Najera to Santo Domingo

After arriving in Najera late in the day yesterday, Anne and I checked into our hotel and immediately began applying ice.  We had walked over 18 miles, our longest day so far.  Anne’s shoulder was sore, and the arch of my left foot was cramping.  After about an hour, we both felt better and went out for dinner.  We bumped into a German friend who guided us to a restaurant where he had just eaten. We should have known better.  Cars, classical music, and Sturm und Drang are German specialties.  But not food.

When we got back, my right foot was sore.  I took off my shoe. My foot was swollen and discolored.  There was an indentation around my lower leg from the swelling.  We were out of ice, it was late, and we both were tired.  We went to bed.  

I slept uneasily that night, worrying that our walk may have come to an end.

The next morning the soreness was gone, but my foot was still swollen and discolored.  I iced my foot, and Anne went on the internet.  She found that swollen feet are a common problem on the Camino, largely due to dehydration.  The cure is to drink more water and to occasionally elevate the feet.  I raised my feet, and almost immediately, the swelling went down and the discoloration subsided.  In about 15 minutes, I put my shoes on, and we started walking.

In fact, I had not been drinking much water the day before.  Anne and I are both carrying water bottles in our packs that hold over a liter of water.  I had not been drinking because the more I drank, the more I had to pee, and there almost no bathrooms on the Camino.  This should be a bigger problem for Anne, but as with all things in life requiring delicacy, she was much more adept at navigating this problem than I.  Our fellow pilgrims have no compunctions about stepping to the side of the Camino as the spirit moved them.  I had tried to deal with the problem by not drinking.  I have now been drinking more and keeping an eye out for a tree or other barrier.  My foot is fine.

On the way out of Najera, we passed by the cathedral:

Behind the town, is a high bank with a cut that we walked through:

We then walked into a long valley with vineyards and the characteristic red soil of La Rioja:

We walked through two villages today.  One of them was Azofra:

This is a 16th century Camino marker just outside Azofra:

The crowds that so quickly gathered have now disappeared.  And lately we have seen very few of the friends that we had repeatedly met up with along the way.  Anne and I are again finding ourselves walking alone or with just a few other pilgrims:

In the background is Santo Domingo, our destination for the day:

Here is the cathedral in Santo Domingo:

This is the Santo Domingo town hall, the Ayuntamiento:

We spent the night in Santo Domingo in a hotel that is a converted convent:

The Sisters certainly never had it this good: