October 08 2019

The easy day did wonders for me. I slept like 12 hours yesterday and today I woke up and was able to eat breakfast and get an earlier start

I had the rest of my chicken and a pre bought coffee which was actually amazing and set out around 7.

I wanted to beat the heat since the forecast said 70s and I had a long way to go. 

I started out kinda slow but when the two American girls I met earlier, charged past me, I of course had to speed up as well.

I did the first 5 miles with basically no pain and in like 2 hours. I told myself to do the next 6 miles as quick as possible- fast turnover means less time on your feet and less pain.

I got to the next town, Viana, in about another 2 hours. I did about 11 miles in a little over 4 hours and I felt pretty damn good. My knee was achey, but my feet felt ok! And guess who I ran into- the Icelandys! I was so happy to see them again, I joined them for lunch. 

The town was super cute and celebrating its 800th birthday!

After I arrived, 20 min later or so- the American girls hobbled in. I felt bad for them bc it’s only their day two and the one sister has some major feet issues going on. I told them to coat their feet in Vaseline before hiking every day.

After a quick bocadillo, we were off for another 10km (6.1miles)

Having company was nice, and we chatted about Game of Thrones (universal language really) and some other shows. 

Sooner got to Logrono and of course where I booked was yet another two miles off. Even if it says it’s close to the trail- it so is not.

And of course when I arrive , there’s no one here, no instructions etc

I call and the lady doesn’t get my name. Doesn’t understand that Lauren Hsu can be my name so we spend 30 seconds yelling back and forth, as she asks what is your name ?!!! And I proceed to tell her again and again that Lauren Hsu is my name. Aye yahhh

15 min later she shows up and fine I get in shower laundry (you know the drill)

Side note- this place is by far the worst and most frustrating to date. 

1. it’s over 1.2 miles to the Camino. When your walking 18+ miles a day, that shit adds up. I was pissed. It says “close to Camino” in the description 
2. It said there’s a kitchenette. When I asked about it after having bought yogurt for breakfast, I was stared at with this nasty crusty look and then told “no, out other properties”. Okay then why do you put that on booking.com you lying asses
3. Literally the only street in Spain where I’ve seen a ton of drunk homeless people. I’ve BARELY seen them in every city including this one- until I get to my street and then, there’s freakish amounts. So like wtf. I’m a single female traveler that has to walk now over a mile to my trail and there’s a shit load of sketchy mofos around. And again when I ask the lady if it’s safe to walk at night- she gives me another sassy look where I want to punch her in the face, and then replies “there’s lots of police here” … okay cool lady. Ya that’s just freaking outstanding 

Ugh end rant.

But now that I’m in a proper city! I want to find a post office to mail some of the stuff I haven’t been using. I find one and the lady is so wonderful! We cram my things in a flat rate envelope and I send them over to my Airbnb in Malaga. Over 3lbs of shit. It adds up. 

So that should make the load a bit lighter going forward. On the way, treated myself to a big ol cup of ice cream and then went back to my stay.

I went back to my sketchy ass accommodation, did some yoga and then texted my Icelandys

We decided to meet for tapas. A place right near the post office that was rated highly on google: Pasión por ti.

I did the ordering, I didn’t know they didn’t like octopus really sooo that one flopped lol. And they were unsure about the artichoke but ended up liking them (yay!) 

Everything else was pretty damn good too.

After, I tried to pay but they wouldn’t let me 😢

Tonight we really part ways because I’m going far and they’re just doing an easy day since they fly Thursday to Barcelona to do a Spartan Race. (They love these races. They go all over Europe to do them)

So on to the next set of friends I’ll potentially meet …