Day Fourteen: New Injuries & New Friends
The walk from Santo Domingo to Belorado was rather short thankfully, but the road had few hills and was frigidly cold. It felt much longer than it actually was because of this. Exhausted and with sore feet, We opted to stay at a small, three bedroom pilgrim hotel with a private room to recharge called la casa waslala. The hosts had walked the camino before and we were welcomed with coffee, tea and advice of where to stay next. Perfection. We even attempted to watch American Hustle on my iPhone, despite the painstakingly slow internet.
The next morning we were able to get my bag picked up by Jacotrans and made our way towards Ages- a town a little bit further than our book recommended, but boasts a lovely albergue and small town atmosphere. Our hosts recommended it. This morning I was also equipped with The Book Thief on my iPhone (clutch) and Vincente had donated some strong ibuprofen to support with the pain. We were set.
The trail today was largely off of the main road, which was beautiful. We were making great headway and I wasn't experiencing much discomfort either. We couldn't believe it when we approached our rest town for lunch in under three hours. Here we met some previous pilgrim friends, Jim and Madeline. They both live in Ireland and Madeline is over 80- quite the woman. After finishing our cafe con leche and bocadillos, we went back into the icy cold wind and up into the mountainous forest. It was stunning. This brought us back to what we love most about the camino. Moments where we are away from the hustle and bustle of the city and alone with the birds, views and trees.
Then POW. The achilles. We were halfway into the forest when my ankle began screaming at me. That's right, now the ankle has joined the pain party. Cameron opted to fetch a car while I wait- like right. And after several minutes of frustration, terrible and shocking pain and yes, even tears, I manned-up and alternated between speed walking and sprinting all the way to Ages. 16, maybe 17km later. I even beat Cameron there. I guess that's what the threat of being left in the woods alone can do to a girl!
Thankfully when we arrived in Ages, Albergue San Rafael was waiting for us. There were only 7 guests in total, as most were staying at the municipal albergue, which meant Cameron and I got our bunk room and bathroom all to ourselves. A quirky and sarcastic brother and sister duo run this albergue and kept us on our toes our entire visit. My favorite was when the sister was examining Cameron's tattoos and teased that he had an entire book on his body. The whole albergue was full of laughter that night. We met Jim from Colorado and Francis from Canada and over dinner Madeline shared that she had placed rocks on the way markers to give me strength to reach Ages- bless her heart. Many stories were shared over this meal and a new pilgrim family was born.
I love nights like these.
Oh yes, and we finished American Hustle. Good film.
