lipstick and earrings

Ribadiso – Santa Irene
20km

It is said that pilgrims start to slow down as they approach Santiago as they do not wish the journey to be over. With the exception of yesterday I did not walk far on the the days since Sarria but much of this was to avoid the crowds. Didn’t sleep much due to Spanish girl in bed above me whose mobile phone kept going off in the early hours. The next morning she apologized, apparently it was her boyfriend keeping tabs on her. She said it annoyed her immensely. Yet I noticed she did not think to press the ‘off’ button after he had rung eight times between 11pm and 3am. I considered mentioning this but let it pass as it hardly mattered any more. Thought about having a coffee at the bar which was advertised as being ‘5 metres away’ before heading out but it was full of breakfasting peregrinos so I walked off into the peace and quiet of the early morning. Passed a memorial to Guillermo Watt, a 69 year old pilgrim who had died on the camino in 1993 and a pair of iron boots had been erected here in his memory. It was a long time since I had passed such a memorial, most of which seemed to have been closer to the Pyrenees and I thought how frustrated I’m sure Guillermo would have been to have fallen just a day from Santiago. Passed more and more pilgrims again, I was staggered in the bathrooms this morning to see a woman in tight jeans wearing big dangly earrings applying a third coat of mascara and lipstick. Where were the faces I knew, I had seen no one since the influx of weekenders in Sarria and wondered if they had not just given up in despair and gone home.