Which village did I sleep in last night? No idea. Forgot the name. What I do know is that my accommodation was a full kilometre from the centre, i.e. the nearest shop. Every other place was booked out, so I ended up in a hotel. Couldn't figure out how they could all be full — I hadn't met a single other pilgrim on the trail.
I got my answer in the middle of the night. The village had decided to throw a terrible electronic party. If you can even call it electronic music. Thump. The kind with no rhythm, no soul, no ear for it whatsoever. Should be illegal by law. On a bad day I'd walk straight up to the DJ and cut the main cable without a second thought. Honestly — less a prank, more a humanitarian intervention. For his own good too. Because if he's actually making a living off this, the world urgently needs a new set of ears.
And as if that weren't enough — the cherry on top was having to listen to bad sex through the wall. At least that's what I'm assuming, judging by the rhythm of the bed hitting the wall. So much for quality sleep.
Like I said — here you either do too few kilometres or too many. Today I had a choice between 20 or 70. My legs are not, by some miracle, ready for 70, so: just 20. A compromise with reality.
When I set off at 6 a.m., the electro party was still in full swing. You could still hear the music 4 kilometres out of the village. Seriously. Wouldn't have surprised me to find another speaker around the bend that had decided to make a run for it on its own.
Finally — silence.
This morning's company: pain and a rabbit. The rabbit was getting on my nerves. Fast, jittery, hopping left and right. Meanwhile my ankle was falling apart and I was walking like a malfunctioning robot. Yesterday's slopes in brutal heat had left their toll. The pain in my right ankle stayed with me the whole way. Not constant, but it kept jabbing at me with that nasty stabbing feeling.
Good news? The pain had moved from the balls of my feet to the ankle. By my logic that means: ankle overuse. Nothing serious, just too much for one day.
I spent the entire walk thinking about how to fix this nuisance. In the end I decided: I'll get rid of my favourite item in my backpack. The JBL speaker. Half a kilo. Plus the neck fan, which is completely useless here anyway. Advertised to last 4 hours on the highest setting. Lie. Lasted one. Balls.
When I got to my destination, I quickly found new owners. A family of four got the JBL speaker. I got a smile on the daughter's face — and that was the whole point. Hard to say goodbye to the speaker, but hey — it's just an object. You shouldn't get attached to objects. You can always buy a new one. Right now, fixing my leg matters more.
And there's nothing better than a smile, when you brighten someone's day.
I gave the neck fan to the innkeeper. If I'm hot, he's in hell in that kitchen. He thanked me with a kiss on the cheek, some slices of jamón and a home-grown tomato. Honestly — I didn't want anything in return. But here, people always find some way to thank you. A smile is enough for me. That's plenty.
Today I'm treating myself to a long siesta. I'm chronically short on sleep, and the leg deserves rest and a bit of attention. As soon as I've slept, I'll do some stretching exercises. Hope they help. Tomorrow a 50-kilometre walk to Zafra awaits. Mostly downhill, so the ankle shouldn't suffer too much.
Out here you're on your own. You solve problems as they come. I hope I do as well today as a good doctor would — after all, nobody knows my body better than me.
How much I'll spend today, I'll tell you tomorrow. Still half a day ahead of me.
Today I walked 21 km and gained 450 metres of elevation. What can I say — better than nothing. Though honestly, with how I'm feeling right now, I'm definitely not satisfied.
