Day 39: As Seixas to Arzúa (29,6k)

Day 39 is a piss-up. No two ways about it. I get to Arzúa and all my faves are there. Aya Babe with posse, Waffles, even Fake Vegan and German Carpenter – whom I haven’t seen in over two weeks! So after the customary refuel-shower-nap, we go get some beers. Then some more. We drink an impressive amount of beer in a very short time. Unfortunately. Then we have some pasta. Some wine. We have to run back to the albergue with the last wine in plastic cups to make it in before the 10pm curfew. Lock and key! Someone gets a guitar, more drinking ensues, it’s a rowdy night. Fake Vegan still has not made his bed (bunk above me) and also we’ve put all our laundry in a pile next to his still-in-its-bag sleeping bag. He simply crashes among all these things, and for the whole night, I do not hear a thing. Not a snore, not a toss, not a turn. Fake Vegan out.

His name will henceforth be Fizzy Mucus, by the way. Due to his incessant talk about bodily fluids, it was always a toss-up. (His mucus is fizzy, apparently.) But there was a time where I thought Fizzy Mucus sounded too gross. That time has now passed. German Carpenter has also been rechristened to the more appropriate Lil’ Trump due to her unorthodox views on climate change. TLDR: squad improved.

Before that I walk and stuff, but according to Waffles, “nobody wants to read long posts.” So y’all just have to imagine it. It was the usual, although spent two hours walking BEFORE DAWN with my new dramaturg bestie and instead of lapsing into my usual attachment schpiel (which, trust me, even I get tired of at times) I get to learn about indigenous resistance theatre in South America, the troublesome roots of Quechuan patriarchy and how new migrant populations are to be involved in the Munich art scene. Drama Angel spent three months in Cuba in 2007 researching her thesis on – I forget what it was on – but she’s a dramaturg who knows about all of the above so you can imagine it was magical. She wasn’t allowed to buy food. Damn I’ve heard about some good theses on this walk.

Also of note today, we pass Melide, where the Camino Primitivo, Norte and Francés all converge. It’s a whole different ball game. Pilgrims everywhere. Groups. School trips! At one point, I walk past 94 Irish 15 year-olds. They all ask me politely about my walk. When I say I’ve been walking 39 days, they’re impressed. I get that. I’m pretty cool.

When I stopped at As Seixas yesterday I think part of me was thinking it would be a good thing to end the Camino as I’d started it – alone. But fuck it. How could I abandon these perfectly normal, well-adjusted humans?

#endings #drinking #Galicia #CaminodelNorte #homecoming #travel #travelfriends #hiking #CaminodeSantiago