A typical day in the life of a pelegrino

5 days down, I think I´ve got the drill...

5:30AM- wake up to the first alarm. hit snooze.
5:45AM- roll out of bed. maybe change into the same outfit from yesterday, maybe just put something that doesn´t smell too bad over what i´m already wearing.
6:15AM- eat breakfast. usually consists of muffin and marmalade or oatmeal.
6:30AM- out the door for another day of walking!!!
9:00AM- first pit stop for cafe con leche at a little shop. i´ve had 3 cafe con leches to date, which for those of you who really know me know that this means i´ve drank 3 coffees in my life, total.
11:45AM- stop for lunch either at a bar (cafe) or on the side of the road. typically bread and cheese, piece of fruit. i´ve really learned to eat whatever i can whenever i can. Catie made a scumptious sandwich a few days ago.. it was a piece of bread with apricot marmalade, spread with cheese and then hardboiled egg sliced on top. You make do. She refused to put the fish flavored olives in the combo though.
1:00PM- 3:00PM- arrive in destination town and frantically search for an albeurge before all the beds are taken.

2:30-3:30PM SIESTA!!!!! Elevate feet and try to drain blood and fluid from feet so they decrease in size by 50%. Usually do this for about 30 minutes.
3:30PM- shower, wash clothes in bin and hang from shoe lace that michael has strategically placed somewhere over our beds.
4:00PM- walk until we find a supermarket to buy grub for dinner. try to also find beer or a bottle of wine. Explore the town in doing so.
5:30PM- make dinner. We´ve been doing the pasta thing quite a bit, a egg scramble, and last night we made a horrible soup that pretty much consisted of noodles. That was my one job for the soup was to add noodles... oops.
6:30PM- read and write in journal. We´re always estatic to be in an albeurge with a fireplace so if possible, i´m curled up next to it.
7:30PM- ask Catie if I can go to bed because I´m practically falling asleep in my book. She says I can but I feel guilty so I force myself to stay awake, socialize and attempt to communicate with people that don´t speak english, and enjoy the mini village.
9:00PM- in bed, fast asleep.


I have now walked a total of 81 miles in 5 days!! Day 3 was fairly short, only 13 miles, but it was a tough one... both Catie and I were just ready for it to be over around mile 10. The highlight of the day by far was the french RV parked on the side of the camino offering coffee to all the pelegrinos. I told the lady ´non, merci´ and she asked why not en francais. I got to practice my french with her for a few minutes and came out of it with a fabulous hot chocolate, so I was content! We stayed in an albeurge in Rabanal that night and I experienced my first blister-popping session. Little did I know what was in store for me....

Day 4 was amazing, challenging, painful and beautiful. We were in the country all day and I loved every second of it. We climbed over a mountain pass and barely touched the city. It was my favorite day by far.. this day we reached the highest peak of the entire camino. I walked 1 mile and limped the remaining 16. I had aquired 6 blisters by this day and was starting to have some severe ankle pain due to my specialized walking pattern I adopted to avoid the blisters. Catie and Michael were fabulous and stopped to wait for me every once and awhile and I enjoyed the me time.. I can´t wait to show off the pictures from this day, it was breathtaking. It was what I imagined walking Spain to be.

Today was day 5 and we really pushed to get our full 19. I met some great people on the trail; Antoinetta from Switzerland and I had a blast attempting to speak french, as she claimed to not be able to but I´m pretty sure hers was better than mine! We walked together for 2 hours and shared many stories and many laughs. I also met a man from Germany who spoke English very well, and turns out he lived in Kailua, Hawaii- the same town I spent 9 weeks in just 6 weeks ago! What a small world! It rained quite a bit today, as it has the past few days. Tomorrow is suppose to be better weather though.

The 3 of us are heading to a pharmacy after this to get a syringe so we can drain my now 9 blisters and then sterilize them with some meds. Michael is pretty excited to do it, and I´m thankful for that. We´re staying in an albeurge tonight with entirely too many people, and we´re actually just sleeping in the walkway. We have 16 miles tomorrow, 19 if we´re feeling great but I think we´ll be content with 16! Miss you all, am counting down the days till Greece and the miles left but truly enjoying every minute of this amazing trip.

Buen camino!