Day 10 - Ventosa to Azofra
Distance walked today: 15.9 km (9.9 miles)
Total distance walked: 150.9 km (94.3 miles)
Total distance left: 583.5 km (364.7 miles)
Information on the stage traveled here.
About 30% done with the Camino! He is now in the ninth stage, at a small town called Azofra. He is preferring to stay in the smaller towns, as the larger end-of-stage towns are more difficult to find lodging in. He is averaging about 20 kms a day, more due to watching out for his nailless toe than to exhaustion. He's been cautious to not push too hard on a bad toe.
The hostel he's at is charming, he says. But they have a strict "no noise before 7 am" rule. So he got the tongue-lashing of his life when he got up at 5 am to brush his teeth. Apparently the sound of water running and teeth brushing is right up there with shouting, singing, and drunkenness.
He claims the nail is fast growing back, and the number of blisters, although not negligible, are much less than he expected and much less than the first time he tried this path. All good news. I asked about his backpack, and he reports that the weight he's carrying must be good, because his back is not bothering him at all and he's had no problem.
He's back to pushing as far as he can go now. I think tomorrow he will make it to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and after that maybe. He had been walking with the forensic doctor from Canary Islands and an Argentinian woman, but the doctor pushed on past Azofra to follow some lycra-clad hotties on the trail and the Argentinian wanted to keep going. That's how it is on the path, you meet people then move on. His fame is still preceding him, he is still hailed as the Puerto Rican who lost the toenail wherever he goes on the path. Amazing that such a little thing causes such celebrity status, but I imagine that the Path walkers have their own society and norms. He's on this stage here.
I think after today's call I felt a little better, a bit more at ease, less stressed.
I asked him why he is walking the Camino. He's walking it because it is an important cultural icon. Because it's a challenge. Because he could finish something that many have not done or finished. The achievement. He walks to have time for himself, to do something all by himself for himself. I read here that he walks also for introspection. He walks to meet all the different people that walk as well. To talk to people from the world over that have this one thing in common: walking the Camino de Santiago. Perhaps to belong to this travelling nomadic brotherhood, that all walk for different reasons but use the same route. To maybe understand that others are walking for very different reasons but are on the same path.
This is not a simple question. I think that some may decide to walk for one reason and end up finishing for completely different reasons. And maybe the reason is the least important of this journey, or the most. Quite complex if you ask me.
And for the more mundane and superficial, last night was the Eurovision contest. If you don't or haven't lived in Europe, it's a big thing. Bigger than American Idol for the US. Bigger than the OTI Festival in Latin America. N fell asleep watching it with me on the sofa. Some countries' representatives were awful, some not so bad, very few were excellent. The winners, from Azerbaijan, were ok. Not the best, but not the worst. They were quite passable in my opinion. Of course, politics play a large role here. Some (most?) countries vote for their allies or cultural cousins rather than by talent.
And N found the dress she wants for when she gets married. She saw it on Say Yes to the Dress, and I am to buy it for her, "on the Internet." It's a cinderella-style tulle nightmare. Although when she saw the wiccan wedding with the fairy wings, she was pretty enthralled.
And here I sit, typing with pink and green fingernails courtesy of N's collection, so we now have matching fingernail color. But no, this wasn't fun enough for her, she told me, she still wanted to play Candyland, you know Mami, something FUN. Geez. Anyone want a little girl for next weekend?
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