Boadilla

In what can only be described as pure serendipity, I befriended a chiropractor from the Canary Islands just after the last post. Guess what he is carrying with him? A machine for electroshock therapy - very useful in tendon rehabilitation! I received two treatments yesterday and wah-dee-freakin-la, I can walk pretty darn well again. I still kept the day´s regimen light - 18 km to Boadillas. I´m not going down easily! I was rewarded with an afternoon swim at the excellent albergue here. I´ve been walking with a great canadian woman named Rosalie who, despite being 61, has more spunk than any young pilgrim I´ve met yet!

Some people asked about the toilet situation at San Bol - it was not pretty. Let´s be totally honest here, ok? At 6 in the morning I could not refuse nature´s calls - the important ones. I stumbled out of my bed, sans contact lenses (mistake one), slipped into my sandals (mistake two) and walked out into the pitch black rain (mistake three) to....a field of toilet paper and human waste. Sure, there was a symbolic toilet out there with no basin (wet from the rain), but I opted to take a long, long arc around said Field of Shit (this deserves cussing). I found what seemed to be like a secluded spot, did my work, and then headed straight for the spring to vigorously wash my feet and sandals and apply one heavy coat of antibacterial cream to all exposed areas. I won´t forget that experience!