Ahhh... internet again.

Hello friends and countrymen,
Here I am in Salamanca, at the library on the only internet I´ve been able to find in the last 6 days - it´s totally liberating.  Going through small villages in Spain is SO fantastic.  This is the way to see the country!  But not much in the way of technology.  Nice to disconnect.  So much has happened, and I´ll try to do as much as I can.  After the whirlwind first day, the rest have been much less intense, between 27 and 32 km per day, sometimes up big hills, but more often down a lot of country lanes.  If it weren´t for the yellow arrows that have been meticulously painted all across the countryside for guidance I´d be lost back in Baños de Montemayor by now.  The camino de Santiago is totally special.  I´ve met SO many wonderful people.  Been palling around the last 4 days with a father and son from Australia, a bloke from England and a girl from Germany.  That´s in addition to the other 3 Spanish ladies, 3 Spanish men, 2 Germans, 2 Swedes, and various other people that we´ve seen falling behind, speeding up, or just on the trail.  It´s always interesting seeing who´s going to turn up every night at the pilgrim hostel!  So a normal day:  after a 6¨30 or 7 am wake up, we all get ready, generally grumbling about having to put on the boots again (but it´s a fun grumbling).  I have to tend to my blisters too.  The left heel one is doing fine after I changed insoles to stop the friction.  Now it´s just got to heal.  Nothing else too bad.  We pack up our backpacks, grab some breakfast either at the albergue or on the road and get on our way!  Then, it´s just walking across the gorgeos Spanish countryside.  Seen many different types of animals in the road including wild pigs, sheep, many frightening cows, and even a lone donkey. It´s always an adventure finding what the road will bring you next!  I generally get in to the next town between 2 and 4, where you find the hostel, get a bed, mercifully take off the boots, then get a glorious shower and put on your comfy clothes and relax like a champ - journaling, planning the next day´s route, just generally talking.  With English and Spanish I´ve got about 99% of pilgrims covered - you get the oddball German who doesn´t speak either, but I´ve definitely got the two most useful languages.  The environment in the albergues is TOTALLY fantastic and unforgettable.  We´re all here for the same purpose, everyone helps everyone out (I can tell you how many solutions for blisters I´ve had offered ;) everyone is understanding and will encourgage or comiserate, but mostly everyone´s got a story to tell, and we´re all friendly enough to tell it.  It´s refreshing that there´s places on earth where this is still the case.  So, we generally take time to explore the little town, get some remedies for our ailing feet at the Farmacia (if the village has one), get a menú del día for supper (menu of the day - cheap lots of food), prepare clothes for the next, and go to bed.  It´s a jam-packed day, but one of lots of introspection and relaxation.
Weather has been great aside from yesterday, Fuenterrobles de Salvatierra to San Pedro.  Rained HARD for the last 3 hours of the day.  About 12 I was getting massively discouraged, finding out everything I own was indeed not waterproof, and thinking I´d die of double pneumonia later that afternoon, but once into the albergue with a fireplace, heater, and hot shower I was good to go for another day.  You have to take what the road gives you, so we´ll see what it offers from now on!  (I just hope no more rain).  Getting along VERY well, SO happy for this amazing oppotunity!!!  It´s really a marvel.  So, who knows when I´ll have internet next, but you´ll know when I do.  Ciao!