Portuguese camino

 Stayed at Pousada Real in Caldas de Reis. What a gem of a place. Met some great people over drinks in the garden, and a hotel staff member told us about the  gold treasure that had been discovered nearby. Seeing a lot more people walking now, and getting so close to Santiago!

 We arrived back in Porto on what I like to call the Flix bus COVID express. Very bad masking and hot packed bus. That was last night. We did our COVID tests today. Negative  so far- so we can fly back. If COVID does  appear at least we will be back in the States.  Have a nice apt here for a few nights where all the action is near the station. We are all packed up off to airport early in morning. Sigh. Tons of group tours  here, lots of people traveling. It’s a whole other world out here! So glad we came!

 Santiago!! We made it blister-free! My second time here and it still feels so special. I’m sure it always will. Perer took a tumble down a hill yesterday. He spent a few hours at hospital getting X-ray and sling, it was his drinking hand so quite  a serious for him. 🤣 just a sprain luckily.  We met an awesome group of people a few days back, and had great  times with them all. Everyone going their separate ways. And it’s always hard to say goodbyes. But what a special place to be together. Cathedral is not crowded, and it’s not scaffolded as it was last time I was here. Took about 5 minutes to get compostelas in late afternoon.  We have a late afternoon bus back to Porto today  (3.5 hours back- 11 days to walk!) where we’ll hang out a few days before doing our COVID test to get  back to US. Fingers crossed.