Los Arcos for me was one of the three best and most unusual days I had on my first Camino. If you read the first blog it was in Los Arcos where I was stopped by the police because they could tell I was lost. As a matter of fact my first conversation with them was directly outside the front door of the Monaco Hotel.
By the way the Monaco Hotel is much better than the Los Arcos "Villas" which as it turnd out was more than a mile from Los Arcos and it's a gas station. It's as much a part of Los Arcos as the Angels are from Los Angeles!
I go to the pharmacy and the pharmacist walks me through a new proceedure for blisters in my condition. Long story but I am instructed to return to the hotel and to change the bandage I am using and switch to a different type and to use them for up to seven days and to change then at least three times a day or more often if possible. Wow, I'm glad I went. I do as he instructs and then I head to the plaza to have a glass of wine and perhaps something to eat.
It's a nice plaza with two cafés and lots of tables and plastic chairs. People just grab a chair and sit with others. I'm sitting at a table and order a glass of wine when a women asks if she and her husband can join me. Sure. He limps over to the table wearing flip flops but is also using his poles to get around. He's not doing well. They are from Vancover. They had planned to walk the Camino and then travel over the balance of Spain for another month. A trip of about three months. The Camino part is over. He is hardly capable of walking because of blisters. He went to the Hospital today and the doctor told him not to go any longer. They will take the early bus tomorrow to Logrono and stay for at least two nights and then decide what to do. Even if you can't complete the Camino there's not much to see if your limping around and in pain.
Nice people. He makes kites for a hobby and showed me his work. He made one with the Camino logo which he had planned to fly in the plaza at the Cathedral of Santiago. That may not happen.
So now here I am it's Thursday morning and I'm about to begin my walk to Viana. I really go overboard on making sure I have everything packed and ready to go. I'm getting tired of leaving things behind and having to deal with it. I check and I double check. It's all there and I leave the Hotel Monico for the Camino. I make a quick turn from the Hotel and I'm now needing to get into the street to go around all of the Pilgrims waiting for the bus to Logrono. There must be two dozen including the people I had dinner with last night. I went to say hello to the Vancover couple and to wish them well. The number of Camino victims is growing.
I have planned ahead to stop at Torres del Rio for coffee and to change my bandages. It's about five miles to that point. The weather is good and the trail lacks any serous Spanish Potatoes. Elevation changes are attention getting but brief. The passengers are doing fine and I'm not pushing it. I arrive at Torres del Rio and I first go into the pharmacy. I show the clerk all of the bandags I have and ask for duplicates. She understands and I leave with at least a two day supply. I have decided that I will not let the supply fall below this number.
I leave the pharmacy and walk into the cafe. There is just one person working and there is a line of four people ahead of me including a local doing her shopping for the day. I decide to move on and let my water resupply take place In del Poyo which is only about a mile and a half away but first I need to change my bandages. There are tables available but I don't think it's right to change at any tables plastic or otherwise. There is a bench which is empty so I go there. I begin the process but I'm close to a small group of young Americans all in their ethyl twenty's and they are close enough to me that it's impossible not to over hear their conversation. They are all on a minor rant about the vile nature of Capitalisim. I bite my tongue because I'm now AC Jim. What I really want to do is yask each of them if they have used an ATM for cash while they are here and also if it came from any of their capitalist parents?
Of cours I don't and I just move on. I think we are in real trouble with this group. Perhaps they should all move to a Socalist Country where they can reap all of the rewards of another system. Okay. I'm done and it's the last political comment I will make, I promise.
Today's walk is an easier one than any of the other previous days. The last three miles do have two real challenges ... One straight up and of course the other is downhill. As I reach the top of the uphill grind I turn onto a section of paved roadway which is a nice break. It's breif and I can see where the trail returns. There is someone there and he or she is not moving. As I get closer I see that it's a women and she has her shoe and sock off one foot and working on applying some kind of bandage. I stop and ask if I can help. I let her know that I have a nice supply of a variety of bandages if she needs one or more. She declines but thanks me. I ask her where she is from and she says "southern
California". I reply "me to I'm from Capistrano". She says I'm from Irvine but I work in Dana Point at a restaurant ... Luchiana's. Wow. Robin and I have been going there for twenty years! Her name is Donna and she plays the Acordian at the restaurant on Friday and Satursay. The only reason I don't know her uis because Robin and I have always gone there on Monday or Tuesday. I tell her that we will see her there after the Camino. Small world.
In the end I made great time today without pushing it. I also got a haircut which is always scary away from home. I asked that she take off just a small amount and the next thing I know I'm getting the "Chinnock" special. When it's over I look like I'm waiting for the school bus to take me to the first day of class for the second grade. Chinnock is a friend I play golf with who does not have a hair problem.
Dinner tonight with Rainer. Tomorrow I will walk to Navarette, a journey of about thirteen miles. Until then, good night and Buen Camino.
No comments:
Post a Comment