Thank God for Portuguese medicine!
So despite the twisted ankle it has been fine on flat surfaces such as the sidewalks and boardwalks we were walking the past two and a half days. Yesterday we had our first extended period of cobblestone and oh my god did it aggravate the ankle. Having ditch Tina shoes in favor of her Crocs the blisters and heat rash have all but disappeared and when walking on smooth surfaces she was very comfortable. But the constant undulation from the cobblestones completely inflamed her ankle.
Photos so far:
Thank God for Portugues Pharmacias and their extensive knowledge of treating peregrino injuries. We have been outfitted with very inexpensive yet very good Portuguese compression wraps, a fast acting anti-inflammatory cream, and some spray coolant that's used by European football teams to treat injuries immediately. will be taking it very easy for the next few days avoiding as much cobblestone as possible which is very difficult at this point in the journey as at some point in the past some rich-ass Portugues got some dominating control on Portuguese roads and now his rocks cover every possible surface in Portugal. by the way we have to be very careful to avoid extended stretches of cobblestone because that will inflame the ankle.
Enough of that ankle talk...
After an extended social chat with the local Pharmacist and a quick visit to the local church to get our stamp, Tina and I set out on a quest to find an open restaurant on a Tuesday night... who the hell decided that Tuesdays was a good night's to be closed. I thought that was Monday's. Right immediately beneath our hostal is an Italian restaurant and a Tapas restaurant, both of which were inconveniently closed on a Tuesday night. We were settling for the local Corner Cafe just sitting down at a table when some German ladies that had met us a few nights before flagged us my fellow Camino friends will understand what I meanmy fellow Camino friends will understand what I mean when I say we had an awesome peregrino time, my not-peregrino friends and family need to understand that it involve 2 liters of sangria and lots of laughing. Oddly enough one of them was a podiatrist who gave us some awesome tips and tricks for continuing our Camino.
It's kind of funny cuz now we have other peregrinos trying to parallel there Camino on ours just so they can hang out with us. interest only enough Tina and I appear to be one of the few Americans on the Camino right now that apparently is full of Germans. It is amazing, still, how much admiration other cultures have for Americans. So many of them have travel to our country for various reasons and love us.
Despite all the stresses, the injuries, the strains of the road, and the slowing down of the pilgrimage; it is very nice to sit down with fellow peregrinos at the end of the day and just enjoy each other's company in that moment. the nice thing about Camino pilgrimage is that all nationalities disappear and everyone becomes a pilgrim. You sit down with complete strangers or people you have just met and there is an immediate camaraderie that cannot be described. I know I've said this before but all pilgrims are part of the family and that family takes care of itself and in doing so they share what limited resources they have with each other so that the whole may continue.
There is a happiness and joy for letting go of everything, surrendering yourself to the Camino and living in the moment. So much of the stress that we endure in our daily lives melts off as you realize it's not really that important and you embrace the kindness and generosity of the world around you.
Photos so far: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BrwX3kEc8aytbNMo9
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