Live from the Camino

Hello to all of our fabulous readers! I promised my mom about a week ago that I would post on the blog (hi mom!) and then I promised Nanette that I would post two days ago, so I thought it was about time I actually did something about those promises. Life on the Camino is amazing. We wake up every morning and walk downstairs to a fully made breakfast, and then we just walk. It's very freeing to know that your only goal for the day is to walk from one city to another, and it's going to be a huge adjustment going back to the real world after this. It's hard to believe we'll all be walking into Santiago in just five short days, and then flying back to Minneapolis two days after that. This whole trip has just been a blur of laughter, sleepovers, food, and many many miles of Spanish countryside.

Yesterday we made the trek to the Cruz de Ferro and then up to O'Cebreiro, the highest point on the Camino. Oh, and we visited the coolest castle of all time, which belonged to the Knight's Templar. Cruz de Ferro was the spot where we finally got to leave the rocks that we all have been carrying with us. Each person's rock is supposed to represent a burden that is to be left behind on the Camino. It was such a cool experience to walk up a hill that was made of all these rocks from all around the world, with each rock representing a story from the person who left it there. I truly felt connected to every other person who has walked the Camino. After lunch was the moment we'd all been waiting for, the trek up to O'Cebreiro. This was the steepest/longest climb of the entire trip. Eight kilometers of pure torture (just kidding, but seriously, it was pretty steep). The good part was that I was mentally prepared for a tough hike, so it really wasn't all that bad in the end. The views as we were walking didn't hurt either. It was absolutely breathtaking by the time we got to the top. Unfortunately, I'm not able to post pictures from my iPad, so you guys will just need to close your eyes and imagine what the views from the top of a mountain in Spain are like, and then wait to see pictures when we all get home! I can't wait to see what the next week has in store for all of us, every step and every day brings us closer to Santiago.