Day 24: San Martin del Camino to Astorga (23.7 km/ 14.7 miles)

April 16, 2017

I awoke at 6:30 to a text message from my Momma saying that our family dog, Rita, died. I was not expecting to wake up to that at all. I had already planned to walk alone and take time to myself but after that news I knew I was going to need space to cry, and cry I did.
I got out of bed to pee and immediately saw this girl named Marta. I just broke down and asked if she could hug me.
Basically Rita got out and ran into the road. She was struck by a car and killed instantly. My poor father had to pick her up off the road and carry her inside. He laid her on their bed while he waited for my mom to come home. My Mom was actually at a funeral, a friend’s sister passed away so she was there for support. What irony. My mom walks in and my Dad delivers the news. I can’t even imagine how he felt having to tell my Momma.

My mom went to see Rita and noticed she had liquid coming out of her, as most animals do when they die. So she wrapped Rita up in a blanket and they went to the animal hospital for proper disposal, aka to be cremated. They drove about 30 minutes and my mom held Rita the whole time.

I cried so much today. My eyes hurt from all the crying. Our family dogs (we have another named Max) are a part of our family. My parents call them “babies.” And now it is just “Baby.” I am just grateful my parents have each other and Max to still love on. It’s so hard being so far away when something sad happens.

At around half way I decided I needed to work out some of the tension, so I packed up my poles and tried to go as fast as I could, desperately trying to “work out.” I’ve become so accustomed to walking that it isn’t much of a “work out” anymore. I tackled the hills as hard as I could, again without poles. I raced down the downhills trying to release adrenaline.

A sweet Camino story for you: Around the last 3km, a man asked me to take a photo of him and his friends. I had been crying and it showed. He told me to look in his bag for something. I didn’t understand. Basically he was trying to give me a gift. A medallion of Saint Francis of Assisi. He said a prayer and said, “Notice how when you pass someone on the trail you never say goodbye, you say BUEN CAMINO! That is because there are no goodbyes in life.” The medallion came with a prayer as well that said, “you do not come leave the earth with what you receive, you leave with what you give.” 💜🙏🏼

It was as if a God sent an angel to remind me that there really is no death. I believe he said this because it is Easter but he didn’t realize the significance of it for me, due to Rita’s accident. I ended up seeing him 2 other times and he also gave me a pin with the yellow Camino arrow on it. Now proudly displayed on my bag.

When we got to town I decided I would treat myself to a nice hotel, €35 for a 4 star place. It’s crazy how that is expensive here, ha!

Going to keep it quiet tonight and eat dinner in my luxury hotel room. But will go have a drink with Christine, from Ireland, as it is her last day. Again I will always remember the talk I had with her and Lucy in Leon. After the man gave me the medallion I walked with her (and a fella named Nathan from the States) the last 3km today, their presence helped me arrive in Astorga barely evening noticing the 3km. She always reminds me, “it’s okay to not be okay!”

Cheers!

Me with Max and Rita (Rita is on the right)

It was a strange feeling, but when I saw how beautiful the sunrise was I was more sad. It was just a stark constrast to how sad I was…

Moo.

A really nice snack stand that I wish I stopped to enjoy. But wanted to power through and get to Astorga…

My luxury hotel. 😍 a bath and a rain shower, can’t really see the shower in the  picture though.

The Castile in Astorga

Honestly forget what this building is…

-Ashley