Day 10, Santo Domingo to Belarado

Day 10 on Camino, Sunday, June 14, Santo Domingo to Belarado

Numbers: 14: 14.44 miles per Garmin GPS, See uploaded info if you like, and 38,686 steps per Fitbit and 137 floors (steps and floors and Fitbit mileage include other walking around town, etc.)

Dave voice

A relatively short, uneventful day spent on easy pathways near – but not too near – the N120. As usual, we worried about the weather yada yada, started early yada yada, and it didn’t rain til after we were checked into our lodgings, Habatacion del Pulgas**, and then only a little. Heard this before? Us too.

As usual we arrived in today’s village, Bocadilla,** with no idea where our opulent hotel was and, as usual, made our way to the "Peregrinos Albergues," a plain little office that serves as a reception desk for the local "albergue," a no-frills place (or one of many in larger towns) where Peregrinos can sleep for the night (sometimes In a room with many other Peregrinos) at a very low cost, and as a place where lost souls (I.e., us) can get directions to hotels, grocery stores, etc. These places are usually staffed by volunteers and are invaluable for strangers In town for probably the only time they will ever be there. For those of you who may travel the Camino in an organized group, this sort of information may not be as necessary, but for some of us, it’s a foot-saver.

The dead are always with us. (If anyone doubts this, look at the people we’ve elected to high national offices.) On the Camino, there are sometimes handmade monuments to pilgrims who died along the way. The first we saw was on Day One, a day of unending uphill climbs. The fallen pilgrim was a Brazilian, who died in 2013 on the first day of his pilgrimage, less than 15 miles from the start of his trek. The little sign does not say whether the fallen pilgrim was old or sick or out of shape or smoking or anything else. Maybe nothing was "wrong" with the guy; maybe it was just his turn. Who among us can know when that moment will come?

Another metaphor, yada yada. All I’m saying is, if the choice is to do the safe and sensible thing or to do a silly or whimsical or less than adult thing (so long as it isn’t destructive), consider this: Our turns come regardless of what we may or may not have done to forestall them. The Brazilian’s wasn’t the only memorial out there. We’ve seen three in ten days and may have overlooked others.

Medical bulletin! The first blister has appeared on the bottom of a small toe. Paramedics were helicoptered in from Pamplona and, after Skyping with a podiatrist in Madrid, the afflicted digit was duly lanced with an unsterilized safety pin to general applause from those in the operating theatre. It is expected that the toe will be up and around in a few weeks.

** for you Sheri, or any other Spanish speakers :-)

Deb voice

When we arrived at our hotel today and had lunch, we saw a woman we met along the Camino a few days ago. Olga is from Norwalk (in the L.A. area) and when we saw her last, she was with a woman from Quebec and we assumed they were friends and were traveling together. Nope; as with many we meet, folks traveling alone often meet up with someone and travel with them for a few hours, a day, or more. Olga's friend encountered problems and rested in some prior town along The Camino. Olga told us how the last two days had been tough for her; she has a painful and swollen foot or ankle, and is trying to decide what to do. I told her not to let her ego get in the way of her journey (as Brierley says often in his Camino book). If she needs to take a rest day and a bus to the next town, so be it. Pushing through with injury, etc. usually creates more problems down the line. I have no idea what she'll do, but so many of us are Type A personalities when it comes to trying to accomplish something. I hope she takes my advice (she thanked me for it and we hugged), but more importantly, I hope I take it when and if necessary, and that includes ditching my backpack if need be. My back issues today were non-existant, and I felt strong. But, tomorrow is another day with more miles, and big climbs. One day at a time...

And, a few pictures of the day:

More Camino signs: the top and right one were on the ground

Gatos today

Church views today

My shadow today (despite what you think, that's my hiking pole!)

With DJR

Without DJR

With two DJRs

One foot in front of another

555K to go...yes, graffiti..

At long last wine...

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