Stage 32 .... My walk today will be 17 miles to Arzua .... The tool I bought at the junk shop is no match for this hard rock soil. Rain, cold, wind and mud make for a very, very long day.

I tested the tool I bought and it won't do the job. I need to find a real shovel or something close to it to dig an adequate hole for my four Cross's. The good news is that as I walked into this very small village I walked right past a hardware store. Yesterday was Sunday so it was closed. The hotel clerk thinks it will open today around 9:30. I guess they are not in a hurry to get their day started. By the way the picture of my Cross's are attached to the Stage 30 blog.

When I went to meet Rainer for dinner it was raining and getting cold. It's been raining  all night and it appears that it will rain for all of my seventeen miles today.  Not a problem, no complaints. I have had fantastic weather for all but a few tough days back at the beginning of my Camino, so this was somewhat over due.

There is only one route and the trail will be mostly flat with an uphill portion starting around the ten mile point. The rain has been steady all night so its likely that there will be mud. My poles are now veterans and will once again get me through it.

Breakfast is in the basement of the building. It's 7:30 but I can't leave until I get a chance to visit the hardware store which does not open until 9:30. There are no windows at breakfast so when I go back up the stairs to the lobby I am pleasantly surprised to see that not only has it stopped raining, it's also sunny and getting warmer. I think it's going to be a good day. I will be wrong.

When I woke this morning I could also sense a head cold getting started. I will plan on stopping at the Farmacia on my way out of the village. First stop the hardware store for the tool.

The clerk at the store does not understand me so I just begin looking around the store and I do find one tool which will work. It's a hand held version of a pickax. I buy it. The handle is detached from the head which will make packing it easy. 

I am leaving the village and I stop at the Farmacia. My cold is getting worse and my throat's not all that good. The Farmacia is so small that four people waiting for help is going to take forever. I decide it can't wait. Bad decision.

The weather is cold but sunny. I can see the dark sky off in the distance and it appears that I am headed that way. The walk should be fairly flat. I will find out that with five miles to go I will be very, very wrong. The last five miles today will be straight up hill and will rain without stopping for all five miles.

After only one mile I am overheating and stop for a wardrobe change. I will repeat this four or five times in the first three hours. It's time consuming and its not really resting in spite of the fact that you are not walking and your backpack is on the ground. This is really slowing me down and it's an energy burner.

I am about six miles from my starting point when it starts to rain. The trail s covered in mud and puddles which means there is no straight line to walk, every step is zigging and zagging around the mud and standing water. The poles are hard at work. Again an energy burner. 

The rain is now steady and as I am doing the mud dance I am working on an idea for my four Cross's . I think I have the spot picked out. I will bury them today in the rain. One of the challenges I face in trying to close the book on my four Cross's idea is the pilgrim traffic. I would like to do this without a witness becoming curious. I really don't have a concern about someone doubling back to dig it up but I would feel better if I can do it privately. That won't be a problem because of the rain.

As it rains non stop and I am working hard I am also sweating so much that I am getting wet from the inside out. 

There is a beautiful little church in a small village of Santa Marie. It is near here that I have decided to bury my four Cross's. I find the spot, its also symbolic and I dig the hole with my new tool and take pictures with both my iPhone and my iPad . I will send them to Robin  and it will be quite easy to find the location which is very near a permanent structure which will be here for years to come. 

I am so wet from the sweat and so worn out from all the stops that when it stops raining with about seven miles to go I take off my rain jacket and decide that if it rains again I will just get wet. Within a mile I am now just walking in the rain without the rain jacket. I will just get wet. I've done it before in the first few days at the start of my Camino, no big deal.

The last five miles are a real test made more difficult because I did not see it coming. I arrive at the hotel at 6:30 nearly eight and a half hours after I started. Because of the wardrobe delays, the Cross's burial and a couple of stops for food and coffee this day is not only somewhat difficult, it's also long.

I meet Rainer at 7:30 for dinner. Dinner is good but my cold is now becoming a serious issue. I fell like crap and when I speak you think you are talking to Barry White. Now my problem is I need to get to a Farmacia but none will open until 10:00 tomorrow morning. That's not good. Rainer asks the waiter what time the Farmaca opens and he does say 10:00 but wait, there is also a twenty four hour emergency Farmacia. It's about a mile and a half from where I am sitting. It's now about 9:00. 

The last thing I am going to do is to walk another three miles trying to find a Farmacia in the dark while its raining. I can't find the Camino In day light and perfect weather so trying to find a Fsrmacia on foot while its raining in the dark is out of the question.

The waiter says he will try to get a taxi to come and take me. Ronald to the rescue . Ronald is the taxi driver who picks me up. He says to me in perfect English, "what do you need at the pharmacy"? I explain. 

We arrive at the emergency Farmarcia and its just a tiny window that cannot be more the two feet square. Ronald gets out, rings the service button and he explains what is wrong with me and just like that the guy in the Farmacia puts my cold medicine in the push out delivery door. I am now given my LAFOR Polvo Para Solucion Oral and we are on our way back to the hotel. Ronald explains dosage and also says  "no beer".  A taxi driver and a Doctor.

I am ready to get to sleep. It's been a very long day. I now have only two more days of walking . Tomorrow I will walk to O Pedrouzo, Stage 33, 13 miles. I hope the LAFOR works! 

Good night.