day 57 :: this last bit was trying for elise and I, we were hot and tired and the way was hot and dusty. the camino is slowly wearing us down. it is amazing the power of a good shower at the end of a hard day to totally revive you. once we were cleaned up, mike, elise and i hung around our room for a bit. we hand washed our clothes and set them on the drying rack on a tiny balcony off our room to dry in the late afternoon sun. then we went to explore the town and look for a grocer, we all have come to like carrying our lunches with us so that we don’t have to stop, or worse wait for a town in order to eat. we found a nice restaurant with a cool dining room and decided to eat there. ken and tom were there as well. it is interesting to see how people are choosing to continue - some have slowed, they have no deadline or have gotten ahead on their timelines and so slow down as not to have too many days in one place at the end. others, like us, have decided to speed up and cover more ground, both to challenge ourselves physically as well as to meet deadlines. even though i have grown more weary on the trail, I have made the definitive decision that I will aim to get to santiago by august 2nd and then continue on to the coast after a few days of rest there. it is interesting to see how people choose to continue their own caminos.