Lugo to Santiago

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I got up a little bit earlier today so I could make my way to Santiago. I packed the rest of my things up, and walked around for ten minutes trying to find the elevator. Finally, I found it and took my luggage down to check out. I wasn’t quite sure on how to check out so I just went to the front desk and gave the guy there my key. He smiled and said thank you, so I said thank you back and walked out into the pouring rain. Of course, it chose the day that I have to walk a mile uphill carrying my suitcase to rain. Yet when I stepped outside, it stopped raining. Just a little reminder that God has my back. I made my way to the train station to find no one operating the counter. I just sat for a little while until I found someone and purchased my ticket for the eleven o’clock train. I got on the train, and made my way through the beautiful mountains to Santiago de Compostella. Once I got off, I made my way outside ready to find my hostel. Actually, I paced back and forth around the bus station wondering what to do. I had no idea where my hostel was, or what city bus I needed to take to get me close to it. So for ten minutes I walked around deciding what to do. I didn’t see an information desk so I couldn’t ask about the bus, I couldn’t find out which bus because I didn’t know what stops were close, and I couldn’t use my phone GPS because it wouldn’t work on me. Finally I thought to myself, okay God, I don’t know where I’m going and you are supposed to be leading me. I’m just going to walk this way and try to find the big cathedral. So I started walking, and about twenty minutes later, the cathedral came in to view. I started thinking to myself; once I find the cathedral I can use my map to find the hostel. Well, my map ended up not being too accurate, because for the next hour I took roads that I thought were the ones I was supposed to take. I finally decided to go back to the cathedral and use the directions the hostel gave me. So I started to follow them, but the roads started to go everywhere and the instructions were not great English. So I was really frustrated and ready to cry/sat down when I said to myself, Im relying on you God, and you aren’t getting me there, I need you to help me. Well guess what. The moment I said that, I realized I was on the street my hostel was one. Literally street numbers down, and I found my hostel. If that’s not something, then I don’t know what is. I happily walked in to my hostel and checked in. The woman went to show me my room saying I was on the first floor. Little did I know, they did not have an elevator. So I lugged my almost 50 pound suitcase up a flight of stairs after walking around hills for two hours. I have been exercising almost every day since February to get ready for this trip. Apparently all that hard work did nothing to prepare me for this. I will definitely have all muscle by the time I am done with these mountains. After I took my bunk bed, thankfully the lower one, I relaxed for a little bit. I decided to just walk around today and relax so tomorrow I could explore all the monuments. I walked around for a while until I started to get hungry. I wanted to find somewhere cheap, but I wanted a heavy dinner because I had a light lunch (a sandwich I made the day before). I couldn’t find anywhere within my price range, so I found a Burger king and ate there. I know it is kind of cheating, but I really wanted a big hamburger, French fries, and a coke. After I ate my fulfilling cheap meal, I walked back to my hostel. There is a lot of Pilgrim backpackers here, which I got to talk to one of them who shares a bed next to me. He doesn’t speak much English, in fact he is Italian, so I tried to speak Spanish to him. It went pretty well; I only had to use my dictionary once. I realized the other day that in this zone, also known has Galicia; they speak their own type of Spanish. Just as I am getting accustomed to the Spanish, they switch languages on me. Luckily, it is very similar, so I can kind of guess what is going on. It’s okay though because I speak Spanglish anyways. Well, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, learning Galician, Spanish, and trying to buy my ticket for Thursdays 7 hours trip to Fatima, Portugal. Hopefully I can get some good sleep tonight!

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Photos

A view from my Hostel.

My room. Can you tell which bed is mine?

A garden I think,

Back side of the Cathedral.