Around 9:00 I leave my family-run boutique hotel. The weather has become friendlier, with 13°C much milder than yesterday, almost warm, and the rain has turned into a fine drizzle. I leave out the rain poncho. Throughout the day I will get wet through and through, but it is better to endure this than to sweat completely wet under the waterproof poncho. Somehow one feels that Santiago is getting closer and closer. The way is sometimes very picturesque, the houses, the alleys, the places of worship, fountains and resting places. In a piece of forest there is considerable tree damage, as if a tornado had passed through here. In another place the tree trunks seem to have been gnawed on by beavers. I search in vain for a resting place where I can get a cup of coffee. Lots and lots of pilgrim rest stops, but all closed in this season! Only a few kilometres before the finish a trucker service area is open. When I enter it, at least 20 pilgrims laugh at me, most of them South Koreans, some even whole families. The speciality of the trucker pub is paella, which I have to have of course! After this refreshment, the last kilometres of the day fly by. All I have to do is wash and dry my clothes. Today I have completely absorbed myself. The mud sharpeners reach up to the belt. Tomorrow I will start the last stage. A strange feeling.
