We are exactly 400 kilometers from our goal and are facing the biggest obstruction in our path so far. I am writing this just outside of Llanes where we slept last night. The four days since our last update in Santander have been a mix of difficulties, blessings, frustrations, ugly industrial zones, beautiful countrysides and the occasional little mirarcle. We left Santander overjoyed by the fact that the sun was shining. Days on end we had been soaked to the bone, walking through the most heavily industrialized zone in northern Spain, and the sun has the power to make even large smoke spewing factories seem a bit nicer. It was hot and humid we had 37 kilometers to walk to Santilliana Del Mar, but it was a good day. There was no donativo ( a.k.a free) hostel in Santillana,and since the weather was finally nice we reverted to our old ways and slept by the church... The local priest gave us clams, cassoulet and aspergus (long story) which was a welcome change, to our regular diet. The next day we had a short étape ahead of us which was good for our spirits and david´s leg. The sun kept up, we got there early and were able to bathe in the atlantic that afternoon. That night, we slept in an old prison now converted into a pilgrim hostel, pretty cool... Tuesday we were off to Unquera another day of walking on roads under and over highways, which made us miss the ´good old days´of the french portion of the camino which was 90% path. We pushed through, trying to keep a good attitude about it, and finding new ways to entertain ourselves along the way... and as always, we finally arrived in Unquera. David has developed a bout of shin splints, or tendinitis which makes walking (especially downhill) very painful after 20k, and by then his leg had swollen to worrysome proportions. I went on ahead to find some ice, and find out to my surprise that there was no hostel in the town, as indicated in our guide book... again dark clouds were forming and sleeping outside was not an option. I explored the town for different sleeping possiblities with a roof, abandonned buildings, buildings under construction were the best options but our spirits being as low as they were, we decided to treat ourselves to the generous pilgrim offer the local hotel made for us.. 50% off = 20 euro for a room. Personal bathroom, television, two beds. WOW! We were so excited when we got our keys, and plopped down on our mattresses, David iced his leg and we vegged in front of the tv for a couple hours before getting a good night´s sleep. The next day the rain had finally returned. It rained hard, very hard all morning and into the afternoon... but, we were finally walking on beautiful paths, right on the ocean. We witnessed a rare geological phenomenon called Bufones, where the waves crash against the cliffs, and spew up water like a geiser a dozen meters further up land, with enourmous power and a huge rumble... Our exploration was probably a bit dangerous, but that spiced things up. We kept walking and arrived in Llanes tired, wet, hungry but in good spirits. The day was absolutely magnificent in terms of beauty, in the top 5 so far! We had treated ourselves to the hotel the night before, and the budget definitely didn´t allow another night indoors so it was exploration time again trying to find a spot to sleep. The best option turned out to be the local soccer stadium, which had a side door left open (just for us?)... the covered bleachers would do the trick perfectly. A couple hours later the obstacle mentioned at the beginning of this update showed it´s face. David has developed some sort of stomach flu... Diarrheah and Vomitting most of the night. We were both finally able to sleep a bit around 4am, but David has absolutely no energy left, and isn´t quite sure yet how much food he can hold down. This morning we were able to get fluids and electrolites back into his body, but he is very very weak. This has forced us to check in to yet another hostel 2 km outside of Llanes, which is again way above our budget. David is sleeping right now though, which is good, and again we have our own bathroom if need be... I am going to go back into town this afternoon to play guitar and try and earn a bit of money to cover these costs. We are both hoping that this is just a one day flu and that he will be able to hold food down today to regain his energy to continue a bit further tomorrow. We have two flat days along the ocean left before attacking the Asturias mountains, our last chain before Santiago. As this ¨adventure¨ continues, we wonder what else can or will happen before we finally arrive to our goal, either way each new challenge makes that arrival all the sweeter... ULTREIA!
Joshua
