This should have given me the time to contemplate the finer things in life, but all I did on Monday and Tuesday was still deal with the foot pain and the blisters (if you only saw what my poor little piggies look like - I don't think posting a picture of the open toe would be appropriate, but here is what my feet look like now before each days walk.
You'd think that after walking all day long there would be a lot of stinky feet on the Camino, but fortunately I haven't encountered a single stinky pair. This is probably because every Peregrino takes good care of their feet and tends to them several times a day. I think the Camino is probably the only place in the world where it is totally acceptable to come up to a total stranger while they're performing foot surgery align the Camino, examine their feet and offer any advice you can on how to deal with be issue(s). At this point, I've had total strangers pick up my foot into their lap and show me what I need to do to prevent or heal a blister.
Lets get back to a more pleasant conversation than battered feet - The landscape in Galicia. The last 3 days I've walked more or less through little villages and green luscious forests. At times I'd stop and take a moment to listen to the birds and the wind in the trees. It's quite peaceful.
Aside from my first day on the Camino from Leon to Mazarife, today (Wednesday) was the first day I was finally able to walk the Camino with little or no foot pain. This morning I was going to walk in my hiking sandals to give my little piggies a brake from my boots, but because of the all day rain, I ended up patching the toes up and sucking it up in the hiking boots. For anyone out there who is planning to walk the Camino (or any part of it), I can not stress enough how important it is to break in your shoes. Wear them with thick hiking socks every day for a year before your trip. Mine were not broken in enough and it took me a week as a half to realize that the reason my little toes are all blistered up is because they were hitting the shoe head on. The right one st this point seems to be doing ok, but the left one is still frying. I also never knew that blisters can bleed. That I learned yesterday while walking to Melide. I guess when there is no more skin in the toe, there is nothing left but bleeding flesh - I know this is a bit gross, but I just couldn't help but share this bit.
Let's see what other interesting events happened over the last 3 days. I haven't been able to catch up to Lauren and Mat from Cali because they're way too fast for me. I met a nice Italian man, Germano, yesterday at the albergue in Melide. We ended up cooking dinner together - he was in charge of pasta and I was in charge of salad and desert. The little Japanese girl that was also with us (I could not remember or pronounce her name) was in charge of making sure the glasses were never empty of wine. This morning the three of us left together and Germano bought us a cup of coffee before he went ahead and I am yet to run into him again. He did however promised that the next time he visits NYC (which should be later this year) he is going to bring me some good Italian wine. Germano and the Japanese girl were planing to stay at the same albergue today in Arzua, however I opted to get a hotel room so I can get some rest and hopefully leave early tomorrow. I guess thy ended up cooking at the albergue gain because I didn't see them around town.
While in Melide yesterday, I also had to try the local specialty - Pulpo Gallego, and it was quite good, although I do prefer the way they make the same dish in New York at the Bar Downstairs. The original dish here in Spain is boiled, than cut into pieces and sprinkled with paprika, salt and olive oil. The Bar Downstairs in NYC does it the exact same way, however, at the end they char grill it to give it a bit of extra flavor and to get rid of some if the sliminess boiled octopus tends to have. But it was still tasty and I'm glad I got to try it.
While walking though he rainy and gorgeous Galician countryside today, I confirmed that I love a bit of peaceful solitude on daily basis. Today that solitude came while I was walking though the woods listening to the rain, the wind and the birds in the trees. I couldn't help but stop and savor the moment. Here are some picture from my peaceful walk today.
Stay tuned for more bits and pieces of my Camino adventure.
Ciao
Nina
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