Written last night:

Today was bittersweet. The road was easy enough – mostly flat. We did enjoy the famous fuente de vino in Irache, though it was very early in the morning for wine.

The pain of my injury only caught up with me on occasion. But at lunch we said farewell to Sarah, Merel, and Yanjic. I don’t like goodbyes. Nobody warns you on the forums that so many of the people you begin to care for are not walking to Santiago with you. They go to cities along the way as their vacation days allow. New faces appear and old ones disappear.

I hope to meet Sarah again along the way. Merel and Yannick are done soon but Sarah continues on. Tonight they went past Logroño to Navarette, and that may mean that she’ll be ahead of me for the rest of the trip. Or perhaps she’ll meet us in Grañon. I hope so. She’s one of the only ones carrying on past Burgos, and I enjoy talking to her.

Michele and Elena, who are also heading towards Santiago or maybe Finisterre, will take a short day tomorrow, which will offset them from my path, possibly permanently.

And soon Chiara and Lidia will take a bus to Burgos and I’ll be without them for the first time since the mountains.

But tonight was beautiful. We walked through Logroño’s vibrant centro, Ivan leading the way, and we ate and drank at one bar and then the next and more, ending at one of those odd bars that plays so much music from the Caribbean that I feel like I’m back in my car listening to the radio. There was singing and dancing, a clarinetist in the street, happy conversation and as joyful a farewell as any. But how I’ll miss them. And I brace myself for the next goodbyes. No one warns you of this. They should.

It’s late and I have to sleep.

-Daniel