Woke up with achy muscles and a sore throat... I guess the patio wasn´t as warm as I had perceived it to be last night. I´m surprised I have held out without getting sick for this long, so I can´t really complain. It´s really only a few more days until we reach Santiago. We again declined the 8 euro a person buffet at this new hotel, and opted for just coffee. It was foggy beyond belief outside, and you couldn´t see more than 100 ft in front of you. This made what seemed to be the hundreds of new pilgrims following us look like zombies protruding from out of the fog. The fog also gave the lost city of the river an even more eerie vibe.
Walking 10k in, we stopped to eat and got a decent Spanish tortilla and OJ for 5 euros. A couple of miles after that we stopped for some more coffee. On the way, we ran into some old friends, but we didn´t talk much, mainly because I wanted to get to Palas de Rei so I could sleep off this cold ASAP. Our´hotel´in Palas de Rei was 40 euros for a clean double room with sheets. What was weird about it is that it was 1k away from the actual address, which the owner had to walk us to. I won´t name the hotel, because it isn´t worth anyone sleeping there.
We went to eat at a restaurant recommended by the hotel owner which actually had this amazing garbanzo bean soup followed by a fantastic pulpo dish. I should also mention that Galicia has brought the best desserts to my palate. All gluten free of course. If I could live off of them, I would. We ran into more pilgrims we knew who mainly complained about all of the new pilgrims, saying that they were disrespectful in the albergues and obnoxious in general. Since we have only slept in private rooms since Sarria, we haven´t experienced this. What I did notice, was this tourist van that slowly transports pilgrims to destinations until the day´s final destination, so that they can receive a compostela for the 100k. To each their own.
