Monday, May 23, 2011

Journey to Santiago - Day 18, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Stage


Day 18 - Castrojeriz To Fromista
Distance walked today: 24.3 km (15.2 miles)
Total distance walked: 305.9 km (191.2 miles)
Total distance left: 424.4 km (265.3 miles)
Information on the stage traveled here.

My friends, it seems Adal will lose another nail.  The other big toe is suffering.  He's punched a hole in the toe to help it drain, but we fear he will lose it anyway.  It looks like another toenail funeral is imminent.

He sounded exhausted after today.  Maybe it was the 18 deg hill of one 1 km he walked today.  Or just sheer exhaustion is setting in.  24.3 km was a pretty good stretch.  He's now resting in Fromista.  Last night's hostel had bunk beds, and an Austrian girl hooked up with a German guy and strange noises came from above Adal's bed.  Yes, I suppose these things happen when you have a lot of young people trekking across Spain, but it's not very comforting to me.  That made me a little uncomfortable.  But the icing on the cake?  She woke up Adal to inform him he was snoring.  Yes, the nerve!

Today's question comes from Arnie, Adal's former college roommate and longtime friend:
Arnie: What are the logistics of eating on the path?  What do you buy, what do you cook, where and with what do you cook?
Adal: There is plenty of food on the way, in the towns you come across the way.  Most hostels have kitchens you can cook in, but it's not practical to cook for yourself.  So sometimes if you get 2 or 3 people, you can buy food at the local market and make pasta with something simple.  The food is really good in the towns.  You grab a quick breakfast before starting.  Some hostels will include breakfast for a few extra Euros.  I don't really get hungry while walking, but I force myself to eat something when I start feeling weak.  You can buy stuff like bread and cheese and ham, but then you have to carry the extra weight.  I prefer to eat out most of the time, it's usually not that expensive.

As I thought, once Monday comes around it back to the routine and things aren't so bad.  It was deliciously rainy this morning, bad enough that N and I kept nudging each other to wake up and get out of bed.  The rush of work and N makes the day go faster.  I didn't think I would need to hear Adal's voice every day, I thought I could get by with a few text messages and a call every other day, but I look forward to hearing his stories and his voice every day.  Telling him about N and my day, hearing him sound excited, or tired, or hurting, or happy; it's nice.  It's real nice.  I feel like I hug his voice every time he calls.

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