up to friends who went ahead of us weeks ago. Yesterday, we stayed in Sarria, and ran into Wade, a seminarian from Texas, after the vigil Mass. We invited him to our home cooked dinner, I made pasta. It was nice to see him again and share a bit of what has happened since we last saw eachother.
Today, after the first few kilometers, we decided to pull off at a country cafe for some coffee and morning prayer. It was there that we ran into Casha, am Alaskin whom we had met a few days before and with whom we had shared our vocation stories. We also saw a good number of the larger group which we had fluidly been traveling with, including a Sweed, Bulgarian, New Zealander, and an Israeli. We spent the rest of the day chatting and talked a lot about the faith and our vocations. We ended up staying in the beautiful riverside town of Portomarin. Although it was good to share our thoughts, and they asked us many questions, I regret not asking them more about their own lives and view points.
Lastly, we have officially past the 100 marker to Santiago. We should be there in about five days. Since this is the last stretch and you need to walk a minimum of 100ks to get your compostella, the Camino cerificate, the way has become crowded with new faces. It is a little difficult to cope with the crowds after spending so much time on sparcely populated trails. I find the newcomers testing my patience but it is a good oppertunity to grow in charity, and really reminds me of how cool it is that we started at the begining.
-Michael