It was so weird to be the first person up and out of the albergue here. And my pace seems to have improved overnight. I don't know if it really has or if the people here farther along the camino walk more slowly.
There was a light drizzle throughout much of the day, which helped heighten some of the smells along the way. A bush of yellow flowers I didn't recognize wwas so pungent yet gentle and airy; it was a fragrance my Nana would've bottled if she could have and worn well, too. The damp red earth took me back to Mrs. Loop's ceramics room, and the branches of pine that squeezed out the path at times and grazed my face reminded me of exploring the forests of Landskron. Shockingly, one of the best smells of the day was the mangy dog who kept me company for the last five km of today's walk, which was the steep ascent into the Cantabrian Mountains. He seriously stuck next to me as if I owned him and was a quiet, gentle thing. The winning scent of the day, however, is easy to to identify: the hot chocolate I ordered to to warm me up and that was basically a liquified chocolate bar in a cup. A little taste of heaven.
I'm staying at the hippie albergue of the town and wishing I'd chosen the convent instead, but apparently all three albergues have an infestation of mold in the showers and flies in the rooms. Oh well. Tomorrow morning, it's on to the famous Cruz Ferro, where I will leave my "burden."
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