"I can't believe old people do this."

Today's quote courtesy of me.

Dear God. What have we gotten ourselves into?

It's not quite that bad (now). But really. There had to have been hallucinogenics (or at least a Red Bull and vodka) involved when I planned this trip.

Today was going to be an easy day. In scheduling our trip, I figured we'd probably be a little sore by now, so after the extra 3.5km we walked yesterday, we were only signed up for about 15km today.

We didn't factor in hills.

Last night, we assembled around a few maps and discussed today's route with the hospitalero and the other pilgrims. While today's hike would be a short one, it wasn't going to be easy. There were several steep ascents and descents, and an "unpleasant" half mile walk along a major highway. We mentally prepared ourselves, planned to sleep in an hour later than usual to get a little extra rest, and hoped for the best.

Our laundry didn't really dry last night, so I walked out of the albergue with all manner of damp clothes hanging off my backpack. I had to have looked hysterical. I wasn't really lucid yet. Exhaustion finally set in, and I had a rough time waking up when Annie tapped me at 6:30am. I popped in my headphones, wished the girls luck, and slowly started up the first steep hill about 2 blocks from the albergue.

45 minutes later, the iPod dies. I was too tired to plug it in last night.

My mind is a loud, loud place to be sometimes. Today was one of those times.

I eventually caught up to Carrie and Annie in a campground where bathroom breaks were being held. I had to keep walking for fear of losing my momentum, so I slowly inched past them. Carrie caught up to me shortly after as I stood in front of a barbed wire fence. I had two arrows to choose from, and didn't know which one to go with. Neither looked like a good choice. We chose the arrow on the right. It took us along a fenceline inside a pasture on someone's private property. The pasture also included a fair number of cowpies. About 500 meters in, we realized we may have chosen incorrectly. We turned around, walked back to the campground, consulted a map, and tried again. We chose the left arrow this time. We assumed that Annie had gone ahead, but we figured she'd stop along the way and we'd catch up with her then. And so we hiked. Until we came to the highway.

Last night's hospitalero said that the walk along the highway would be unpleasant. He didn't mention the words life threatening. The shoulder of the highway wasn't very wide. Also, cars were veering around a blind corner, so not only were they coming entirely too close to us in the first place, if they weren't paying attention as they came around the curve, we'd likely not make it to Santiago all in one piece. After about 10 harrowing minutes of diving towards bushes, cringing away from trucks passing too close to us, and finally running out in front of traffic, Carrie and I made it off the highway. The rest of the hike was slow going. We still haven't figured out how, but her boot has caused a bruise on her ankle that makes walking downhill uncomfortable (at best). She wasn't able to walk quickly, so we took the slow road for the last 7km of today's hike. About 5km from Deba, I got a text message from Annie. "In Deba... Did I miss u guys somehow?"

She didn't realize we were behind her. Also, she'd made a 4 hour walk in just over 2 hours.

I wasn't able to get enough of a signal to send a response to her, but she eventually called and we worked out a meeting place. And on we hiked. It started to drizzle a little, which was really sort of pleasant and peaceful. We reached a sign outside of Deba that had 3 arrows going two different directions. We went right again and began a quick descent on a rocky path. About halfway down, we started to rethink our decision after I almost slipped and bit it 2 or 3 times on a slick rock. I went ahead a bit to investigate, and when I returned, I found the slightly injured Carrie trying to scale a wall in an attempt to get an apple off a tree. Don't worry, I have pictures. She got her apple (a crisp cooking apple - totally worth the effort!), but we decided to turn around and go left instead. Anyone seeing a pattern here? The left hand path was just as steep, but not as slick. 15 minutes later, we were on level ground in Deba and faced with... an elevator?

Turns out we had to take not one, but two elevators down God knows how many stories to actually get into downtown Deba. I've never seen a city with an elevator like this before. Don't worry, I have pictures of that, too. After asking directions to the albergue and running into Annie along the way, we found our lodgings for the night, settled in, and Annie and I promptly passed out. I had hit a wall, and slept harder than I have in weeks.

So tonight we are in Deba. Tomorrow morning we're hiking what we've been told is the most difficult day in the Basque country, from Deba to Markina. There are steep, steep hills that will turn tomorrow into at least a 6 or 7 hour day. I'm sort of mentally preparing myself for a rough go, but after recharging my iPod, I think I should be alright. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy walk, but I underestimated the kinds of hills and valleys we'd be hiking along the coast. Carrie was reading through a brochure this afternoon and found a quote referencing letters that date back to the 1100's, when pilgrims would recount tales of the horrors of crossing the Basque country. Apparently it's always been this hard. Fortunately, things seem to get easier in Viscaya, so there's a light at the end of the steep tunnel. Think good thoughts for us (and our feet) tomorrow!