Rain with Kids in Tow= GOD HELP ME!

Camino Day 11- St. Irene to Santiago
22 km

How many adjectives do you know for rain? Pouring, pelting rain and we had to bike it. The trouble with Auberges is no matter what you are out at 8am so they can clean. In Galacia the province at the end of the camino they say it rains every 3 days at least. So far we are 2 out of 3. In fact if you do some you tubing you will find that all the horrendous weather photos are from Galacia. In our experience most of the ill vibed peregrinos and dirty aubergies are also here. Today- 20 km’s of downpour with rain ponchos that we bought from the Chinese import store, Kathryn’s was pink, and then the blue children braced for the wind, cold and sideways sheets of rain.

Not quite the way one wants to enter the Holy City but so it was. We were singing “just keep biking, just keep biking” a la finding nemo, and it actually got us through. Entering Santiago is mainly downhill. Which in this kind of rain meant that Rob had to slow his bike with his foot because his breaks had total failure. Finding our place to stay was also a bit crazy in this much rain.

We went all the way to the Cathedral but it was closed because Mass was in progress. So we took the shivering kids and searched for a half an hour for an auberge. It was raining so hard you couldn't bike near the buildings because it rain from the rooftops would knock you off your bike. It was not my best of half hours but “we just kept biking." Well we found the hostel which is an old seminary that has 800 beds! Panic sets in as we imagine the kids waking up 795 hostile people. We whisper a prayer,'god please let them have private rooms!'

We squeaked up 6 flights of stairs. That is the number of flights required to assend to the third floor when you have 20 ft ceilings. It is quite the place they have running and yet we still didn’t have our own room but had to share with a less than happy French man who did not want to be sharing with a family…can you blame him?

This trip has had so many see-saws. My derriere no longer screams from getting on a bicycle each day but I’m so done with public toilets without toilet paper, oh wait, aren’t I about to head to Africa?
I also feel like we’re just beginning to explore and adventure as a family, this nomadic life, and yet the kids also need routine, school and rooms that they don’t have to share with twenty people; we haven’t had enough time with Ruth or had enough time to contemplate or “just be” on this Camino because so much of our life has been about daily survival. So now we will take some time to hang our clothes one more time. To eat, sleep and figure out how we will get our bikes back to Madrid. Now for a hot shower!