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Hola Amigos!
I´m sitting on the second floor of a cyber cafe with a tub full of ice cream. It´s nearly 9PM, the sun is high in the sky and the river is flowing strong through this ancient capital city called Najare. It is a ridiculously gorgeous place. I was greeted by these huge rocky promontories jutting off the hillside, framing the old town. This was after a long long day of 30km. Yes I am bragging. I´ve done two days in a row of 30km. It´s only walking after all, but little things add up and I´ve had some weird paranoid moments of doubt. Yesterday I arrived in Logrono with extremely sore feet. I have flat feet and that has pronounced the experience of pounding on the road. My hiking shoes are very old and the support is well worn away. So it is like I´m walking on flats or something. I had to make an executive decision and buy new shoes. So today with my 89.95 Euro shoes and my old ones strapped to my bag (just in case) I set out for the long day. The morning was toughest because I kept stopping to fidget with the new shoes to make sure they were fitting correctly. On top of this I felt myself rushing because I´d been closed out of the municipal hostel the day before as all the beds were full. So I developed this perception of scarcity which was making me feel rushed, as if I would not have a bed if I did not arrive in the next town early. I did not like this feeling AT ALL. So new shoes plus rushed feeling equalled bad morning. Then in the late AM, I started feeling pains in my left knee. My knee has been clicking all along as I walk, but today it started to hurt and the subtle pain crept up my leg on lateral side. This caused more worry. I ran into these American girls who advised me to walk like a yogi which meant to flex the toes upward which will create a more anatomically sound step, exaggerating the heel to toe movement on the ground. This I began to do and soon enough the pain began to clear up. Ahhhhhhhhhh.
With the pain diminished, I could take in the beautiful mountains in the distance and the endless vineyards of wine stretched out to the horizon. I am, after all, now in the region called La Rioja, wine country, where a bottle of red costs 2 Euros in the grocery store or a glass at a bar is 60 cents. Glory glory to that! And I soon met a couple of Spanish girls who told me to chill out and not feel rushed because for Christ´s sake "this is the camino" and all those people waking up extra early to accelerate to the next town are fooling themselves. I commented that Wall Street mentality can exist even out here doing this.
Now I am thoroughly exhausted. The most weary so far. I will sleep well tonight. Regardless of the sea swell of snorers. Tomorrow, a mere 21 km. Cakewalk.
Day 1: St. Jean Pied de Port - Roncesvalles 27 km
Day 2: Roncesvalles - Larrasoana 26 km
Day 3: Larrasoana - Pamplona 16km
Day 4: Pamplona day off
Day 5: Pamplona - Puente la Reina 24km
Day 6: Puente - Estrella 22 km
Day 7: Estrella - Los Arcos 21km
Day 8: Los Arcos - Lagronia 29 km
Day 9: Lagronia - Najera 30 km
Adios
DREW
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Brian
non-member comment
Wow Drew! This journey you are taking sounds amazing! Your are officially my Traveling Hero!