There was no breakfast included..I had some instant coffee and bread left overs from the dinner last night .. I was ready to leave but S, wasn't, I told it's okay she would catch up with me anyway, but no, I got the 'just a minute' from her, and we were walking together again..but today was the day, that I put my speculations I had about her down, and instead asking why she was with me, I asked myself why was I with her?, politeness? Because I need a 'three bells fire' reason not to be?.. I realized that I could think about these questions without remaining in her company... I was reminding myself that I only had a few more days left on the camino, and that perhaps the last ten days I really should walk alone, as I had walked alone for most of this pilgrimage... and that I could not see myself walking with this person to santiago...therefore I needed an exit... ...she had always had a faster pace and I could not keep up with her anymore, my body was rebelling as well... so today l did not even try to quicken my pace... I fell more and more behind, so that in fact I was walking by myself... she would still stop to wait for me at times, but less frequently...she hooked up with a french group ahead of me and I really thought she was going with them....but no, I would see her again alone.. . . the landscape got urban and less interesting and my feet got sore from the tarmac, but really I was mostly irritated by my ill fitting travel companion situation. I let her get further and further ahead. I stopped at a gas station for a snack and electrolyte drink, she had noticed, she came back and found me. Just at the same time the german woman A joined us, she too got a drink at the gas station...but her's was a beer, S raised a brow.... Then to the auberge. It was noon and there was a big check in line. Women and men where at first kept separate but later the as the place filled up, and the new people being mostly men..filled in the spaces on the woman's floor.. it was a nunnery.. it had crowded beds. I took a ten minute nap.. S had arranged to walk around town lead by the french camino veteran Al.. it sounded like a good idea at the time since I did enjoy Al's company a lot..but every thing was closed and it was hot.. and I started wilting more and more.. I should have tried to rest more or sleep more I realized too late... we stopped for a a beer and then eventually the cathedral opened. I realized I could have just napped till 4.30 and then seen things. One of the cathedrals had a a museum attached with cool 12th cent. Frescos.. S did not want to pay the four euro fee. I did not care I wanted to go in..then of course she went to.. Al said it was worth it. There was naïve art there and I realized this does not mean it is armature art. How do they manage to have such beautiful simple pieces without it seeming amateurish?...it's done with such certainty...how can I bottle it and apply it in my art?
Al revealed he was an artist. He showed us some drawings downloaded on his i-phone. Layers and layers of pencil on top of each other. Anatomic drawings. They do look cool and had a repetitive but not sloppy. Al walks around in well worn safari outfit with often a white stained shirt, he is proud of his cuban sun hat, but it too has tape holding it together.. yet his art is a counter point to his appearance, it has a very controlled aspect to it. He also showed us multiple oil patels of a landscape near his home in Brittany. We run into the other young french woman, SA, the one I can communicate with easily. She has decided to walk to Astorga and quite there, and not complete the santiago camino this year, but go on beach holiday instead... her foot problem has warned her that this year is not the year to conclude the final Etapes....... she did not want to return straight from walk to work world all burned out from too much rigorous hiking. she asks to join us for dinner.... We return around six to the auberge I do some of my little chores.. I needed some alone time and take it. S went with a polish lady back to the cathedral for a evening mass. We all had decided to meet for dinner around seven. S did not show up so we get going around 7.15.. then she does appear last minute... we are a large enough group where making executive decisions seem to come hard... but we settle on a restaurant...S had tried to herd more french peeps to our group but they did not seem interested in following her... we found a not so special place and had a small portioned meal. I tried to speak with Al and SA in english...S, in a rare moment of assertiveness hijacks the conversation, and the rest of the meal is french only... I decide that this will be my last day or evening in her company.. I finally make the executive decision I probably should have a few days ago.....
Al has also done the camino 8 times, and he knows special places to eat, so he brings us to a pricey but good chocolate specialty cafe. It is very nice but I was really tired and had a bit of a heat headache. Also we had 9.30 curfew, and I heard they strictly enforce it here, so if you come back late, you are locked out for the night.... I went back to the auberge with SA.. Al went with S to some place for a drink..... once back at the auberbe we had to wait around for their special pilgrim's evening mass.. I displeased an old spanish man from s's group when he asked me my religion and I told him buddhist. he gave me this look, like then what are you doing here? Usually pilgrims don't judge each others religious beliefs, so he is an exception.... the service itself was short and quite nice and they gave us a blessing. At the end they had a few words in spanish english and german.. but not french... which pleased me secretly... because of having spending several days with someone who obsessively thought out all other french speakers and letting me know about them..and letting me feel a bit bad about speaking german.. ... I obviously had reached my limit, with her.. the mass ended right around my bed time.... back in the room it would be a hot night with much tossing and turning... and I thought I heard people outside trying to get in but it was half dream, so I was not sure...
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