Day 26 & 27 Tuesday & Wednesday

This morning Joanie decided to give her ankle a rest and take a taxi to Sarria. Jan & I sent our packs with her and walked with Sandy. I carried only my small passport purse & camera. We had 28 Km to go and it was very warm again. The landscape was beautiful & it felt so good to be free of the pack weight. Sandy was carrying her pack but we had lightened it up quite a bit; she had sunscreen first aid & snacks . We got into Sarria at almost 4 pm happy to see Joanie & waiting beer. It wasn't too long before I (Muriel ) started feeling ill, chills& headache - likely heat exhaustion & dehydration. I went to bed ...later we all went out for dinner close to our hotel, I managed soup & water and left the girls to their pizza salads & wine. I stayed in bed till 6 am wake-up to start our 27th day- 15km short walk due to our various conditions. It was a long walk out of Sarria, many old cobbled steps taking us up up up only to come down again on the other side of the city. I was feeling quite tired and Joanie was hobbling. After 5 Km I gave up and took a taxi taking Joanie's pack with me. I managed to sleep in the albergue living room till our room was ready. Joanie, Sandy & Jan arrived about 1/2 hr later. Soon we had lunch showers naps! Hiking takes a lot out of a person!! Quite a few of our pilgrim friends arrived Hannicka, Gayle& Derek, welsh Jilly. All were stopping for the night except welsh Jilly. She is 64yrs old and we found it amazing that she was continuing on in 30' heat.
We are in a very rural area-cows mooing right outside our window in the field. Very peaceful and quiet. Hannica and I were outside watching the farmer herd the cows. She is a teacher from Holland - teachers there can save up holidays and take them all at once - she has been saving for 3 yes and is off till January. She speaks Spanish fairly well and the farmer told her all his cows were "mothers" worth about 3000 euros each, but their calves at 12 weeks old got btw 800& 1200 at market.
More resting in our rooms, that's what pilgrims Dias we are all so tiredfrom walking .
The purpose of the walking is still not abundantly clear! I think there're more pleasant ways to reflect on life. But it is interesting to spend an extended period Ina foreign country. We are picking up a little more Spanish each day. If only the locals would speak at something less than Mach speed we could learn a little more.
Pilgrim dinner was fun & there was lots of chatting with pilgrims. Helen from Maine was next to me, she is nice. Hanke from southAfrica. We had a lively discussion on conditions & aid in s. Africa . After the meal we all leave fairly abruptly for bed!
Apologies for errors ....this is again done on a teeny iPod!