Reasons to Celebrate

Today we concluded our hiking in the city of Logrono, which we are guessing is about the size of Spokane. It was a fabulous day, we think our best yet. We slept very well last night, with one exception. A gun going off several times behind our albergue woke us at about 1030...we later found out it was actually fireworks because Barcelona had won the big soccer game of the day. These crazy spanairds... We woke early and stopped in the town of Vianna, where we had 2 cafes con leches each (indulgence...except they are only about 6 ounces each) and a sandwich with egg, ham and cheese. And a croissant. Perfect. We have made some good friends with this new group we have caught up to and enjoyed our morning break with them. This was where we were telling one of our friends about the Brazilian people we know and how we don´t understand a word of the spanish they speak. She then informed us that this is because they speak Portugese...we are so ignorant!

Today we made a very big decision. In order to meet up with Julia and be able to finish the Camino, we have to be in Leon by next wednesday...in order to do this WALKING, we would have had to do about 5-7 miles above and beyond what we are already doing. On top of this we are really sore and tired and this was stressing us beyond belief. We were not enjoying our days and we spent the evenings trying to pump ourselves up to walk the next day. So today, in order to enjoy our ¨vacation¨, we decided to hop a bus in Burgos and take that to Leon. This will cut out about 100 miles of the journey, however we realized that the only thing preventing us from doing that in the first place was our pride. Once we let go of this and realized our bodies could not maintain what our minds wanted, we are at peace with this decision. Additionally, the terrain we are skipping is the most boring, flat and featureless of the entire Camino. A lot of people skip this part apparently. We feel this will take away from the experience a little, however we will still feel that we have completed the Camino. Tonight we are staying in an excellent albergue in which all the young people stay on the third floor, which is basically the attic. It is very cozy and we know some of the other people staying there, so that is nice. We just got back from wandering the city and we instantly fell in love with it. Our spirits are much higher today now that our big decision is made.

Tomorrow is an 18 mile day for us, so your prayers would be much appreciated! We are trying to find some insoles for Michael, as we think this would help with some of his ankle pain. We miss and love you all! Thanks for the comments, it is so nice hearing from you!

Michael and Catie