Bing bing

Well, we lost our French friends Roger and Gerard (and their new third musketeer, The Man in the Yellow Hat, brought in to replace their other friend Jean who claimed he was "united in unity" with them and ditched them the next day), but Roger had begun speaking almost entirely in sound effects, so we were starting to have some difficulty communicating with him anyway. We did get some pictures before we parted ways that we´ll post here at some point. We´re now teamed up with a super speedy Spanish man who carries a large umbrella at all times, an Australian guy who´s taken to calling himself Pepe, and a German theater dude who´s into self-discovery and insistent about dessert. We´ve only got two days left ´til Santiago, though, so this is really the final stretch - Kirsten made the excellent point that, on my birthday, I might want to wake up in an actual bed in a room not reeking of body odor sometime later than 6 a.m., and it was well taken. So, we´re going to sit in front of the cathedral in Santiago on the 8th and clap for all the other pilgrims (and maybe hand out beer - it´s just so cheap). We´re hoping not to be chased by any more German shepherds between now and then, but we now know a Spanish kung fu master whose specialty is doggy defense, so we should be in the clear. For now, it´s time to go enjoy our second-to-last egg & cheese vegetarian special dinner...more from Santiago!