I forgot that there was a lot of uphill after O Cebriero. If I had remembered, I might not have gotten out of bed this morning. They could have just rolled me up in the paper sheets and thrown me in the trash. But sometimes a faulty mind is a gift. I got up and saw a gorgeous sunrise. It had lots of clouds to bounce off of, because it was cloudy but warm today. About half an hour after I started walking uphill, my muscles called an emergency meeting and said, "what were you thinking?" I had no sensible answer for why a 67 year old woman was stomping around these hills. And then I looked off in the distance. The answer is that Galicia is so stunningly beautiful it takes my breath away. Well, part of the lack of breath could be the climb. I could take a picture every five seconds and they would all be amazing.
Last night my left big toe looked and felt pretty good, but I thought I would tape it anyway since I had some downhill to do today. This morning when I went to put my socks on, I realized I taped the wrong big toe. lol though I figured this was a sign that it was hurting anyone. And the downhill was pretty gradual compared to the track down to Roncevalles and the one after Cruz de Ferro. Knee and toe are grateful.
Tonight all my body parts are working ok. Every morning the last few days my back hurts and I think I'm not going to be able to carry the pack. Then I put it on and start walking. After a while, when I think about it, I realize my back doesn't hurt any more.
I have to say that one more time O Cebreiro left me on more time feeling like I just left Caminoland at Disneyland. Last year I thought it was just because I only stopped for café in the place with the gift shop attached selling Camino trinkets, which most likely were made in China. I was wondering, "Who buys this stuff?" I can't imagine Pilgrims buying it, because they would have to carry it. They must run tour buses through here. Well, this year I stayed over night and the feeling was even stronger. The sunset and sunrise were beautiful and the views extraordinary. But the town itself struck me as incredibly unauthentic. It didn't seem like a place where people actually lived. Maybe it's because I had just walked through so many little villages where people clearly lived and worked raising cattle, growing crops, etc.
Tito is still with us. Charlie has also shown up here. He caught up with me. He told me Tito's owners name but I forgot it. I saw him in town though. Charlie also told me there is a problem of some sort with Tito's right front leg. I'll have to get more info. I saw Charlie again this morning in the bathroom. I know how strange that sounds, but on the Camino it is not strange at all. Anyway, I asked about Tito's owners name and it is Gregonio. Gregonio and Tito.
One of the ladies from the tour group was hobbling along. She looked like she was in a great deal of pain. I felt bad for her, I know how that feels. And the whole group was waiting for her a ways up the road. That must feel awful. It's bad enough to be in pain hobbling along slowly, but to know there are twenty or more people sitting around waiting for you must be really terrible, because then you try to walk faster than you can. I think they eventually sent a car to pick her up and maybe take her to a doctor. The group is British by the way. I was glad they were not American. The whole group thing would upset my notion of Americans as intrepid explorers, Davy Crocket king of the wild frontier and all that.
We have a snorer in the room. I knew he would be a snorer, because everything he did was noisy. He was taking a shower when I was and he was huffing and puffing in th shower. He got out of the shower and blew his nose noisily in the sink. His snoring just woke up the guy next to me who got up and went somewhere. So funny. I'll just try to think vespers. The snorer stopped snoring while I was writing this and was quiet all night. Maybe he just needed to get to deep sleep.
I was telling a friend that even thoughI am having so much fun, I still get cranky thoughts. Then I have to remind myself that being here, being alive, being healthy enough to do this, it's all a gift.
I was just finishing my ensalada mixta when Mike and Marion walked up to have a meal. So I grabbed my café and joined them. Mike was considering having a steak dish but he didn't know which one it was on the menu. I had seen this young man eating the steak, so I asked which one he had. He ended up joining us and we all chatted. The young man was from Holland. He had just finished walking from Saint Jean and was in Santiago a few days ago. He met a guy that had bicycled to Santiago on a mountain bike. The guy said he was flying home and needed to sell his bike cheap. So this guy bought it and started riding from Santiago to Holland. He even bought a map, he showed it to us. He road 100km the first day and today had already ridden 75km. He just stopped to eat. Amazing!
The news is on the TV in the restaurant and they are televising the Congress of Spain. The Vice President is a woman, about one third to one half of the members are women, and the two people debating are women. Amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment