Blisters…:(

Avails to Soto Del Barco
Thank you Rach for sponsoring this night of our trip.
This morning we were up and out before the sun. We had went to bed early last night and slept good early on but foot pain kept me awake from about 1 on so when there was movement from others in the room we were up and going. Our morning ritual is starting to take a bit longer now as it involves the popping, draining and wrapping of blisters then comes the deep blue rub and wrapping of the knees. What a process but it’s worth it.  

We still left the Alburgue by 5:45, a bit dark we were trying to find our way out of the city when we crossed a street a guy on the other side yells at us to follow him. We stopped and looked at the way markers then him and they didn’t match up, this other guy standing next to us asked if we were Camino, humm, I’m not sure if it was the confusion on our faces or the huge backpacks that gave it away but we said yes and he pointed us in the direction we were originally going so we just took his instruction and kept walking. A few minutes later we were reading the next steps of directions and out of nowhere this little old lady was standing across the street and as we approached she telling us something in Spanish, smiling we just shake our head yes having no idea what she said or what we were saying yes too. She signals us to follow her so we did and next thing you know she was leading us out of the city. My feet hurt so bad it was actually hard to keep up with her but we had read it was confusing to get out so we were happy with any help. We stopped, she pointed and with a very warm hand shake and a double check kiss we were up the hill and out of town. We thought that was so very sweet. We got to the next big town after a few miles and we were behind this little older man who we thought was just taking his morning stroll to the cafe, he kept looking behind at us, We were sure he thought we were following him to rob him or something but our pace was still a bit slower still and he was actually walking pretty fast for his age so we just stayed behind him. We were kinda laughing about it after a while because he was going the same route we were and he just kept looking back so we were making up stories like “we know what you did, we found you”. Laughing and joking about it. We then got to a confusing spot and stopped, he stopped and signaled us to follow him we looked at him with confused looks and again he said “come on” in Spanish of course, we know that is what he said. We did and he lead us the rest of the way through town us not knowing at the time he was doing it the whole way. God had sent us two angles today to get us through big towns as to not get lost and have to take any extra steps that were not needed.  

At about 8 miles in I couldn’t take the pain any longer and we can to the first place we could sit the whole walk, it was perfect timing. I took my boots off and it was time to pop blisters again. They hurt so bad tears we flowing out my eyes and blisters. I decided I didn’t care if it was raining or not I couldn’t squeeze my foot back in my boot again today. I put on dry socks and my Tivas and we again hit the trail. At first I felt like I was doing the granny shuffle but then I was able to pick up the pace. We were making pretty good time then we came to a steep downhill that was muddy and had loose rocks. I went slower because I was for sure not in the shoes for this but we made it, we finally got to a town where we could sit and have coffee, we were at 13 miles now and my feet were throbbing. Eric insisted we weren’t going farther. There were no Alburgues in this town so we got on booking.com and found the closest hotel was the deal of the day, I quickly booked it but didn’t know how I was even going to walk to .10th of a mile to get to it. We sat and had lunch then Eric ran to the pharmacy for ibuprofen when he returned is was fighting back tears as my feet were throbbing and it was all I could do to keep composed. A couple of pilgrims came along to have coffee and started talking to me, he could see my pain and he offered to help, he was a paramedic. He looked at them and said I was going to loose my toenail (I have never had a blister UNDER a toenail) it is killer. I had one on the tip and the top of my pinky toe and now a pretty massive one around my big toe. He showed Eric how to rap them and gave us some advice and we were off hobbling up the hill to the hotel, one foot in front of the other, each step throbbing pain but we made it. Eric got salt from the bar and dumped the whole shaker in the tub and I soaked my feet, It burned so bad but I knew it would help. After a long bath and another round of popping Eric made the decision we were taking a day off and I was walking nowhere. I finally had the chance to admire our view from the bed and how nice our room was so I was happy to comply. If I had to be stuck somewhere for another day this was for sure a place I would like to be stuck.  

It was an early bed night and got a pretty good night sleep.

Since we didn’t go anywhere and have any pictures this will just continue.

The day was very uneventful. Eric walked to the market and bought groceries and more salt I took another long soak. We found one Chanel that is in English so watched a bit of tv and played cribbage. I was on bed rest orders only allowed to walk to the bathroom and back. We have put correct x, frankincense and colloidal silver on my foot all day. They feel a bit better but are still very tender to the touch. I am not at all looking forward to putting my boots on this am but we still have aways to go. It was nice having a vacation day from our vacation.