I woke up with the first noises in the room of people packing and fleeing...S was still snoring.. I got up quietly and packed... and brought my half packed bags outside, a lot of us do this in order to spare our neighbors the rustling noises and the random flash light movements that packing would involve.. especially when you get up before most of the others do, but I was also sneaking out and away... .. it was 5;30. they did have breakfast but I didnt want to wait. I had some of my own bread and cheese. And two coffees from the machine.. Al was also there.. he had slept only four houts...the mens room sounded even hotter than the womans....i asked if I could use him as guide out of the city.. finding trail markers in cities is sometimes more difficult than small towns or even nature... so we walked first two hours or so, together.. he knew a bit of a short cut out.. and yet we had to walk 8 or more kms to find an open cafe.. We ran into the swiss girl M. her leg injuries had made her have to take a bus through the Mesetta part of the Camino and then rest in Leon for a few days, today was her first day walking again. The trail split, and one went along the road and the other more through arural less trafficy route,but was a several kms longer stretch. ..the place I wanted to go to was on the longer road... it was a choice of 21kms away, so a shorter walking day, the next place with lodging after that was 36kms, I was not in the mood for that much walking. Al was going on ahead so I was pretty sure today would be the last time i'd see him..My walking is slower and more painful again. S caught up with us she had actually found a french speaking american man to walk with.. He was Episcopalian from Pasandera LA ..It was his first day on the camino. Me and Al had had fun walking together alone in the morning he talked to me of lutons in brittany which are french trolls. We joked and laughed a lot. But now it was different dynamic. S started walking ahead with Al who was now increasing his speed which was his habit, to start out very slow and midmorning start walking faster... the american walked with me for a while until he too grew tired of my pace...they all started walking ahead of me. I felt hot and irritable early. In Chozas Deabajo I found a bar and had a sandwich. I kinda knew I would not see them again because they were all headed on to the further destination, but I did not say good bye to any of them either.
In Villar de Mazarife, my destination, I thought I spotted them some how behind me again, but maybe not. I booked into the first auberge. I asked about private room but she wanted 30. so I took an auberge dorm bed instead and signed up for their veggie paella dinner. Hoping it would not suck. The dorm room was huge and would only fill a quarter full. It was not the cleanest, and yet I still got lucky and faced no bed bugs.. a nagging worry of mine..since i'd seen other pilgrims with the tell tale signs and heard stories.. .. I took a bed by a wall and window. A little separate from others. I showered and did laundry.. . I took a siesta. I slept pretty long. I had arrived at noon and did not rouse till three thirty.. Then I decided to circle the small town a bit. I wanted a beer and to journal. I went to another auberge which had a bar. The local bar was packed full of old men playing games. So I went to the 'pilgrims' bar instead. I ran into the swiss girl and american guy from earlier ..found out Al and S had eaten lunch here. S had asked for my where abouts. They had then walked on. I vented a bit about codependence and how weird it is that some one who didn't seem to like my style would then chose to cling to me like that …M listened but felt I should have communicated to S verbally about needing my space... We also reconnected and talked .since I had met her over a week ago and had not seen her since...we talked about camion experience struggles and insights.
Then I went back to my auberge for dinner. A surprisingly sizable group came down for dinner. Lots of new pilgrims. the group included four italians. A german mom and daughter, an irish man, and two spanish school teachers. A very friendly group. The food was great actually, which I had not expected from the under-enthusiastic conditions of the place, nice to have true vegetarian meal that tasted great ..me and the irish guy, a gentle fellow, chatted a bit ... He is a very soft sweet guy, but he had been struggling with bouts of anger about old issues in his life, that were coming up for him on the Camino...He reminded me of young men at meditation retreats who get confronted by their anger and are shocked at the extreme rage that comes up for them.. The camino has been a struggle for him.... being on my own again, I did feel freer and only now did I realizing how stifling it had been to have someone always around me that was an ill fitting travel companion... but M had been right, I should have clearly communicated my wish to be alone or apart..even though it had not been that clear to me until after the fact... but learning to communicate your needs clearly and kindly is something I hope to improve..
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