It was warm today, yay!
Emily and I were having a conversation around day 2 about the older people passing us. I was thinking,"aren't their knees sore? Don't they have blisters? How can they go that fast, don't their feet hurt?!" We're talking about 60-70 year olds here. Let me tell you, it's a humbling experience.
We decided it must just be part of their nature; maybe they've always been hikers their whole lives. I informed Emily that this whole idea of walking for 8 hours a day is quite contrary to my nature. What comes natural to me is sitting on the couch eating salty popcorn, drinking diet coke, and watching a movie! (Man I wish I could do that right now)
But I'm planning on changing my nature. That's the thing, we can Change our nature, or rather make something our "second nature". This reminds me of a chat I had with my cousin Bobbi at Matt's wedding. I was telling her how impressed I am with her marathon running and congratulating her. She replied very humbly that if she can do it it goes to show than anyone can, it just takes dedication. I totally agree (otherwise I would've already thrown in the towel with all this walking!).
And guess what? Even with the foot pain it's already becoming second nature... This morning I looked at the map and thought, "only 20km today... No problem" (of course my feet said otherwise by the end of the day)
Here are some pics from today:
Leaving Puerta la Reina
I took this photo just for you, Shelby Chavez! "Everyone Poops" in Spain!
We had grapes at the first three vineyards we passed!
It was warm enough we were able to pull our pants up into shorts (and look super duper cool! Haha)
Walking through an underpass I noticed the positive graffiti others had painted for the pilgrims.
Random bridges and tunnels. We pass them all the daily.
We. Had a great lunch today. Cheese (similar to happy cow) with crackers and gezpacho we found in a vending machine for 1e!
Also, I got a free apple! Last night we walked around town looking for a restaurant and came upon a small market whee I decided to buy a single apple (the less you buy the less you have to carry). Either the lady knew I was a pilgrim and was being nice or she saw my blistered feet and felt sorry for me and gave it to me for free. Either way, I'll take it :)Looks can be deceiving. We passed an albergue and said "that one looks way too nice". After walking around town for 45 minutes we came back to that nice one only to find out it's the municipal one we should be staying at and it's only $6e!
I'm thankful for Mass and that I have feet (even though I hate them right now, it's still better than not having them... Although I have been considering cutting them down to nubs)
Since I'm using this pretty much as my journal of the Camino I'm going to include random quotes I want to remember.
"You look hot. Er, uh, I mean you look hot in your long underwear." -Betsy to Emily
"Can I use your hand sanitizer?" -Betsy
"Yes, but I won't let you touch the bottle." -Emily
"I didn't know feet could hurt this bad. It's like internal... structural pain." -Emily