From Madrid I flew to San Sebastian to meet up with friends and begin walking the northern route of the Camino de Santiago. I suspected I was getting the flu by the end of the day in Madrid, after waking up with a terrible headache and throwing up all morning. I told myself, “it’s jet lag, it’s motion sickness from all the flights….” But then I started coughing and I told myself, “it’s all these smokers here, the smoke is irritating my lungs.” At the airport waiting for my flight to San Sebastian, I was coughing so much and so hard that all the people were giving me stink eye. You could see them thinking, “that sick ass lady better not be on MY flight and get everyone on the plane as sick as she is!” The horrified looks on strangers` faces made me think, “crap, I might actually be sick.”
Yep, sick. Sick. As. A. Dog. 😩 What did I do about that? I hiked 15 miles on the first day, and 14 miles the next day. And I tried, I tried not to whine…but I was so, so, so very sick. My cough went from dry and irritated to, “what color is that wad of goop that just came out of me?” I felt like absolute shit. The only redeeming aspect was that we were staying somewhere in San Sebastian for free and it meant we were doing these two days without our loaded packs. We were hiking the stage, then taking the train back to San Sebastian to sleep…hence the hiking without loaded backpacks. Both days had moments where I simply didn’t think I would make it, where I sincerely wanted to lie down and just let myself pass out in the middle of the trail. I held in my misery as much as I could…but I still annoyed my friends with more whining than I intended to express out loud.
Oh, and I DID say we were staying somewhere for free. What I didn’t say was how absolutely STUNNING the view from the terrace of this free place was(yep, I said terrace)! Even in my illness, I could still fully appreciate the privilege of having such an awesome place to stay.😁
After the first day and 15 miles of true hiking, I got back and passed out on my bed. I got vertical just long enough to put food in the food hole at dinnertime, then went right back to bed. On top of having the flu, I wore a poor choice of footwear and paid dearly for it. Mainly, the price was the searing pain in the bottoms of my swollen feet that was at the edge of unbearable. But, did I learn my lesson and immediately get a new pair of more appropriate shoes? Um, no. No I did not. So, day 2 was a rinse and repeat of day one except that I started the day already sore from day 1. You can imagine how that went.
This bring us to today, day 3. I finally came to accept that this wasn’t working and that it wasn’t going to unless I made changes. So, instead of the 17 miles we were supposed to hike today (now with loaded packs too) in terrible shoes, I told my friend my reality. First, I needed to buy new shoes. Second, if we were to hike today, it HAD to be short. I needed a rest and recover day before I dropped dead. Thankfully, my buddy was willing to be flexible and make adjustments so I could continue.
I bought new shoes this morning that seriously feel like pillows strapped to my feet compared to what I was wearing before. And, no, there’s nothing special about these shoes, just normal hiking shoes. It just tells you how bad the other ones were. And, we only did about 4 miles today (but it was up a flipping steep hill). Tomorrow we will finish the hike that we were supposed to accomplish today, the remaining 13 miles. Oh, and I neglected to tell you that all sources and experts on the Camino agree that this stage is the most difficult of all of them (due to mileage and sheer steepness of terrain). Yay.
Right now, I am relaxing at a hostel for pilgrims hiking the Camino trying to tell myself that tomorrow will be ok.
WiFi here too slow to upload pics.