Day 2 - Mazarife to Astorga w/ angels along the way

 Today was a tough day.  When I say tough, I don't mean it's just me thinking that, my 4 fellow pilgrims that I met yesterday, that have been walking from the beginning for the last 3 weeks, said that today will be tough, and boy, they weren't kidding.   

As Leanne and I walked out of our albergue this morning at 8:30am, I thought "this isn't so bad", the road is flat, the sun is shining, and the temp is a perfect 65ish. It's not hot, not cold... It's just right.  I knew that today had 28-32 km ahead of me, and everyone told me that on the 2nd day on the Camino, that's a lot to handle.  Luckily for me I didn't start the day with any blisters so I was good on that front (for now). 

Although I did start the day with some pains.  My hip joints were hurting last night and this morning, which I am assuming was from the weight I wasn't used to carrying, but that weight can not begin to compare to the pain I experienced in my feet at the end of the day. What I learned on the Camino today is (a) you get pains in parts of your body you didn't know could hurt, and (b) as you walk though your day, pains travel from one part of your body to the next with not much of a warning.   

When I took my socks of at the end of today, I didn't realize just how painful it is to have GIANT blisters on the bottom of both little piggies and the ball of your foot.  What this means (for all those lucky enough by to never experience this) is that you can't step on or put any weight on your foot without cringing and nearly screaming out in pain.  Yet somehow I managed to wrap my blisters up and make it over to a restaurant 5 blocks away, where my angels (whom I'll tell you about in a bit) from earlier today and the friends from yesterday were planning on having dinner.  When I arrived, two things happened.  The lovely gents that I met yesterday were surprised that I even made it this far, and the two angels (an America girl, Melissa, and a German girl, Alexis) asked what was wrong - I guess my face said it all.  Not only was I limping because I barely could put any pressure on my foot, as I sat down, I broke down into tears because of the pain. I have never in my 30 years of existence been in this much physical pain (and it only took two days for the Camino to brake me). 

As I was sitting there in pain and sobbing like a child, Here is what my two angels did.  One told me to take ibuprofen that I bought earlier (1200mg should do it) and the other one quickly poured me a glass of red wine and said that I need to drink that along with the  drugs.  And I'd have to say, after the pain meds kicked in, and after a couple of glasses of red vino, the pain was gone (that is until I stood up).     So to all my future Camino goers, if you're ever in pain on the Camino, ibuprofen and wine/beer are your dear friends on the Camino, embrace them and utilize them when needed.  

So here's the story of my two angers for today.  Today was a 32km day which roughly translates into 20 miles over moderate hills and open fields.   The first half I was ok. I breezed through the morning, and made it to Hospital de Obrigo (about 10km in), at which point I should have stopped for lunch... But I wanted to push through and thought that I'd just grab a sandwich in the next town.  Little did I know that the next 2 towns weren't going to have any food at all.  As I pushed through in the middle of nowhere and was about to give up on this Camino thing, two ladies came along and made me get up and walk with them.  Their energy and humor got me not only through the nowhere part, but got me to push further than I thought possible today and make it though the 32km day - almost in one piece.   If it wasn't for them, I might have just quit this Camino thing at the end of today (if I ever made it out of the nowhere Spanish countryside).  

So now that the longest day of my Camino is over, the toes (and I) are in bed and have been properly medicated, lets see what happens tomorrow. 

Ps.  You see that mountain in the far background of the last photo? I have to climb over that in the next 2 days.  Fun.