Don´t Be Hasty

Or do, whatever. Today I walked about 19 miles, making it one of my longer days, but somehow I did it in about 6 hours including a pretty long break halfway. Not sure how that happened. Anyway, I´m in Villafranca del Bierzo (which is a pretty little area that´s like a miniature La Rioja with lots of vineyards) in my favorite albergue from last time, the Ave Fenix. It´s pretty much exactly like I remember, except the shower was a bit warmer. I even scored the same bed as last time!
Also had a joyful reunion with my German friend, who did a short day from Cacabelos (about 8 km or 5 miles back) because of a foot injury. She shared some food with me which was really sweet and we talked for a bit. I also met a couple from Seattle that was very friendly and told me they met a group of 7 Floridian women! Haven´t run into them yet, but Í imagine it would feel like home.
Last night needs some explainging and a confession. I don´t think I have ever come so close to deliberately hurting another person as I did last night. I have also never before considered picking up a fully grown sleeping person in order to turn him on his side. Anyway, despite the spacious and wonderful room I was in, the French man sleeping two beds down made the walls vibrate with his snoring (I´m not exaggerating, I could feel it in my pillow). Since I don´t know how to whisper "try sleeping on your side, please" in any other languages beside English, when he woke me up at about midnight I was at a loss of what to do. Seriously, if I ever do open or have any sort of influence in an albergue, there will be a sign telling people to sleep on their sides because that would solve most of their problems. Anyway, after I went to the bathroom I stood at the foot of his bed considering whether I could turn him over without a) waking him up or b) accidentally (or purposely) rolling him out of bed. I never found an answer, but I finally remembered the couch in the lobby and took my sleeping bag and pillow down there for what ended up being a pretty nice sleep until the hospitalero turned the light on at 5:30. But of course I can´t exactly begrudge him like I could for the snorer, even though it´s not exactly his fault either. Ave Fenix has a room just for snorers, apparently, though I don´t know how many people actually admit that when they check in. Still, it´s a good idea.
By my calculation I should reach Santiago in 8 days, after which I plan to walk another 3 days to Finisterre. After that, who knows, but I will have about 5 days of downtime in Santiago to eat my fill of helado, falafel, and various other goodies. It should be fun to sit in the square every day and hopefully see familiar faces coming in, but I might also take the opportunity to minister to any pilgrims who look like they need the Gospel or at least some encouragement. There´s also a palace-turned-5-star-hotel that gives a free meal to the first 10 pilgrims who show up with their certificate, so I´ll definitely be pulling the birthday card for a breakfast if I can´t get in before that.
Tomorrow I get to climb up another mountain to O´Cebreiro, which is every bit as Celtic a place as it sounds. Tomorrow also marks my entry into Galicia, so I will hopefully be getting some good seafood soon, including some pulpo (octopus) that I was too scared to try last time and have regretted not getting ever since. I might even get some tomorrow because I think I remember seeing a pulperia of good repute in O´Cebreiro last time. We´ll see. Until then, God bless!