Sangria, Sangre, Santander

Well, the wheels finally came off. I overdid it yesterday, and am spending today recuperating in Santander. I can probably pinpoint about 6 or 7 different reasons yesterday was unsuccessful. Each error committed alone wouldn't have dented the day, but combined, caused some problems.

Among my errors - shorts. They seemed like a good idea so I could get a little color on my pasty white legs, but I was obviously not thinking properly. 2 hours into the hike, we had to scale El Brusco, an insanely steep hill full of dense brush. The hill was only 90 meters high, but it was like walking up a flight of steep stairs, sans the stairs. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not the world's most coordinated person. As a child, my dad used to jokingly call me Grace because I had none. I'm still not quite sure how I didn't fall off the mountain, or fall in a briar patch, because I definitely slipped several times.

Once I got off the mountain, I thought things were going to be okay. The view from the top was gorgeous, despite my harrowing climb up, and beach on the other side was even better. I slowed down a little as I walked along the shoreline - it was nice to just enjoy the sound of the ocean and the heat of the sun. I soon lost my little yellow arrows, though. I stopped in a pharmacy to ask, and one of the employees looked at me like I was completely out of my mind (which I probably am). She said I shouldn't have come to Noja in the first place if I was following the Camino. I pulled out my book and showed her the map I was using, and how it indicated that the actual official Camino went through Noja. She told me I was using a bad map and to take the highway to Güemes because it was faster and easier. I thanked her, despite the fact that I was completely aggravated that she completely missed the point of a)my question and b)what I was doing, and walked towards the highway. The Camino followed to the right of the highway, so I figured I had to see an arrow somewhere, sometime. 2 hours later, I FINALLY saw my first arrow. I was so happy I took a picture of it. I was 8km from Güemes, where I planned to stop for lunch and assess the general pain I was feeling in my feet. I would decide there if I would stay the night or try and continue on to Santander.

I should have stayed in Güemes. After finishing a sandwich and some lemonade, I felt better about life and thought I could handle the last 11km to Santander. I couldn't. 5km into it, I wanted to cut off my feet and walk on my hands because my blisters hurt so badly. I was tempted to stop and take off my boots to assess the damage, but I knew that would just make things worse since I'd have to walk at least 5km to civilization regardless of what was going on down there. I decided to keep going, though at a much slower pace. 4km later, I felt like everything and everyone was staring at my sad, limping self - cows, motorists, children. I started to lose it a little and was talking to myself, "Angie, of course your feet hurt. You're walking across an effing country. What did you think was going to happen?" Pretty sure everyone thought I was a crazy homeless person, which again, I sort of am. I'm still not sure how I made it to the dock to get on the ferry from Soma to Santander, but I did it. I knew something tragic was going on in my right boot, but since I just couldn't deal with it at that point, I bribed my inner 5 year old with some ice cream and quietly waited for the ferry to get there.

At 7:30pm, 12 hours after I started, I hobbled off the ferry in Santander and started the 4 block walk to the albergue. It took me 25 minutes. I gingerly climbed the flight of stairs to the door of the lobby, and was greeted by a closed door with a sign that said "COMPLETO, COMPLETE, FULL". Ugh.

I pushed open the door and was greeted with pitying looks from 3 older gentlemen manning the intake desk. We exchanged pleasantries in Spanish, and then I asked for a suggestion of an inexpensive place nearby where I could stay. One of the men made a phone call and said that a woman would be by for me shortly. She ran a pensión down the street and would only charge me 15€ for the night. I asked if any of my friends had made it in time to get a bed, and found that the only one accounted for was Àngel, who somehow managed to snag the last available spot... two hours earlier.

Once settled in the pensión, I assessed the damage and decided I had to take today off. My feet were a complete disaster, and I had a raging heat rash/sunburn on the backs of both legs. It was past 10pm by now and I was exhausted. I had hurt myself trying to do too much, and was pretty bummed about getting separated from the people I'd become used to seeing daily. I decided to just go to bed and deal with the fallout of my wounds in the morning when I could think a little clearer. As I lulled myself to sleep with self denounciations for being so stubborn, I heard a familiar voice in the hallway. I poked my head out of the door and was greeted by Stefan, who was hashing out details with the pensionera. He seemed as happy to see a friend as I was, and we immediately started yammering about our awful, awful day. We stayed up for another hour or so commiserating, which seemed to make both of us feel better. He was fortunate to have made the very last ferry to Santander from Soma, and had also decided to stay an extra day to nurse a pretty bad sunburn. By the time I went to sleep, I had made peace with losing a day. I'll probably make it to Santiago on the 27th, which isn't exactly what I was aiming for, but fine nonetheless.

And now here I am. I've done all of the gross things you have to do to blisters to take care of them, and did quite well not to scream when I doused my injuries with iodine. I've used up half a bottle of aloe vera, and can safely say I'm on the road to recovery. After gingerly walking around the part of downtown Santander where I'm staying, I'm happy to have an opportunity to see some of the historic buildings, including the cathedral, which really is beautiful. It feels good to be a real tourist today.