hasta el mar y más conexiones

today was my last etape on the way to the ocean. happy to report, that i have reached el mar en muxia.

out of olveiroa it is a pleasant hike up and down the hilly landscapes of galicia.

while walking out of the village i reflect on yesterdays evening. i had reported yesterday that i didn’t feel like i was open for new connections. turns out i can’t always read myself properly. i had dinner with three ladies, two from norway, one from dublin.

anne comes originally from norway’s west coast, close to the group of islands we went to last summer for the so far best fishing adventure we have had in our lives. together with her friend jurid, they have been on the camino primitivo and are now on the camino to fisterra / muxia - same as trish, same as i. we talk a fair bit about me. well, i talk a fair bit about my projects, show them the oil paintings, we speak about charity and the projects in ghana, about life in general, about what it means to feel at home somewhere. and we talk about the saint olafs leden, another long-distance hike that is already on my list.

i talk so much that my spaghetti con queso de o cebreiro assume a somewhat sticky and slightly cold consistency. but still delicious! especially after the somewhat longer than expected hike yesterday.

not only did i talk to people yesterday evening, but also today.

i meet pino from milano in a café and later in a church. we speak briefly, then we move on again. a few kilometers later i walk past a galician woman, maria nieves (como el nieve - she tells me), who sells her handcraft on the side of the camino. we speak for a bit, she is very proud to show me every product in her portfolio. i buy a pouch with nice-smelling herbs inside. maybe they won’t have to use the fumedor en la catedral de santiago when i go there next week after the completion of my camino (at least not for my smells).

which brings me to the interim tally again: including the way back to santiago i am about 30 kilometers short. now, i will walk up and down the beach tomorrow for a bit. if it gets me to 30 kilometers, i don’t know. maybe i will need to add a walk around lake mueggel upon my return to berlin to complete the goal of 1000 km overall. i’ll come up with something. i also need to look into travel connections sometime over the next days.

while walking today, i wasn’t super-focussed. a bit of a wandering mind today. but okay. still almost content. tomorrow is a rest day and the real exploring of muxia and el santuario da virxe da barca starts this evening and tomorrow. i will have time to reflect on a topic or two then. i will report.

now off to find an early cena and a late siesta.