One week, plus some

Hello, The last few days have been interesting. I celebrated my 24th birthday on a hot, sunny day. I walked much of the walk with a meteorologist from Barcelona who is walking part of the walk with his uncle. Our destination was a decent sized town, considering some of the pueblos I have stayed in on this trip! The hostel was large and clean. After cleaning up, I had a yummy sandwich and ran into some other pilgrims I had met earlier. I went to mass in the evening in a beautiful church, and then joined some new friends for dinner. It was a delightful evening, and a very simple birthday, but one I am sure I will remember! Thursday and Friday I walked a bit further than my guidebook suggested for those days (30-35km, I think), mainly because I was feeling energetic and figured I might as well take advantage of the energy. Saturday ended up being a very long, exhausting day, and I hit a wall, so to speak. I tried to take a detour to visit an abbey that St. Francis visited when he walked this walk (which is a pretty neat fact in itself!), but after going 6km off of the track, I found it to be closed. Needless to say, I was disappointed. But I continued walking and when I reached my intended stopping point, I was less than impressed with the location and decided to go another 7km to Santo Domingo. All in all, I think I walked arounf 40km that day, which was quite a lot. I reached the hostel in a daze. But, after a much needed talk with a specialist tending to my blisters (poor guy, I don´t think he signed up for free therapy sessions), and a decent night of sleep (I was between two serious snorers!) I felt better. And the last two days have been significantly more positive. I think I needed to let the past week really catch up with me, which it did, in full force. Thankfully, my feet are doing slightly better. My knees are still sore, but I figure if they get me to Santiago, I´ll be pleased. I reflected yesterday with my friend Tim, from Arizona, about our first week on the trail. I don´t really know what I expected, but somehow it is different from my expectations. It is hard to believe it has been over a week, but even harder to believe I still have so far to go! My favorite part so far is meeting so many wonderful people. I have some anecdotes, but I´ll save those for another day. Thank you for all the encouragement and prayers. Un abrazo.