Yep, not the knee. Saw someone this morning who said that this is a “condition” and not a “problem”. Basically I need to stretch a lot and I should be OK. I am going to see him tomorrow and maybe again this week.
Basically I am on my way to Nepal!!!! I leave Sat.
Well I decided to rest my leg. At the end of the day, Nepal is exciting to me and I want my legs to work for it. So I decided it would be best to come back to SF and see the wife and rest. I will be leaving on Oct 5 for Nepal and be on the road till X-Mas…
But while I am home I have done a little work with some pictures.
Enjoy…..
– the rain in Spain does not always fall gently on the plain
– the mullet is still in (even on women)
– walk at your own pace
– my Spanish is so bad that I can’t even get a bus driver to understand me when I am saying the word “Madrid”
– Andorra is a country between Spain and France with a population of 71,000. Read that again and then wonder how it’s the 6th smallest country in Europe (yes mom the vatacan counts as a country)
– I still have things in common with people who are 21
– people who are 65 still have things in common with me
– the euro coin is a pain in the ass. Americans don’t have wallets with coin spots. Thus all the coins end up at the bottom of my bag a) causing more weight b) not being spent.
– I love being outside. I need to find a way to get outside more
– I want to own a house somewhere where I can sit on the plaza at night and drink beer with me friends and family.
– 4 months is a long time to not see your wife
– 50somes are the most selfish people to share rooms with. I can’t beleive they turn on the light at 7:00 when they are the only ones who are up in a room of 20. Come on how about some common courtesy for everyone else in the room.
– and what the f*^*#ck do you have in that pack? I know I am under packed (thanks to the mentoring of Emile) but Wow what are you bringing with you?
– and since my pack is literally 10-15 pounds lighter, how come I am the one on the bus home?
– I like the world with no responsibilities.
– even with nothing to really worry about, my mind still manages to find drama and cause me grief.
– Spanish wine is really cheap. I averages 1-2 euro a bottle.
– going home for 1.5 weeks instead of hiking is probably going to cost me more money (and that is without counting the extra travel costs)
– it’s all worth it to see susan.
– on average more than 50% of the people in the world snore (at least that is a true figure from the rooms I have been sleeping in).
– none of my friends are doctors. I hurt my knee and have no one to call. Someone needs to step it up here.
– the camino ends in Santiago and they have a pilgrims mass at noon every day. If you get lucky (which I was) they pull out the incense burner. This thing is 5ft tall and they hook it up to a huge pully system at the top of the church. 6 deacons then use a huge rope to swing it over the congragation. And when I say swing I mean it, they almost get the thing to touch the ceiling. I guess in olden days they used it to ward off the smell (and disease) of the pilgrims.
– a beer at 8am makes perfect since to a spainyard.
– when you buy a 9:45 am bus ticket to madrid, no one tells you that you will be no closer to Madrid at 3:00pm (buses like to drive through every town and go to the northern coast before heading south).
I have put an end to my trek across Spain. By the time you read this, I will be back at home giving a suprise visit to my wife and a well needed rest to my knee.
I did not give the camino the respect it deserved and it bit me in the ass. I thought I could easily put it before two other treks and simply use it as a warm up. I did not give it enough time and Bali is not the best place to prepare for a month on the road.
I sit here at the end with a mix of emotions. I feel quite like a quitter as I see all the pilgrims come in and celebrate their accomplishment. I feel sad that I do not see all the people I did walk with (but they are all a few weeks away). I feel quite old as my leg still hurts and I see all sorts of people who are MUCH older doing fine. I am excited to go see my wife although there too I feel like I am taking an easy way out by going home. But I need a break and newlyweds should not spend this much time apart.
Overall I want to cry. I beleive there was more for me to learn on the camino. The mixture of good and bad days along with the people and physical workout made it a perfect adventure for me. Some nights I sat alone working on the fact I don’t like to be alone while other nights I sat up and sang with the number of young gay men who were walking, drinking and singing show tunes. I beleive that finishing this trek would have been a positive experience so I hope to come back and finish it some year. This time it clearly pointed out to me the things I need to work on in my life, however cutting it short did not give me the time to work on the issues as much as I wanted.
I prioritized this part of the trip as last (behind Nepal and peru) so I am good with my choice, I just wish I felt better about it right now.
I am writing this from the church in Santiago. Mass starts in 15 min an I plan on staying. Wow the first mass I will go to on my own since probaby high school. I also spent 3+ hours talking to a catholic priest on this trip. (while this is all true, mom don’t get too excited).
Decided to take a bus to leon today and rest the leg. Hopefully a few days off will do it good. 🙂
So I have noticed a few things that I will have to remember when I form new companies with my friends.
1) for the dive shop (jim) we need to give a small course to the people on the boat while we travel to the dice sites on the boat. While on the boat in Indonesia a guy sat us all down and explained how nemo (the fish) interacts with the animal it lives in (yes the plant like thing that nemo always swims in is an animal. Anyway it was a realy nice touch to learn something while websinply drove on the boat. The guy giving the class noted that no one pays enough attention to nemo and it’s a shame. I said the class should have been called “re-finding nemo” and no one laughed. Foreigners.
2) for the winery (jim dave dave etc) we need a fuente de vino. Throughout Spain there are Fuentes (fountains) which is great to refill the water bottle. But one of them is at a winery and pours WINE!! I have a picture of me drinking from the fountain, but I will have to post it in the future.
Well I am happy to say that I am making my way across the camino. I am not going as fast as I thought I could and my leg still hurts, however I think I will be fine on a few more days (hopefully).
I was speaking with a guy (who is 38) and we decided that we are the exact WRONG age for the camino. Everyone older than us prepared and take it slow while the younger people still have the ability to power through this. I guess I choose a bad time to do all this hiking with no preperation 🙂
As for the trip I have a bit of a pattern down. I get up at 6 and bandage up my feet followed by some stretching and I am out the door. Arrive at the albuergue and then take a shower maybe do some wash then figure out what there is to eat. My pack is also organized and everything has a place now on it.
I am sorry to admit that I did have to take a bus one day. A guy I met who hiked from Paris said it was uncool to turn down a ride if it was offered to you. This is because the person offering the ride probably needs to share something with you that he wants you to take to Santiago. Well what am I supposed to do if a few euros happen to fall out of my pocket and into a bus drivers hands and the next thing be says is get on board.
If you know spanish you might get my title (or it just might be good in my head)
Well I have knee problems. After 5 days of hiking I have gone to a doctor and rested today. The doc does not speak english, but I gather its NOT a knee problem but rather a muscle problem. Two other people were there with the same symptoms. I plan on hiking tomorrow and taking it slow. I am a little worried that this might spell an end to my master plan, I spent yesterday in pain rewriting the next few months without hiking in my head.
But I am in great spirits and the camino has excellent people to meet and talk to. I just hope my legs work. Otherwise I guess Ï´ll just head to some beach 🙂
or
My on a Pilgramidge
What the Fuck am I Doing
How did that 70 year old guy just fly by me
Why did I not train for this
and other fun titles.
But here I am after day 3 of hiking. I have done just under 50 miles and my legs are feeling it. The first day is a KILLER going up over 3,000 ft and droping into a different town. The next two days have not been that bad, however the body hurts a LOT from that first day and the consecutive 2. O well I only have 30 more days of hiking in Spain, before I go to Nepal. I will either be dead, or in great shape.
All in all the camino is quite excellent. I would say the average age is 40-50 something (most of whom are in way better shape than me). There are set price dinners at restraunts at night (pilgrim meals) which gives me the chance to talk to new people from all over the world.
The walking is a lot of fun as well. I start at 6 (earlier than most) and throughout the day random people pass me and some stay and talk for a while. Yesterday I walked (read that as followed and gasped for air) behind a guy from Austria who ended up going even farther than I did. Today I spent the morning walking with a 21 yo guy from Poland (who just took some random US history class in college and knew way to many fun facts).
My internet time is almost up. I will write more later.
The Wiggen's Travels 