After 30 days on the trail, I can no longer tell you the day of the week, let alone what planet I’m on. On the Camino, time is measured in kilometers, café con leches, and how many times someone’s snoring made you question you’re walking the Camino. Dates? Those are for train tickets and doctor’s appointments back home. Here, the only thing we schedule with any seriousness is our next stop at a bar/cafe.

Except… when you get close to Santiago. Then suddenly people start muttering words like “deadlines” and “reservations” as if we were all high-powered executives instead of professional blister collectors. In the last 100 kilometers, reservations get made with fierce determination at 7 am, then canceled by 9:15 am because someone decided they wanted to walk a bit slower to enjoy yet another cow pasture. Plans made months ago? Untouchable. Plans made this morning? Gone before the second café con leche.

Last night’s accommodations were a charming example of Spanish rustic minimalism, which is a polite way to say it felt like we were sleeping in a converted horse stable, complete with flies. The rooms were about the size of your average wardrobe, the air hotter than a tortilla griddle, and the only thing missing was a pile of hay on the floor. J, T2, Em, and F had the wisdom to book private rooms, leaving the rest of us to slowly melt into our bunk beds like forgotten ice creams. Ed made a midnight escape to the common room couch, which probably saved his sanity and gave him the best seat in the house for the 3 am mosquito rave.

Today’s hike to Melide marked the end of the Camino Primitivo and the start of the Camino Francés. We only have three days on this new stretch, so we will see if it’s as crowded and “lively” as we remember. (Spoiler alert: probably yes.)

But the highlight of the day, no sarcasm here was celebrating T3’s birthday. A big shout-out to him for surviving another year with his trademark giant grin and unstoppable good spirit. He is the kind of person who makes you believe that happiness really is a choice, and he chooses it every single day. His son Er joined us today for the hike, though they started late and did their best impression of mysterious forest creatures, only emerging at dinner. We all gathered to celebrate, laugh, and toast to T3’s infectious joy. What a wonderful family they are.

Cheers to kilometers, camaraderie, and birthdays on the trail, exactly the kind of time that really matters.