Right now I am feeling discouraged. So it will be good to reflect back on the good parts of the day.
On a pain scale, my feet are at a 7/10 whereas yesterday they were a 10/10, so that’s a bonus. We saw some absolutely amazing views today, including the iron pilgrim statues as seen on “the way”. We saw many windmills. The first set, we admired far up on a mountaintop. Hours later, we admired the same ones as we stood next to them, and again from far down the other side of the mountain hours after that.
Many beautiful villages today. The perfect weather. Low 20’s with a wind which is so welcomed. We have been so fortunate every day with the weather.
We walked 25km today. This village, and the last village that we walked through seem to be deserted. Hardly anyone around. We walked into a lone restaurant to buy ice cream and were met with disapproving looks from the owners. There seems to be a trend of some locals who do not like the pilgrims. People either love us and shout “BUEN CAMINO!!!” Or stare with a stone face. This was the case in the restaurant.
In some ways, I can’t blame them. We stink. Seriously stink. I didn’t know that it was possible that I could smell this bad. As soon as we reach our albergues, we shower and wash our clothes. We then hang our clothes to dry on a line outside. We rotate from one set of clothing to the other, always wearing clean clothes, but within a couple of hours, we can hardly stand ourselves.
In the book “what the psychic told the pilgrim”, Jane Christmas writes about her stay in a Parador (beautiful, old 5 star hotel) in a city along the way. She needed a break from the albergues. When she entered the Parador, they turned her away with disgust. It took her another try, with being quite aggressive at a second Parador before the was allowed to stay. She soaked in a bubble bath, wrapped herself in a robe and sent all of her clothes to be washed and dried.
I understand it now.
I understand how they would turn her away. I understand how she must have smelled. I understand the desire for a bubble bath, and laundry service.
And it’s only been 5 days.
I think the reasons that I am feeling defeated today are;
1. I’m exhausted. (Nothing different from yesterday)
2. My feet hurt (again nothing new)
3. None of our “camino family” was around during our walk today.
4. I’m tired of staying in a communal building.
5. When I took off my socks this evening, I discovered my first blister. As well as what I assume is a nasty reaction to my wool socks.
6. No wifi to contact Ron and Sydney at this albergue.
7. I desperately want to eat cactus cut potatoes from Boston Pizza.
8. My feet hurt. (Oh? Did I say that already?)
Mom and I have showered, Karis is showering now. Hopefully we can find somewhere nice for dinner, with some good wine. Tonight I’d like wine.