Day 27: Vilar de Mazarife - Villares de Orbigo (4/27/14)

Whine alert:

get out the cheese and crackers!

When I woke up, 

it was clear that some of my malaise from yesterday was due, 

not to just loneliness and saying goodbye to friends,

 but to a terrible head cold which had blossomed overnight and was now in full force.

(Yes, for all you mind/body connection folks out there

 the one may have triggered the other -

but, given the amount of germs being shared in all the common spaces 

in which I was sleeping and eating, 

I was frankly surprised I hadn't gotten sick before now.)

No matter the cause,

I was miserable.

I couldn't breathe;

the weather had turned cold and windy 

as I headed toward yet one more mountain range;

and
I could find no intrinsic value in walking the path that morning 

past either an endless corn field  - 

which I'd attempted to skip by taking the train in the first place -

or next to what looked like (but in reality wasn't)

 a minimum security prison.

I was tired of dried bread  

passing for breakfast and lunch - 

with the leftovers turning up again with dinner;

I was tired of slivers of cardboard masquerading as toilet paper 

(if they were small and on a roll)

or as facial tissue 

(if they were 1 cm larger and in a box);

I was tired of bathrooms with no soap and no paper towels -

probably how I got this damn cold in the first place;
I was tired of struggling with language to get something as simple as cough drops...

are you getting the drift of how this morning was going?

Yes, sadly, I have all this documented in my journal...

At one point though, 

after just having a snit fit,
including the question of the day - what the hell was I doing walking this thing?,

I looked up and saw this -

and started laughing.

It was either the mother ship, 

coming to beam me up and rescue me from all this misery

or an invasion of aliens 

and they were the ones who had stolen my joy.

(Now, I was glad I didn't know anyone on this part of the Camino -

because they probably all thought I was having a psychotic break, 

standing by the side of the road,
laughing uncontrollably
and, since I didn't know them
I didn't have to care what their opinion of me was!)

I walked faster to catch up with the clouds -

on the off chance that the whole 'beam me up thing' would work - 

and soon found myself in the next town - 

on a bridge built in the 15th century 

for a jousting competition,

 sitting in a restaurant that served croissant sandwiches

 and had centerpieces of my favorite flowers!

Oh Happy Day!

 All of a sudden, the world was a bit brighter.

 All that was left  to do for the day was walk through a wood

and get a warm place for the night.

The lucky train was still in the station!