Yesterday Keith walked a lot of the way with a German man named Harold who didn’t mind walking slowly because he was 62 and in no particularly hurry. Keith thinks he loved to hear his voice—he talked A LOT. He’d also “break into show tunes and go into bouts of hilarity.” At one point after walking past some pretty smelly cows he said, “I had to smell you all day and now I will eat you!” Harold shared how much his generation admired President Kennedy—he was a big thing for them. Their politicians had all been around during the war and, consequently, were not very trustworthy in their eyes. Keith thought it was cool hearing how much they related to this young president and really felt that Kennedy was leading the western world into the future. It rained off and on during their trek together and Harold was stressed by it because he’d already experienced getting his shoes soaked and they’d taken days to dry. As they parted company Harold was proclaiming, “Shit weather! This is shit weather!” Fortunately, Keith did not share that view.

Later Keith came upon a group of around 20 Japanese people and he talked to a couple for a little while. Next there was a pair of Nordic guys that were way athletic. (“We will pump you up!”) They steamed by Keith then all of a sudden they each dropped and did ten pushups right there in the middle of the Camino.

When he talked to Dot and Pete from Brooklyn he thought that Dot had an Irish accent, but when he asked where she was from she just said, “Brooklyn.” Pete is a librarian for the Brooklyn library system. Keith later regretted not talking with him more.

When he arrived in Ventas de Naron at the end of the day’s hike he found Debbie and Fran there—part of the community that he is fading in and out of throughout his trek. He said it felt a little like “old home week.” Fran even asked Keith if he’d like to share a load of laundry with her. :)

When he headed down for dinner he found a guy playing a ukulele. He told him that he thought about bringing a mandolin but it was too heavy. The guys said, “This is really light. Feel how light this is!” He and the women he was with turned out to be from Israel. After a while they played some songs. The girl (they were in their late 20s lol) was playing the ukulele and the guy played a harmonica and they performed “Crazy Love” and “Blowing in the Wind.”

After dinner they sat around talking about music. A guy here from Jersey was asked who his favorite musicians were and he chose Dwight Yoakum or George Strait. Then he pulled out his iPod and played “Adelaide” much to Keith’s chagrin because he had just gotten out of his head after it being stuck there for two days. “It’s in there for good now!” he exclaimed. A hungarian girl sang a Hungarian song. Debbie chose Van Morrison. And an Australian lady picked a song called “Mountain of Love” (by Johnny Rivers).