Behind the Albergue Door: Inspiration Agony Adventure on the Camino de Santiago

you’re not supposed to pop them, though, and gave me some of this Compeed stuff. It’s like a wax shell for blisters and apparently works wonders. So hopefully that will be one problem taken care of. Also donated a bunch of stuff to the local albergue – some shirts, jeans, a couple books, things I thought I could live without. My pack is a lot lighter now so I think it’ll be fine.
    Really beautiful hike this morning. Passed through Burguete, one of the towns Hemingway made famous in The Sun Also Rises. Apparently he spent a lot of time there putting the fear of god into the local trout and his seed into local girls. Ha ha. He even took the time to carve his name into a piano. Seems kind of rude but that’s Hemingway for you. It was pretty cold out but the sky was this really clear blue and all the grass and trees and horses’ manes were frosted over. Pretty cool.

    To Everyone (group)
    Making friends
    On Fri, Oct 5 at 5:35 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    Making progress, I think we’ve gone over 100 kilometres now. Just under 700 to go. Yikes. Feet are still killing me. Actually, I think they’re getting worse. When I took that Compeed stuff off it just ripped all the skin off with it. Now my feet look like I’ve been walking through fire or something. I decided my backpack was still too heavy too, so in Pamplona I went and mailed some stuff ahead to Santiago. Just some more pants, my extra jacket, my journal, a couple belts, a few other things. It’s way better now. I think I’ll hardly even notice it.
    Been meeting all kinds of people. You wouldn’t believe how many different backgrounds you run into here. Asian teenagers, middle-aged priests, lots of 30 year olds “in between jobs”, Polish women who like to give advice on everything from where to stay to making sure I walk without letting my heels hit my legs. Delightful woman, that one. But most of the people I’ve met are great. It’s such a festive, exciting atmosphere. Except when everyone is working on their blisters. Then it gets kind of quiet and serious.

    To Everyone (group)
    Chicken anyone?
    On Tue, Oct 9 at 4:04 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    Still having really good weather but, boy, it just seems like one thing after another. Every time I think I have one blister under control I find another one. It’s really frustrating. Or one day it’s a sore ankle, the next my hip hurts, it’s really just very demoralizing. Plus I got really lost the other day trying to find my way out of one of the cities. They are the worst for directions because the arrows are often hidden among all the other signs and stuff. Anyway, I must have taken a wrong turn and ended up wandering around the downtown area for over an hour. Finally some guy showed me the way back to the Camino and it turned out I was further back than I had started in the morning. I almost got on a bus then and there. It really made me question my purpose for being here.
    A couple days ago I stayed in a neat little town called Santo Domingo de Calzada. It had this huge 3 story albergue that worked on a donation basis even though it had TVs, a bunch of couches, a huge kitchen and dining room and a foot therapist that came in and worked on our feet (for donations also). My feet are wrapped up like disgusting, painful Christmas presents now. But they seem to feel a bit better. Not sure how I’ll ever re-wrap them myself, though. Anyway, Santo Domingo is famous for this kid who was hanged back in medieval times but came back to life thanks to a mystical chicken or something, so now they keep a bunch of “mystical” chickens right in the cathedral and pray to them and stuff. They keep them up in this glass cage way up in the wall like they are hookers in the red light district or something. They keep a bunch more chickens in the yard near the clotheslines (spare mystical chickens I guess). They seemed pretty excited and squawked a lot when I hung up my underwear so I’m going to take that as a good sign.

    To Everyone (group)
    I hate my backpack
    On Tue, Oct 16 at 8:16 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    Almost half done! Actually, that almost depresses me more. My feet seem to be getting a bit better, at least some days, but I hurt my back the other day lifting my pack and that’s made for a tough couple of days. I’ve started leaving my pack on as much as I can now since it’s too heavy to get on and off easily.