I wasn’t able to plug in my battery or my charger, so very few pictures. I also did not have access to WiFi last night, so w/o pictures, we’re just going to have to call Monday a loss. Here are the pictures I do have.
Frankly, right now walking is just work. The excitement of being in Spain has worn off. The view is beautiful but it’s another wheat field like the hundreds of others you’ve walked past. The uncertainty of “Am I physically up to this?” is gone too. You know you are.
So walking is getting up one more time, putting on your boots one more time, enduring pain one more time, dripping with sweat one more time. The small part of you that wonders “Why the hell did I do this?” grows. And you don’t really have an answer. But you know you can’t stop.
So you don’t. You put one foot in front of the other. You find a tree (there haven’t been that many lately) and walk to it, praying you can rest under its shade. You calculate your water. Do I have enough? How far is the next fountain? Am I getting a hot spot, or (God forbid) a blister? (When the only method of transportation you have is your feet, blisters are serious stuff.)
And finally, blessedly, you see a town. Food. Water. Shelter. Your backpack is wet with sweat when you finally put it down. Your boots are covered with dust when you remove them at the door, and you walk like a duck into the hostel because your feet are so sore.
Does this sound like fun? You’re right. It isn’t. But then you sit around a table, listening to the mix of languages, sharing dishes of your native land, everyone with a common goal, everyone understanding that though we are all different, we are the same. And the part of you that wondered, “Why the hell am I doing this?” remembers why.
Travels and Adventures with Jane 