I forgot something in my last blog. When I woke up in Molinaseca my laundry from the night before was still wet and my other pair of loose fitting socks was gone. I couldn't imagine how I had lost them. I had no other option but to wear my very tight walking socks that I bought in the States and sure enough I could wear them without them hurting me. I also tied my shoes tighter than before but not as tight as I had originally tied them. The solution lay in the middle ground as so many times before. I should learn the important lesson that Goldilocks was trying to teach us.
But back to this blog. After I had written my last blog I was in Villafranca at the Albergue Ave Fenix where Antonello was working. The lights had just been turned off and I guess we were supposed to go to sleep. But the town didn't agree with that decision. There was a party in town, a wedding or something big like that and we could hear music at the Albergue. I stayed up late, actually the latest I've stayed up so far on this trip, talking to Isabel a very interesting Swedish girl with a really beautiful tattoo on the top of her left foot. As I was brushing my teeth, and this was past midnight mind you, I could hear fireworks. I went outside and watched the fireworks light up the sky and saw the stars salute me at the same time. It was a wonderful experience to say the least.
When I woke up in the morning 2 days ago Antonello was still there and so was Victoria, who will henceforth be known as Tori. They were going to go further than me and this was goodbye...or, again, so I thought. I had some breakfast but during it I became queasy and I didn't eat much. I had a slow start as I had little energy. And for those that know me the best they know that there is little I hate more than puking so the nausea slowed me down quite a bit. I didn't leave Villafranca until 10:45 or even a few minutes later and that's a late start for sure.
The walk was beautiful, walking through steep and high gorges filled with trees. And since Iceland has so few trees that made the walk particularly amazing for this Icelander. But I had little energy and I was still feeling queasy and I had to stop pretty soon after starting, very uncommon for me as I usually only stop once during the day. A lot of ideas popped through my head for why I could be feeling this nauseas. First I thought it was the breakfast, then that I had been taking the ibufen/ibuprofen for too long a time, then I thought about the dinner last night, the water and last the pasta I got when I arrived at Ave Fenix. I had no idea what it was but I decided to get something fresh for my stomach and ate a salad for lunch and nothing with it. It was hard enough to get that down.
When I got to Ruitelan I met Kasha, another Polish girl with the same name as Kesha but I've seperated them with an A and an E in their names. So K-A-sha, was in Ruitelan and we walked together for a while. I had first met her in Molinaseca. We talked about life, the universe and everything...you know, classic Camino stuff. Then on the road we found Tori and Antonello and Tori started screaming as she saw me: "Man down, I repeat Man down!". Antonello was lying in the street and he too was feeling nauseas like me but he seemed to be in an even worse state. We decided to only go to the nearest town and rest there. The nearest town though was 2,5 km's away and all of that was uphill and pretty steep. When we got to La Faba we were extremely happy.
Our 25,6 km walk that day from Villafranca del Bierzo to La Faba ended at a beautiful German owned Albergue and we were greeted with stricked instructions on the fact that everyone should be asleep at 22:00. I guess our reputation preceeded us! ;)
After I had taken a shower I was drying my feet and when I bent over I nearly puked. I hate puking! I lifted myself back up and I felt as if I had no energy left whatsover. I felt sure that I had a fever and in retrospect I was most likely right. I went outside and put my feet in this great pool of water that was outside for us pilgrims to cool our feet in. Kasha then massaged my feet and as she is a physiotherpist she did it so well. My right foot was still killing me because of the tension in my big toe and the toe next to it and my left foot was still pretty bad because of my ankle. She helped a lot there. She told me to lie down after that and relax. I went to bed and as I lay there I became very cold. I became so cold that I put both my feet in the sleeping bag, the first time on the trip. I shivered as I lay there and when Kasha came and asked me if I wanted some dinner I said I couldn't possible move or eat anything. I lay there through the night and until the morning hoping that the rest would heal me.
So many times in life I've tried to control how things will go, how life will turn out. But I can't, can I? We can do our best to proceed with caution, to keep in shape, to eat healthy, or to not take unnecessary risks be they physical, mental or emotional but sure enough we can't control life. It's gonna happen no matter what! We can't change the weather or other people, the only thing we can change is how we react to them. There I lay in my bead and this is how I chose to react, by resting. I could hear Tori playing the guitar in the common room of the Albergue and people laughing and singing along. I so wanted to join in, I had been praying for a guitar all along the Camino and here it finally was. But I needed rest and this was the appropriate reaction. I couldn't stop being sick but I could decide to get better! :)
I woke up in the middle of the night, having slept enough for my body and I listened to the snores of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he at least made enough noise for it. But it was a good rest to just lay there and I did so until the morning...
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