Up and Over

I´m in Triacastela now, but since it´s been two days instead of one let me begin where I left off. Villafranca was great, and the dinner was very similar to last time in its warmth and congeniality. While I was excited at the start to have my old bed, when I woke up at 1:00 to find my bunkmate making noises that would embarrass a pig my happiness diminished a bit. After I went to the bathroom, I gave him a gentle kick while I climbed back into bed in hopes that he would change position and breath easier. When he didn´t so much as pause in his slumber, I got up again and spent some time sitting down in the bathroom to take care of some business I hadn´t taken care of in a while. I kicked him hard enough the next time that he woke up but of course he got to sleep a lot faster than I did. I looked down to see if I dared ask him to sleep on his side but he was already sleeping on his side. He was one of those few who snore no matter what. He also had a bare arm that looked big enough to dissuade me from waking him up without making it look like an "accident," but I fell asleep pretty fast anyway.
The next day I loaded up at the €3 buffet breakfast and set out to climb not one but two mountains. The descent from Mt. Pradela was extremely steep and pretty much ruined me for the rest of the day even though the descent was left than halfway to O´Cebreiro. I stopped again at a cafe (where I know I stopped last time) to take care of business again and order a cafe-con-leche to be polite. After the caffeine kicked in I felt a little better and at last made it up to O´Cebreiro and into the province of Galicia, which has proved to be the most memorable province. Every street, building, and restaurant in that town reminded me of last time.
Today I made the gentle-and-then-steep descent from O´Cebreiro and found that every path, turn, and slope was familiar. I think part of it is that most paths in Galicia, especially the ones through towns, have had cows on them a some point so there is a near-constant sweet smell of manure (seriously, it is not nearly as gross as you´d think). Anyway, after I got within 5 km of Triacastela (which is only 20 km away from O´Cebreiro) I took a break at yet another place where I stopped last time. I broke the trend, though, by staying in a different albergue here, a private one that is very home-like and very nice (though it´s also among the most expensive places I´ve stayed at €8) with a cute older couple for hospitaleros. It has a kitchen, so I may cook pasta with my German friend for dinner, and I´m looking forward to the pilgrims´ celebration ("celebration" as in "celebration of the Eucharist") at the local church.
Tomorrow I´l be in Sarria, which is where a lot of people start, so it will be a lot more crowded tomorrow. But that is not any trouble, because it also means I´m within a week of Santiago! I´ve still been able to be alone for the most part during the mid-morning part of the day, so I can´t really complain of the crowds, though the people I do meet usually travel in noisy packs now which makes it more difficult to concentrate on prayer and soaking in the lovely Galician atmosphere. Oh well, that´s life on the Camino so I have to take it as it comes. Still, I´d advise anyone who travels here with a group to try to stay in mostly-silent groups of two or less during the walk and leave the socializing and talking for the stops. That´s just my opinion, but I expect God touches even the ones who follow a different method. Anyway, I don´t have much else to say, so God bless!