Camino Day 9 July 31 Torres del Rio to Viana

Camino Day 9 July 31 Torres del Rio to Viana (Albergue Andrés Muñoz) 7.5 miles Total to date 107.5.

I slept in this morning and was the last to leave the albergue. My knee felt better than it had the day before. Shortly after I began walking I ran into Miquel. I had not seen him for a couple of days. He spent two days at the Casa Magica, something I should have done. Oh well. My knee held up pretty well today, but was hurting by the time I got to Viana. It is fine on the uphills, but kills on the downhills. 

When I got to Viana and took my shower, I realized I had a blood blister on the side of the left heel that was totally exposed because a flap of skin had pulled away. So I poured some betadine on it and went to the farmácia to get some gauze bandages. Apparently in England they are called compresses and in Spain they are called compresas. My attempt to communicate gauze was a total failure. Later one of my new British friends offered to give me some of hers. She is a retired nursing teacher and so very concerned about my physical problems  Rather than using them, I took one to the farmácia to show them what I wanted, and it worked! I also found a brace for my knee!  If my blood blister allows me to walk, we'll see how the brace works. So far just walking around the alberque it seems like  magic. So I'm a little hopeful tonight. I'm still going to have to rest for a day or two, either here or in Logroño. If I can't stay here I may have to take the bus six miles to Logroño, because I don't want to risk getting the blood blister infected. 

I had dinnerr tonight with Sara from London who just finished her first year teaching Spanish. She also speaks German, French and English, of course. She used to be a financial planner, but went back to school to getting her teaching qualification. With us at dinner was a French man, I'd say around fifty who was a pig farmer until, as he put it,  he got tired and retired. 

As I'm writing this I'm chatting with my new friend Jacob, a young man about twenty from Austria. He has just finished school and is trying to live in the moment and not think about what he'll do next. The Camino is a great place to practice.

I walked 7.5 miles. Total I have walked 107.5 miles. 

Well it's bed time. I look forward to reading your comments in the morning. Hoping my very special friend Kim is having a happy birthday.