The good news is that last night (Friday) Keith slept well. Many of the pilgrims left early before dawn (they use headlamps), but he stuck around until daylight and enjoyed a little extra sleep. Each day he’s been on the Camino he has been able to progress in the distance he’s gone. Today he made it 16 km. He said he could’ve gone further but the backpack is really hurting his right shoulder. He got some advice from Ross which helped but did not solve the problem, so I reviewed some other websites with additional advice that I’m hoping may have helped. We’ll see after tomorrow’s walking.

Speaking of “tomorrow,” I am writing these last paragraphs late night Pacific time and it’s now Keith’s morning. I guess he didn’t sleep so well this time, but hopefully resting on a comfortable bed helped some. He said the dinner last night was VERY greasy and at one point he had to just look away and breathe a little because the smell was a little overpowering. There were a few people at dinner, though, and he visited with a couple from New Zealand for a while. It turns out that they had stayed their first night on the walk in an albergue and it cured them. So now their plan is to stay at a hotel every night instead. I think his opinion of the right plan for lodging is still being formed. He definitely hasn’t given up on the albergues at this point and currently is planning to stay at one tonight.

He did have a sorta funny story that needs to quickly be prefaced by sharing that my parents had a house that was apparently built by short people. To get through most of the doors, the men in my family—including Keith—would have to duck in order not to hit their head moving from room to room. Also, in their bathroom—the shower head hit most adults at chest level or lower.

Now that you know this, you’ll understand when he said that the shower in last night’s room had clearly been built by the same people that had built my parents’ house. He hit his head a few times, which was particularly unpleasant because when he had lunch yesterday in San Antón he’d already bashed his head on the way out the door after not realizing how low it was until it was too late. :( Sadly the shower stall was so small that every time he turned around he would hit the shower water control (which was a single-handled model). He just could not make even the smallest of moves without hitting it. So the nice warm shower—which was very welcomed—would switch to cold or just be turned off completely each time he tried to spin and rinse. Fortunately, he didn’t get the scalding treatment, so that’s the silver lining. THEN to add insult to injury the shower head was the kind that had a hose and could be used as a handheld, too, and he hit it, knocked it off, it hit him on the same place he’d hit his head on the door earlier in San Antón, then because it had such a strong water flow it was like one of those runaway firehoses needing to be captured before it caused more damage. It’s like he was his own Abbott and Costello routine right there in the shower.

Here’s hoping he has swift and safe travels today and finds his answer to the backpack challenges. Adiós amigos!!