I fell and Los Arcos

 I fell just outside Ciraqui. I have no idea what happened. I was walking on flat road and the next thing I knew I was doing a face plant. I was lucky because I did not break my glasses. My face hit the ground and bruised my nose a little bit but no scrapes. I scraped my knee pretty bad but the worst injury was my wrist which I was pretty sure was broken. 

A nice man stopped his car and asked me if I wanted a ride to Estella and I agreed. He brought me all the way in to town. I managed to go to a trauma center where they suggested an x-ray because they also thought my wrist was broken.

However after a trip to the trauma center and then the emergency room, and x-rays, it is a bad sprain. They wrapped it up good. In fact the nurse wrapped it up so good I almost kicked her because it hurts so bad. They gave me some meds and I’m probably not gonna walk for a couple of days because the bottom line is I can’t pull up my pants.

Maggie‘s knee was swollen yesterday and so she and I shared a taxi into los Arcos. We are going to bus to Viana today. After that I have three days of Taxi days and so by then my wrist should be well enough that I can walk and manage my backpack and gear. I did wake up with some pain in the middle of the night and decided their advice to take the pain medicine three times a day was good advice. I am not a good pill taker and thought I could get by with twice a day but last night taught me I need to listen to the doctor. 

Everyone else had a good walk. They were exhausted when they got in. The weather is changing and it’s going to be in the 80s after we leave Astorga so I’m a little concerned about the need to carry more water and start early. I’m trying to convince them that as soon it is daylight they need to get out and on the trail.

This trip has really made me feel my age. I don’t know if it’s the cancer that has taken my stamina away or two years being dormant while I cared for my mother or a combination of bad and Covid. I don’t know but I just feel I don’t have a lot of energy anymore and I’m wondering how long I will be able to continue leading groups if at all. I’m more of a mind to just walk at my own speed short distances so that’s some thing I’m contemplating for the next few days.

They had a bit of an adventure in Joe‘s group when someone took Matthew’s shoes from Pension Amets in Zubiri. He caught up with the culprit in Pamplona and got the shoes back. Luckily, Joe‘s brother Mike had a pair of shoes to loan Matthew otherwise he would’ve really been in trouble.  The fellow said he took the shoes by mistake, but I guess I’m just not an optimist when it comes to things like this because the shoes were two sizes larger than the guy wears  Personally I think his feet were swollen and was an opportunist  Maybe I’m just getting old and cranky  

The morning when we left Estella we thought there was a fiesta because three men were playing horns marching through the town  We later learned they do this every Sunday morning, which cracked me up, because people were out partying in the streets until 4 AM. I cannot seem to post the video now but I will try to do it later and if not I will post it when I get home

The church here in Los Arcos is just spectacular. When you consider there are only our 3000 people here it’s amazing that they can keep up a church this beautiful.