Beauty vs. Pain

Logroña

The shells keep us on track. 

Navarette is in sight!

Some of the bobsled team. 

Inside the cathedral of Navarette. This picture isn't close to doing its beauty justice!

90 beds in 1 room

Hola amigos! It's Katie here. So the el Camino is the most beautiful thing I've ever done.  Beauty in every sense of the word. Walking through the rolling hills of Spain. The terrain is green with dashes of red poppies and yellow flowers broken up by beautiful  citadel towns. All of that is just the mere backdrop to the story. I know I've gone on and on about the people. But they are the el Camino experience. Everyone left home because they are searching for something: God, direction, adventure, challenge, love, etc. Everyone has their own story to tell. At the moment my blister count is at the all time high of 6, my shoulders hurt from my pack and the back of my legs and ears are sunburnt. This added, does not come close to the amount of pain I have in my knees. I have never had knee pain. It is horrible. For the last 4 days my knees have hurt going downhill. It's like little lightning bolts of white hot pain. It has made my cry nearly every time I come to a decline. I've been advised to do so many things, rest, ice, push through the pain, meds & creams. I chose to push through the pain, grin, & bear it. Well yesterday I broke. I talked to Bea and basically decided if this isn't fun, if I'm crying, what's the point? I'm not doing this to experience religious suffering. I'm doing this for adventure, not tears. So yesterday after 8k, I broke down and got a taxi. I got to Lagroña, Hobbled around town, bought beer for the Camino bobsled team/my knee, claimed my bed at the hostel, and planted myself in the terrace with a liter of beer and two ice packs.  I iced my knees and actually felt a lot better. In the process, I met so many more wonderful pilgrims. A retired Irishman walking with his grandson. He actually started with his granddaughter as well, but after 3 days she went home. He said she wasn't mentally prepared for the journey. He also let my borrow his electric shock pen. He has TWO artificial hips. He uses this pen to sooth his joints. I think it works. He was at the hostel the same time I was and he walked the whole way! I met an English guy who just got his chainsaw certification because he doesn't think he passed his second year of university. So he's going to cut up some stuff as a backup. I met an Irish guy living in Canada. I met a Canadian Lutheran Pastor. Then my bobsled team arrived! They said the last 12k was very challenging. It was hot and all downhill. After they showered they came down and we all hung out drinking beer on the terrace. It was great. Then we napped as all of the beer made us sleepy. Afterwards the boys went to church and Bea and I met up with Luke, a Dutch boy, and two German girls he had been walking with. 

He had a flyer for a pizza restaurant. 6 empanadas, 3 salads, 2 large pizzas, and 6 drinks. Luke is a growing Dutch boy, he eats for 2 easily. Even with that we still couldn't finish all the food. It was a trilingual dinner. Luke speaks German, Dutch, and English. So he speaks German with the girls, Dutch with Bea, and English with me. It would usually come back to English which everyone spoke. It was great. Bea and I had to hurry home to make our 10 o'clock  curfew. 

The next day I accidentally woke up at 5:15am. My phone died and people started getting ready so I joined them. (I was in a different room than my friends since I got their early). I went to the bathroom and realized the time, but decided to get ready anyway. The night before, I wasn't sure if I would walk or not. At last I decided I would give it a go.  I woke up the others at 6 and we were out the door by 7:20. We stopped for breakfast at a cafe. 2€50 for a croissant, freshly squeezed oj, and a cafe con leche. Two American sisters from Seattle joined us for the day. I loved them. We are on day 8 and they are on day 10 I think. They said they are not very sporty girls and they want to do what is fun. If they get tired, they stop. They will get to Santiago in their own time.  I made it 13k before surrendering. Less than 1k out of the Navarette, the pain in my knee moved to the side and up my thigh. I made it to the town and we stopped at a panaderia to gather ourselves, chocolate croissant in hand. I decided that I didn't want to injure myself further, I would take a taxi, and meet the bobsled team in Najera. I went to a cafe to see if there was a bus. They pointed me down the road. I found the bus stop and a woman from Tennessee. She had a really bad blister and was looking for a way to the next town. The bus did not go to the town we needed, so we went back to the cafe to ask if they could call a taxi for us. I took out the taxi business card I got as I entered the city. They looked at it and mimed a phone. Through mime I explained our phones don't work in Spain. A woman holding a cellphone directed me to a pay phone.  I was shocked. Usually everyone is so kind to pilgrims. It would cost them nearly nothing to call for us. Well Mary and I kept walking. We couldn't use the payphone as we no speaka epanish. We stopped in another bakery and mimed to the baker, she happily called for us and wished us a buen Camino. Mary was a curious lady. She sent her bag ahead to  the hotel she had reserved. She is walking about 8k a day and then taking a bus/taxi to the destination. She also put lipgloss on. The closest thing i have to lipgloss here is the vaseline i use to soothe my blistery feet. She was very lovely and chatty however and we were glad to have each other to split the €25 taxi fare. 

I am currently laying in my albergue bed trying to rest my leg. This albergue is less nice than last night. There isn't a terrace to drink in and it is just a wee bit outside of the centro of town. But it is a donation albergue. You give what you can. All the workers are volunteers. I checked in and begged for a bottom bunk due to my knee. An Italian man named Mario showed me to my bed out of the 90 in the room. He is so nice, he worked for GE and various other American companies and ended up living in America for a while. I hope the bobsled team is tackling the last 17k safely and hope that I can join them for the whole stretch tomorrow.