It was not about the ride today. 
Ok I wept in the plaza de Santiago yesterday cos I was hungry and tired but also because I was surrounded by strangers who had completed their pilgrimage, whatever it meant to them and whatever obstacles they had overcome to get there. The impact was palatable. Then later I wept when I got on the internet and read about the Supreme Court’s decisions yesterday. What a joyful day for America. By the way Scalia and Thomas- eat shit you dirty bastards. And to top it off, there was Obama singing Amazing Grace honoring the Charleston victims. Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment about all that is of real importance.
And thank you everyone for leaving comments on this blog. I love you friends!
As we tried to leave Santiago we discovered another small mechanical issue with my bike. And without going into trying to explain it, I’ll just say that it since there was no bike shop in the city to help us, Gabriel put together a solution with zip-ties, which I’ve said before and I’ll say again are truly amazing things and I wish I had invented them. So we got on the road around 10. We had to backtrack some because we were now heading back to the coast. Gabriel warned me: “Its going to be hot today, almost 90 degrees so you better drink water. And by the way our hotel tonight is not that nice.” Its not that we seek out not-nice hotels, its just that sometimes the towns we stop in don’t have many options, so over the years we’ve stayed in let’s just say “a range.” So we rode, and it was mostly ugly like yesterday, and hot. It was kinda flat I guess. I’ll give it that. But I did experience many moments of thinking: I’m struggling to find anything at all enjoyable in this right now. Gabriel was riding ahead of me and kept grabbing his water bottle and thrusting it out in a hand gesture that meant: Drink Water! He’s big on the hand gestures this year. Especially gestures to passing cars that either mean: “Pass us, I command you!” or “Back off, we’re coming through.” He is self proclaimed king of the carretera.
At noon there was exactly one merciful breeze that blew through. I knew it was 12pm exactly because church bells rang at the same moment. Other than that the air was suffocatingly hot and smelled like exhaust. There were no flowers and no animals. There were a few trees that I felt very sorry for. Gabriel said: “We’re going to have a real problem today if you don’t eat one of these” as he thrust an energy goo in my face. So I ate one of those. Finally, finally we rounded a corner and suddenly there was the ocean. I smelled it then I saw it. And just as I thought we still had 20 more miserable kilometers to go, we entered a cute little village called Cambaros and pulled up to the Parador there. (The Paradors are the luxury hotels in Spain built from old castles. They only have them in certain historical cities but if there is one where you are, that’s where you want to stay). Gabriel said, “We’re here.” “What?” “Ha ha ha. I got you. I got you good.” 
We had only ridden for like 3 hours. Nothing.
Arrival time in Combarro. 1:30pm.