Day 15
The Middle of Nowhere –> More Nowhere (30+ km)
Last night was horrible. Not only was it hot, but some loud, British woman was making bizarre sounds in her sleep, making it near impossible to sleep. I awoke several times during the night, hot, as well as afraid of oversleeping.
Everyone woke up at 5 AM. Two weeks ago that would have felt outrageous, but now we were just happy to leave the pitiful town. The first 10k seemed to blow by, but I could already tell I was off to a bad day. When we got to the next town for breakfast, we had the worst napolitanos I’ve ever had, and the server refused to make orange juice.
We set off again, feeling slightly refreshed. The sun wasn’t out and it even rained a little. The Australian started talking to a Spaniard who had started the Camino with his family, but left them in Logroño to run the rest of the way. He hurt his ankle after one day. Now he is walking 60 kilometers every day.
For a while, the walk was enjoyable. We even passed through a reasonably sized town. That’s where most people stop, but we wanted to continue on to make up some lost time. From there, our party split. The Spaniard and I breezed ahead up a giant hill and down the steep incline. The two Irish girls followed behind. Rounding up the rear were the two French people and the Australian.
The sun was rising higher in the sky and people were starting to feel the effects of the heat. The Spaniard tried convincing us to go to the next town, but it was another 10 kilometers away, or more. I sat there, feeling sad at the village surrounding us. We all wondered how the people could stand to live here.
I honestly felt like I was about to burst into tears during lunch. I felt like the only one. When we checked into the albergue, I needed some time where I saw nobody. I put in my headphones and listened to some podcasts and I drifted in and out of consciousness.
After some time to recharge, as well as a few others, we all kind of reunited. The food was horrible. I feel so bad because Spanish food is good, but what we are eating in the Camino is trash. We’re also losing weight because we aren’t able to recover the 3,000 calories we’re burning each day.
Everyone was super cranky. People went to bed at 8 PM. There are no windows in the room, so I’m ready for another night of sweating. At least the obnoxious British woman won’t be yelling in her sleep tonight. Honestly, we’re all just ready to start off tomorrow. It can only go up from here.