Dear Nike, Thanks for saving my trip.

She lives!

Thanks to Nike and a long suffering hospitalera in San Vicente de la Barquera, my feet are healed, and I'm over halfway to Santiago. This is the first day I've been near a computer since last week, so despite my urge to give you a second by second rundown on the last 7 days, I'll try to keep this to the point.

This time last week, I thought I was going to have to cash in my chips and go back to Madrid. My feet weren't getting any better, and if anything, my boots seemed to be making my situation even worse. My first day back on the road after my day of rest was a disaster. I only made it 17km, and the last 7 were done in flip flops because my boots were making me cry. Literally. Not only were they making my blisters hurt worse, but they were also making me walk funny, which was hurting a tendon in my right foot. A cold shower and long talk with myself made me decide to take the train back to Santander (20 minute train ride... that took me 8 hours to walk) and buy a pair of running shoes. It was a last ditch effort, and thankfully it worked. Life has been like night and day since, and I'd like to thank Nike for sending Nike Airs to Europe. Since the exchange rate sucks, they were easily the most expensive shoes I've ever purchased, but they were worth every penny.

Thanks to the new shoes and my healing feet, I started having fun again. Stefan (my new German friend from Cologne) and I kept a similar pace for the next several days and had a great time in between. We stayed in some adorable towns - historic Santillana del Mar, Cóbreces, San Vicente de la Barquera, Colombres and Llanes. Some of the sleeping arrangements were nicer than others, but our favorite was in Colombres. The "albergue" involved mats in between exercise equipment in a gymnasium where an indoor soccer tournament was being held... until 11pm. We opted to stay in a pensión apartment where (for 10€ each) we had our own bedrooms, a bathroom that didn't require flip flops for bathing, a kitchen, couches and a television. We felt guilty for about 5 seconds as we ate the dinner we had cooked while crashed out on couches watching Spanish trash tv, but let's face it - we're pilgrims, not martyrs. I needed my sleep that night. After a rambunctious Tuesday night involving several bottles of Asturian cider, I reluctantly said goodbye to my new friend. He's currently recovering on a beach in San Sebastian before heading back to Cologne.

I've met SO many interesting people along the way. I usually find myself surrounded either by Germans or Spaniards, although I met my first American yesterday. He's a 23 year old college kid from Northern Arizona, and he doesn't know a lick of Spanish. He started the Camino from Amsterdam (which may or may not explain his tendancy to be a bit dippy), doesn't have hardly any money, and generally either sleeps outside or in churches. He has really long hair and a Grizzly Adams beard, so everyone calls him "El Hippy". It's sort of hilarious. He's a well intentioned guy, and seems to be enjoying his unorthodox approach Summer 2008.

It's going to be an intense next 10 days. I have just enough time to get to Santiago before I'll have to head back to Madrid to catch my flight to Tunisia for the real vacation part of my trip. I've walked over 30km per day for the last 3 days, and will have my first of several really long walks tomorrow - a 44km hike from Villaviciosa to Avilés. I'm about to stick my feet in the coldest water I can find to prep them for the abuse they're about to endure. Provided that my body parts and the weather cooperate, I'm estimating that I'll be in Santiago on the 27th or 28th.

As a postscript to my girlfriends... I was horrified to find that I have missed out on important American gossip. Madonna was having an affair with A-Rod?!? WTF? I had no idea that I needed to book a flight to England to console Guy Ritchie! Please remember that I'm removed from the real world and forget to check People.com on the rare occassions I am able to hijack a computer. I could use a bullet point list of pertinent updates every few days.