The Agony of da Feet

Those who have been following this blog are well-aware of my ongoing struggle with blisters that began on day one of my walk. Two days ago, Marie from Montreal, the only Canadian I have met so far, offered to apply some blister covers to my feet from a large bag of medicine potions and pills she carried in her pack. She met me first thing in the morning to apply “second skin” to my wounded feet and paste it in place with “moleskin” tape. This seemed to help a little in reducing pain on the balls of my feet, but by the end of the day, the tape had peeled back and balled up.

Today, I ventured forth with what was left of the tape on my feet. I walked 24 kilometres in 6 hours, despite taking a wrong road and having to backtrack for a kilometre. When I arrived in Zafra, I checked into the municipal hostel located in a lovely old building. The “hospitalero” (as the managers of camino hostels are called) took one look at my feet and insisted I take a shower and go to the hospital. I reluctantly agreed, and no less than three fellow pilgrims, all from Germany, agreed to escort me and help translate. It was a good kilometre to the hospital but finally we found it and marched up to the desk an asked for help for this poor pilgrim. After a discussion with each other, they agreed to look. Two nurses went to work on my feet, cleaning the damaged area, sterilizing it, taping it, and applying padding. They told me to take at jeast two days off from walking, and sent me off with enough dressing materials to do three more times. When I sheepishly reached for my credit card, they insisted there was no charge.

So here I am in Zafra for at least two more nights, mending. Stay tuned for more blogs on the sights in Zafra.