Day 3: Astorga to Rabanal del Camino and the last day of my 20's.

According to the original plan, I was to read a letter a day, and ponder the life advice given to me by that particular person.  Unfortunately that plan has been a bit derailed by me trying to cope with the pain the Camino has thrown my way.  I guess the Camino has to break you down before it can pick you up and change your life.  

The second part of the original plan was to contemplate on the last 30 years of my life today, the last day before I enter a new decade.  That plan was also derailed since I'm still trying to figure out how to walk and try not to think about the pain my body, and specifically my feet, are experiencing.   I never thought  I'd have to think about how to walk.  Never mind contemplating on what happened in the past.   There's a saying along the Camino "don't look back, you're not going that way" - I'm assuming that by preventing me from thinking about the past and making me focus on the simple act of trying to walk, the Camino is trying to tell me something.  

So as you can deduct, I am still suffering.  Blisters unfortunately don't go away overnight, and in fact, it you get them, and you continue to walk on them, you get a blister within a blister.   Ouch.  

I thought (while being delusional last night from the pain, strong pain meds, and lots of vino) that today wasn't going to be so bad.  Compared to a 32km day, 22km seemed like a piece of cake.  However that wasn't the case.   Today involved more pain, more blisters, and very very very slow walking.  It took me about 9 hours to cover the distance I did in my first day in about 6 and a half.  It wasn't fun.   But at least the scenery was gorgeous, the mountain that we'll be climbing tomorrow was beautiful and not so intimidating (I think that's because it looked like it was so far away), and my mind was clear because all I could think of is how do I walk without hurting.   

Today a couple of things happened: 1. I questioned why I was doing this instead of being on some leisurely vacation right now, 2. I cried some more - mostly still due to physical pain, and 3. Leann had a brilliant idea of getting a private room with a private bathtub, buying a bottle of wine at the local store, filling the tub with hot water, and soaking our feet for the rest of the night.  Ahhhh.  How my precious abused footsies appreciated the simple hot soak, and my soul appreciated the vino and the good company of a fellow pilgrim.  Lesson 2 of the day - it's the little things that make us happy.   

As the day came to an end, and we eventually made it to Rabanal, which by the way is a beautiful little village with a Benedictine monetary that caters to pilgrims, it's time to get some rest, and try not to think about the treacherous uphill day that we have in front of us tomorrow.   Ideally, I'd like to walk the entire 28km tomorrow, however is the pain is still to great, I will be stoping in Acebo to rest and tackle the decent of the mountain on the following day.  

Buenas Noches

Here are some pictures from today.