Day 2


Day 2:

I’m certainly pushing myself to do things I never imagined I would be able to. 18 mile days, who is this girl? Though it’s not all fun and games. When you stop to take a break your muscles get tight and then it’s even harder to get back up and get moving. After this is all done I think there’s going to be a good long week of nothing but lounging by the pool with a book if weather permits.

Yesterday evening my sister and I played a game called bed bugs or heat rash.. thankfully heat rash won. Heat rash after 1 day, gotta admit I’m pretty worried seeing the forecast of 79-93+degrees. Will be wearing pants tomorrow to keep the sun exposure down. Hopefully I can stay cool enough and hydrated. So far super thankful that liquid iv was suggested to me at a birthday party. It’s been a life saver.

Got up nice and early again. The woman that I met yesterdays name is Verena though we exchanged brief introductions within the first few minutes of meeting and she had said her name so fast that I wasn’t sure how to say it let alone spell it. I asked the host of the hostel what it was and she told me Anne Marie. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t trust that and never attempted to call her that. I waited for her to introduce herself to someone else. We started the day in Vila Chã and walked almost another 18 miles to Fão. Much of the walk was again right near the water so it had a nice breeze that helped keep things a bit cooler. The blister on my heel was uncomfortable enough that I didn’t want to attempt the sandals so I hoped and prayed the wool socks with silk liners were going to keep me from getting more without over heating and thankfully so far so good. Verena reserved todays hostel last night and we lucked out that  it’s got a pool. Only soaked my legs for a little bit because the pool wasn’t heated and I wasn’t brave enough to jump in in the cold water.  I’ve been hand washing clothes in a sink for 2 days, I’m hoping that I’m washing them well enough. I know after walking for 5+ hours that there is no way I’m smelling super great at this point. The host for todays hostel recommended another hostel for tomorrow and was nice enough to call and reserve it for us. Todays accommodation has 5 beds in one room. I’m on the top bunk. It’s pretty painful to go up and down the stairs so I either hang out in bed or outside by the pool to avoid any unnecessary muscle movement. The last two days Verena and I have gone to the grocery store and made pasta at the hostel instead of going out to eat. I love pasta but I’m also hoping for some variety soon. We’ve met a handful of people in the past two days. There is a woman from Austria and a man from Denmark that met walking the Camino 5 years ago. Since then their spouses have approved 2 weeks each year for them to meet and walk it again together. I think it’s a smart way for their spouses to get out of having to walk over 100 miles but who knows the full story. They have stayed in the same hostel as us for 2 days and seem very nice. I haven’t been too good with getting names of everyone. Many people speak German to Verena and I just kind of sit there. I’m really regretting not knowing another language but counting to 39 and saying the ABC’s in French is not going to do me any good right now and my Dora the Explorer level Spanish is about as good as it gets for me. Onto another day….

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