Free Behind the Albergue Door: Inspiration Agony Adventure on the Camino de Santiago by Dean Johnston Page A

out of my bag. They have this “left items” table here for people to ditch stuff they don’t want to carry. Goodbye makeup, sayonara sweater, catch you later Crime and Punishment. I think I should have got that ereader you told me to get, Liz. Well, supposedly it just gets easier from here. It better, that’s all I can say.

    To M & D, Lizzie, Adam, Brandi K
    Pamplona and blisters
    On Thu, Oct 4 at 9:04 PM, Rachel Harrington wrote:
    That about sums it up so far. Pamplona was a really cool city. It’s where they do the Running of the Bulls (not now, though) with lots of old buildings. Went for pinxtos (what they call tapas here) and drinks with some of the people I’ve been hiking with. Have met a lot of cool people. Got a little too tipsy on sangria with these two German guys (one of them hiked all day with his heels bleeding through his socks) before I went down to the post office to send some more stuff ahead to Santiago (Seriously? 4 pairs of leggings? What was I thinking?) so that was all very foggy, confusing and Spanish. Really picking up the Spanish already, probably know 8 or 9 words by now. Ha ha. I have more blisters than that.
    Oh yeah, today we climbed up and over this huge hill called Alto de Perdon that had amazing views and wind turbines and these metal cut-outs of pilgrims fighting hard into the wind. Took some really cool photos and happened to meet up with a lot of people we knew while we were hanging out up there. It was a pretty good day, all in all. Getting better, I think.

    To M & D, Lizzie, Adam, Brandi K
    Getting the hang of it
    On Mon, Oct 8 at 6:29 PM, Rachel Harrington wrote:
    My feet still hurt quite a bit and it is still hard to put my backpack on every morning but other than that I thin k I’m really starting to feel the spirituality of the Camino. It is just this really unique atmosphere, everyone is so different, but they are all here doing the same thing, but all for different reasons. It’s like a big family almost. But I do try to hike by myself most of the time. You know, reflection and inner peace and all that. I really think this is going to help me figure out what I want out of life.
    Our group of friends seems to be growing all the time but I have become good friends with Shauna (American), Stewart (English) and Blaine (Scottish). I had already met Stewart and we noticed Shauna and were discussing her shoes, then we ended up meeting her at lunch and have been walking with her ever since. Shauna and Stewart hooked up in Pamplona and a couple nights later missed curfew at the albergue and ended up getting a hotel room together. It’s the talk of the Camino.

    To M & D, Lizzie, Adam, Brandi K
    Gross!
    On Wed, Oct 10 at 7:14 PM, Rachel Harrington wrote:
    You’ll never believe what happened today. Shauna and I had snuck off behind a cemetery and some trees to pee and just as we were coming back we turn the corner and there’s this guy just standing there looking at us, smiling, with his cock in his hand, like he was presenting it to us for our perusal. We didn’t know what to say. Just stood there in shock for a second then got the hell out of there. What the hell was his plan? Just showing us, was that the whole point? What a creep.
    My feet are starting to feel quite a bit better but I’m still wrecked at the end of every day. Not as bad as some though. I was in the same room as this group of Germans last night and at one point a guy was working on a girl’s foot blisters while she massaged the shoulders of a different girl while that girl helped wrap a second guy’s ankle. It was pretty symbolic of the Camino as a whole, I think.

    To Lizzie, Brandi K
    Just between you and me
    On Wed, Oct 10 at 7:27 PM, Rachel Harrington wrote:
    This one is just for you guys, but do you remember the Scottish guy I mentioned before, Blaine? Yeah, we kind of hooked up a few days ago. He’s a