Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Santarem to Azinhaga 28k

Walking today was a necessary evil since we had planned to take a rest day after walking 20.1 miles yesterday.  I was a little stubborn since the Camino is presenting some things for me to examine obviously.  Last night when we saw our trio of  friends at the end of the day,  Tracy was obviously concerned about me. She looked at me with such concern and said she literally said my name ten times that day,  wondering out loud if I was going to be okay.  My ego was extremely offended by this.  Later over drinks,  I asked John if I put off some kind of air of helplessness or something.  I felt so strong walking all that way and to have someone doubting my abilities?  Well that just pissed me off. I felt that I have been dealing with similar themes all my life. Guess its time to look at this. Ultimately John presented me a different way of looking at it when he suggested that I just be thankful for her caring attitude. So this morning I gave her a hug and told her that I appreciated her concern for me. Then I insisted on walking 17.5 miles to prove my point.  To me.  
We had made reservations at a home stay place at the end of the line which we had no idea what that would be like,  thinking it would be like an extended stay type place.  Maybe we could lay over a day, hang out in the A/C  and watch television and catch up on the blog and REST. Twice during the day,  Elena,  the woman who ran the place we were to stay that night drove by and stopped to see if we were alright and to tell us to call her if we needed her to come get us. It was still very hot. How nice!  

Long into the day, in acres of farm country, with about 5 miles to go and getting low on water, we sat under a shade tree for some rest. Some people started waving us over and with some trepidation we wandered over to where a real Portuguese barbecue was taking place with about 25 people.  There were the traditional sea salted sardines being grilled.  We were handed plates, given fresh baked bread,  tomato salad and two whole fat sardines each fresh off the grill. We sat down and communicated the best we could while cheeses and olives and wine were placed before us.  That was not all.  We were treated to 3 different fado singers accompanied by a couple of guys playing guitar.  It was fantastic!  We stayed a little over an hour then had to bid our farewells.  Hugs kisses and huge smiles and we were on our way.  Real Portuguese blessings.



 We got kind of lost and ended up wandering around trying to find Azinhaga. The arrows seemed to be pointing back into the desolate cornfields.  I was not going back in there.

John says one thing never heard on the Camino is, "gee, we're here already "? With a little help from a local on a bicycle in the town of Pombalinho, we got there  but the place we were staying was all the way at the end of the neighborhood.  We wanted to call Elena in Pombalinho but my phone up and died right then. It was here that my left hip started hurting. Oh hell. I have pushed hard.  Maybe too hard.  Stupid. We got there finally and we realized this was truly a "home stay".  As in staying in someone's home! There were other pilgrims there and unfortunately since my phone had died,  Elena had given the king size bed we had reserved away to another couple.  She offered the only one left,  a room with three beds. John was not happy.  There was nothing to do but suck it up. I was just worried about my hip. And I was just glad to be somewhere.  It was a very nice home and the private shower was just what the doctor ordered.  Oh and the cold Sagres in the fridge helped John get over what he believed to be a little underhanded, business wise.

 Elena would be cooking that night and asked if fish would be okay.  Yes for me but John was going to make her jump through a hoop for the one she made him jump through by giving away our room. He wanted chicken.

The dinner was delicious with rice and salad and bread AND a delicious chicken asado for John with chips  (fries) and rice. Dessert was the amazing melon which I grown to love! I put the laundry in for way too long since I don't understand European washing machines,  but Elena was very forgiving.
We had the pleasure of meeting Diane,  who showed me some yoga stretches for my hip, and her boyfriend,  John from the US. Richard and his wife Reva from the UK, Kirsten and Eric from Sweden,  and Ann from the US. ALL lovely people.  What a fun dinner.  I hope my hip is better tomorrow.

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