So, wow! First the adventure at “Paradise” in the mountain top and now enroute to some sort of cave.

• Stopped at paradise on a mountain top and ended up staying the night.  I hope the pictures show the baskets of fruits well and the cart that is filled with beverages (COLD) and lots of organic treats as well as the variety of relaxation devices such as hammocks, swings, beds, etc. you can’t even imagine hiking in 100degree desert with sun pounding down and coming over the top of a steep hill and see this aptly named “Paradise.”  I stayed a few hours and then the night.

So . ..After returning from Mass my right foot (above arch) was SWOLLEN. What is it about Catholic Mass that they make pilgrims stand for FORTY FIVE minutes!!! Really?!?!?!? (Not to mention the two beers on an empty stomach beforehand)

Anyways, my mid foot was swollen and in pain and after doing the tiniest bit of research (thanks to Jay, my long distant research assistant) I was pretty sure it was either mild tendinitis of the Tarsometarsal joint, degenerative arthritis of the same joint or something broken (a little bit of information is a dangerous thing). Anyhow everyone, including Troy, Jay, pilgrims in the dorm room, pilgrims on the forum, etc, said a trip to the hospital first thing in the morning was the prudent thing to do, especially since it was a ONE minute walk from the hostel.

So off I go at 730am, visions of staying for hours, having to take a bus, figured I’d catch up on my blogging, etc. Well to keep a short story short (how unusual for me), after exam, x-rays, x-ray analyses, diagnosis of MILD tendinitis, discussion of the life story of the doctor (from Haiti , medical training in Cuba and Spain, 7 brothers/sisters in various professions in various parts of the world, daughter born in Norwalk CT, etc etc), bandaging instructions, ibuprofen gel, etc etc; I was out of there by 815!!!!! with permission to keep walking!! Annnnnnd, ALL for 109 euros!! which my insurance is likely to pay!! WOW!! I won’t even relay the details of the conversation comparing European healthcare to US because whatever you are thinking is right on!

Anyways, 20km today and absolutely no pain, yay!!

Mans so far 18km today and no pain, and the best part?!?!? With my foot bandaged, my boots fits perfectly!!!!! I didn’t even realize that it was a eeeensie but too big! I’m going to bandage the other foot too so that boot will be perfect!! Pain free walking is coming soon, I can literally feel it in my bones!

Intried to post a pictur of me resting my feet and getting my dog fix at the same time (very efficient of me) and one of the hospital. The doggie is just like little Freddie but different colors and is in fact actually a girl, as opposed to Freddie who just wishes he was a girl 🙂

So, yes, it’s all about the feet. I have not yet had a pain free day, but thats not really as bad as it sounds. The real problem is that we are putting an extra 20 pounds of load (ie your backpack) on ALL our joints and our feet. Then, while loaded up, we are walking a crazy number of kilometers everyday. And your feet don’t really get to drink beer at the end of the day (although the concept of “fortifying with alcohol” has been successfully tested a number of time with feet paying the price). So blisters, tendinitis, swollen feet are just par for the course. The more pounds someone is carrying the more likely they are to be sidelined.

So, then I got this crazy idea, instead of throwing out all the extra things in my pack which really only reduced my load by a couple of pounds at most, how about I stop eating 3 or 4 chocolate pasteries for breakfast and cut out a few of the beer stops, perhaps I could reduce my “load” by a few pounds. Tee her

But even without extra pounds, the feet are still paying the price. Pharmacies along The Road stock blister “kits” and there is much discussion over “to pop” or “not to pop” your blisters. I fall squarely in the “cut them open and let them dry out” camp.  But mostly I believe in stopping every few hours to give my feet a little loving. I try to do “restorative pose” (lie on back with feet up in air) a few times a day and I message my feet with almond oil and whisper sweet nothings to them. So far so good, although I do have nasty pain in the middle of my arch.

Most people have it much worse than I. Even Troy has gotten some shin splints as the youngsters seem more susceptible to, and a lot of people have tendinitis in their ankles or other ankle problems.  And knee problems!!!! When I saw all the knees problems sidelining people is when I really decided to “reduce my load.” A lot of people taking the bus due to knee issues, and I hope I am not going to be one of them.

Anyhow, for those with foot fethish I have posted a few pictures of my feet. If you want to zoom in on the heels you will see the worst of my blisters. The blisters just keep coming; I got another one yesterday. One would have hoped we’d be done with that by now, but apparently not.

Today was a long day,. We actually got out of the Albergue by 7am which is EARLY for us. Everyone else is up at 5 and out by 6, but we usually do TNT leave until they kick us out at 8am. Today however we knew we we doing 34 km (you do the math) so we thought an early start would be useful.  And useful it was; we completed 10 km to our breakfast spot by 930over the best breakfast we have had yet (chorizo, eggs, tortilla, cafe conleche) we met the most interesting people including a woman from Seattle who took her children to Dr Morse and, of course, thought the world of him. Her children both had a. Dry unusual genectic disorder akin to Lou Gerigs disease and one died 3 years ago at age 23 and the other just died at age 25 and she was doing the Camino to scatter her ashes. WOW!

Then we walked another 8 km or so to have yet another cafe con leche (I am such an addict now) and talk to a new doctor from New Orleans and he actually already knew the woman with the kids. And we stopped at two very WOW churches. At the first one Troy tested acoustics by singing Amazing Grace very loudly until he noticed the nun sitting in the back (tee hee).

and then around 3 we started the grueling last 17 km trek most actross very hot very dry plains with lots of wind mills which look like angels if you are pretty tired.  The road included an 8km section of the ORIGINAL road OVER 1000 years old WOW!!!!! Almost made you forget that you were walking 34 km (nah, not really)

 

what did make make me forget was the SWIMMING POOL at the Albergue when we finally arrived at 830pm!!! WOW!! I have not seen a single swimming pool and here it was at our Albergue (ie dormitory) where we were staying for a mere 5E!!! WOW! And, I brought a bathing suit!! I jumped right and the water was FREEZING which was perfect since ice baths are perfect recuperation for the aching body!! It was heaven sent, literally!!