Jó reggelt, szevasztok …

After the first hardcore day and the first night ever spent in a hostel, I was so not fresh and so not ready for the second day of my Camino.

It didn’t take too much time either for the blisters to appear. After the first day, I woke up with two on both of my lovely pinky toes. Got a suggestion to put Compeed Plaster on them, and leave it there for like 5 days and it will fall off by itself and everything will be juuust fine. So that’s exactly what I did – I’m not gonna leave any spoilers here about this blister situation, and on how great this product worked for me – not. oops 🙊 – ...you will find out all these little things and much more in the upcoming posts about my Camino de Santiago experience.

So today we started our walks from Espinal

The first few hundred meters were actually on the main road with cars next to us. Was a bit weird, but then suddenly we ended up in the good old forest again. The weather was not as awful as yesterday but still, it wasn’t the dream beach holiday that everyone associates if they hear the word Spain.

… As you can see, the signs are pretty clear even in the woods

The scenery was beautiful and it wasn’t that foggy anymore – … still wet and grey tho. – … but the view we finally saw was simply breathtaking.
And don’t forget I was “only” around 900 m by now. So imagine how beautiful it must’ve been yesterday at 1437 m up high in the fucking Pyrenees – sadly we had 0 vision then. – Just a reminder and a quick flashback to yesterday, and my view at Orisson.

My feet were fine, I felt my backpack, but I don’t think it is the bags fault. I’m just not used to carrying a backpack since… well since highschool actually – … I mean I hope this is the problem and I don’t have to buy a new bag later on cuz fuck that would be unexpected. So far the path was good, easy to walk on, mostly concrete and trails through the woods with a tiiiny bit of downhill but nothing crazy.
Cindy was on fire as always – no blisters. Bitch. – and I managed to keep up with her. So yay.
We crossed a huge superdeep and very angry river too… People were telling us like OMG you have to jump from one piece of concrete to another, while there’s massive water surrounding you…

 😐 … 😂 Babe… I mean… What?

Altogether it was an easy day so far, I felt relieved after yesterday – not gonna lie.  I was actually feeling okay-ish – …surprisingly.

And then out of the fucking nowhere, we got an uphill…

… Hell of an intro, I know. But that’s exactly what happened.

…pasito a pasito ♪ ♫ ♬ – … but Luis Fonsi is singing it with a sad tone this time

 I swear, it was bad.
It’s just not as bad on the pictures as it is in real life – … just like me.

We stopped at the next bar, to take our shoes off for a while and got an energizer zumo de naranja – which became my ritual on the Camino actually. Shortly we saw Marianne arriving and decided to walk together. She said she booked a bed for tonight in Zubiri, we didn’t. Yepp, the lesson’s still not been properly learnt since last night… For me, it’s just so superweird that there is no bed left in a town which is one of the main stops of the Camino. The Camino that thousands of people are walking on. And we are in May not even at the top season in July or something. Like… the fuck?

Anyway, we carried on together, and the path became absolutely awful. So far I found downhill works for me more than uphill does, but after a while, nothing worked anymore, just the thoughts of going home. Everything was up ‘n down, rocky as hell, it was superhard to walk on – at least for me. I took a quick look at the map in my book and I saw my own doom in it.

I could just fucking lay on the ground, ask for a push and roll down all the way to Zubiri, cuz that’s exactly where it’s gonna get flat again, not a meter earlier, of course. Oh, and the book suggests we should go all the way to Larrasoaña today. Awww, how cute.

Marianne suggested I should start walking in zigzags – slower, longer but better. And it worked a bit, made it easier but still, every step I took was painful. I was walking in a kind of a funny way, so the blisters won’t get that much of a pressure. But I started to feel my knees instead. I was like what the actual ffff…. like WHAT?! What else can happen with me seriously?!? – … well, Bitch. I’m tellin’ you… A lot. Just wait for it.

The last couple of thousands of millions of steps were awful. I was in so much pain, I literally fell into Zubiri. The first thing we saw was a big map of the town with all the facilities and stuff you can find there. And I still can hear Marianne’s angelic words:

“Look, they have a medical center AND a pharmacy too”

Fuck beds, give me a doctor. Or not, cuz the medical center was closed, and the pharmacy had the siesta. – Which I swear I love and I could get used to this lifestyle easily. But right there at that moment, it was very hard to face the red flashing closed sign.

We asked around for beds and everything was full again, even though it was around 3 pm only. We finally figured out why…
The Albergue Municipal was closed. Plus the 1st of May was a holiday and waaay more people started the Camino as it was expected. Even the hospitalero said we should start booking from day to day or even a few days ahead. Otherwise, there’s not much chance for a bed in the next days either. Maybe later after Pamplona or Logroño people will spread out a bit more. They said pilgrims are just flowing into – and out from Roncesvalles like crazy. They had to open the schools and put mattresses on the floor, people were sleeping in bars and on the corridors of hostels.

What should we do?
Carry on. What else? It was 3:39pm by this time – … good job I made all my pictures with exact dates and time. It’s still kind of early in Camino hours. So… ¡Vamos! then … I guess.
Crying – … laughing – out loud we did end up in fucking Larrasoaña. The town that the book was suggesting in the first place. It’s 4 km away from Zubiri, flat, easy path…. But once you already did 21 km it’s a pain – especially cuz like 10-ish don’t forget, was horrid.

Long story short, we arrived and everything was COMPLETO. We just sat down on a bench. I was destroyed by that time literally. Got my third blister right in the middle of my feet under my toes – more painful place than my pinkies.

Should we take a bus? But to fucking where? Santiago de Compostela?

We saw a couple of pilgrims waiting outside of the Albergue Municipal, while a woman was on the phone non-stop. We went there hoping to get useful information. She was the nicest hospitalera ever, she was actually calling every nearby place, one by one, asking if they have any place for us.
*drumroll*… The nearest one was 8 km away.
Joke right?
Nope, mijita.

So let’s sum up… that would be 33 km for today, instead of the planned 21 km. It’s already after 5 pm. By the time we arrive everything will be full there too and off you fuck then, and just walk another 6 km to Pamplona cuz maybe there’s a bed.

More and more people arrived and asked this girl if there’s aaanything left. So she just gave up, called her friend with a fucking van, and sent us away – like sardines in the box – to the next town, Trinidad de Arre.
Facility-wise it was the worst place I stayed during my Camino. One of those church / albergue thing. Since my motive is not faith, it was a bit uncomfortable for me. But I was so thankful that we got a place to stay even if it is as it is… – The so-called ego cracking slowly, huh?
I just wanted a shower. And finally, the washing machine was done, so there was water in the showers…  Praise the Lord, I had some drops of cold water when Cindy, in the booth next to mine, turned off the water. And I had to turn off mine so she could wash the shampoo out from her hair.
*… I give you a few seconds now to let this sink in a bit…*
…
I don’t even know if we were laughing or crying at this time. Seriously.
Ok, we were laughing our asses off, but comeon.

After that, I just wanted my squeaky 100-year-old top bunk bed, my leftover oreos and gummy bears for dinner… and buenas noches.

… but of course, someone was snoring.

See you tomorrow,

Buen Camino – ??? … not too sure anymore.

Noemi

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… Jó éjszakát, szevasztok!

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