I cheated a bit today....

Yesterday we walked into Léon which wasn´t too long of a walk but my foot was killing me. It feels like I have bruised my heel and I was up to 1200mg of Iberprophen and it was still hurting. I was struggling a lot on the way in and was sort of just all around feeling bad for myself. I had called my dad the night before and found out our very loved family dog, Molly, was put to sleep a few days earlier. I decided to dedicate my walk that day to Molly and I think it helped me get through the day. Along the trail, people stack rocks in little piles and the rocks are supposed to signify prayers or burdens you want to leave behind. I left a few rocks along the way for Molly. I didn´t really talk much during the walk to anyone so it was a pretty quiet day.

As I got into Léon though, I started to feel a little bit better. I caught up to everyone and we checked into a smaller albergue in the city which was run by some pretty adorible nuns. We walked around the city and it was all around a pleasant afternoon. I took a little nap and read a bit. When I stood up from my rest, I started to walk and immediatly started to cry because my foot hurt so bad. I sort of cried/hobbled along with everyone to dinner and decided that I needed to take a day off. I didn´t think I would be able to finish the day, let alone even start the day. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I wasn´t going to walk. I felt like I was cheating but I just knew I needed to rest. When I looked in the guide book, it looked like most of the day was through Léon and then the outer suburbs, as well as some highway walking. I´ve heard some of the prettiest days are coming up so it seemed like a day that would not too bad to miss. I went to a beautiful mass that the nun put on later that night but I left my long underwear in my bag.

When I woke up in the morning, my foot felt a little bit better but still not well enough to make it the 25km (about 16 miles) to the next town. I waved goodbye to everyone as they headed off and I hobbled to the bus station. I had to have looked really pathetic based on the looks I was recieving. But I made it to the bus station and found out that the only bus to Mazarife was leaving at 1pm. It was 7 am. I wasn´t sure what to do so I sat down. The man next to me was also on the Camino and I had talked to him a little bit the night before. We chatted for a bit and then decided to go into the little cafe and have some coffee. He was done walking and was just spending the day in Léon but needed to wait a few hours until he could check into his hotel. There was a taxi line outside the cafe and I decided that I would just rather take a taxi then wait the rest of the day for the bus.

It took me a few taxi drivers to convince to drive me to the next town. But then I found a very sweet man who sort of understood my english and I sort of understood his spanish. He told me it would be between €30-40 to get me to Mazarife. I decided it was money well spent and hopped in the taxi. I saw most of my friends along the path as we zipped by. It took me about 25 minutes by car to get the albergue that would have taken 5 or 6 hours to get to by foot. When we got into town, the cab driver took me by the albergue but it was still closed seeing as it was only 9:30. He turned off the meter and drove me to a bar/cafe to wait. The ride ended up only being €25 but I gave him a big tip. I am pretty sure it was the best birthday present I could have given myself. I ordered a tea and sat and read my book for a few hours. When I stood up around 11:30, my foot didn´t hurt as badly. I got to the albergue and checked in. About half an hour went by and then everyone started trickling in. I was laying in a lawn chair, wearing my big sunglasses and sipping a soda. One of the guys just laughed at me and said that was what he was hoping he would find when he walked up the albergue. My foot is already 10x better than it was yesterday so I think this day of sitting will work wonders.

We are staying in an albergue that Arizona recommended us stay in. I am actually sitting downstairs by the kitchen and can see them starting to make dinner for us. Arizona said the pallela was wonderful here and that we needed to stay here. When you check into an albergue, they all have these big books that they write your name down in, the date you got there, your country of origin and then where you started walking. The guy who was writing in my name commented that he met a lady once who stayed here named Arizona. I smiled and told him that I knew her and that she told us we had to stay here. He flipped back in his book and we found her name and the date she stayed!

And for a rash update...it is doing much better! You can barely see it now. As one of the boys Ben so kindly told me, ¨Jenny you can date again¨. He is 17 or 18 and it reminded me of something my brother Kevin would tell me. My blisters are starting to harden and they don´t hurt at all. I think a day of feeling bad for myself and then a long rest day today will have me very happy and ready to walk in the morning.