The Spirit is Willing, But the Body . . .

It's a funny thing when you take a couple hundred highly enthusiastic, slightly neurotic hikers and tell them to go take a 500 mile hike. In the beginning, everyone is going all out, albeit at different speeds. Inevitably, however, everybody hits a wall. Doing a 15 mile hike isn't that big of deal for most of these folks, but after doing a 15 mile hike ten times in a row, the body starts to protest. The ace bandage has now become the fashion accessory of choice for those of us who started in France. We met several 30 something males (sorry to stereotype), who spoke of their intent to knock off the Camino in 25 days. We have been surprised to see each of them recently as they should be miles and miles ahead of us. But there they were, back in the pack with us, nursing various ailments.
Personally, I have been somewhat of a medical mess. After hiking 30 miles in my new boots before we left, they turned on me and I immediately had blisters on both heels. I've got tendonitis, an edema on my ankle and something funky going on with my knee, and that's just my left leg! So you may be wondering how does one get medical attention on the Camino? Well, it's pretty simple. You get medical advise from anyone in the vicinity that speaks your particular language. My primary care physician is Mark. Not only can he do magic with a square inch of mole skin and an ace bandage, but he is carrying every medicine known to the Western world in his backpack. As a consultative staff, I have a trio of Canadians who we've befriended - a barber, a school administrator and a social worker. While they tend to have one prescription for all ailments (put a cold bag of ice on whatever hurts, and a c0ld glass of beer in your free hand), I must say that I admire their approach!

The physical impact of the Camino has led to a wonderful concept called the Rest Day. It's where you pick a city of interest, get a hotel room (note: not an albergue) and spend a full day with NO BACKPACK. For us, the Rest Day occured in Burgos. Burgos is a really beautiful place - full of life. One funny thing about Spain is that most of the churches have been locked (apprarently, there have been some pilferings). There's something very disheartening about a locked church. One of the first things we noticed about Burgos was that, not only are the churches open, but when we ducked our heads in for a peek, most of them had some kind of service in progress. The whole city felt open and welcoming. Burgos is full of beautifully maintained gothic buildings, the centerpiece of which is a 12 Century cathedral, There are several large public squares around the cathedral with lively cafes and tons of comfortable benches. There is a tremendous mix of visitors and citizens milling around. It is the perfect place to spend a sunny fall afternoon. And so we did. And as we strolled about, we ran into about a dozen people we knew - the sisters from Australia, the Welch locksmith, the French singer from Granon along with her little entourage, the three Italien students. We knew more people in that square than we do when we walk down the Pearl Street mall in Boulder . And everyone was so glad to see each other, and everyone was luxurating in the glory of a Rest Day! Top it off with dinner in a nice restaurant and a nice bottle of wine, and you've pretty much discovered heaven on earth.

So now we're back on the road. We woke up planning to go for 18 miles, but Mark developed a shin splint so we stopped after 12 miles. Although he is resisting it, I am the only native English speaker in this albergue, so I get dibs on being his primary. We'll see what I can conjure up - I'm thinking
another Rest Day may be in order!