blisters Archives - Everywhere Abroad

July 30, 2019

El Camino de Santiago – Suggestions

If you’re thinking about doing The Camino de Santiago we recommend reading a few books about it, we loved “The Pilgrimage” by Paulo Coelho and “I’m off then” by Hape Kerkeling. Both are available in English/Spanish and are great for the adventure! Also watch the movie “The Way”.

Guide book: Use a guide book. You can purchase a guide book from your originating place. There are also pilgrim information offices along the camino that provide free guides. We used some of the free ones as we did not want to be too informed and just used it to know the distance, the name of the town where we would be stopping, and how difficult that days walk would be. There are some that are more in depth and will also inform you of the many monuments along the way. We ended up buying a mini guide from mundicamino which also included albergue information for each town on that stage.

Shoes/boots: Make sure you spend some time in choosing your hiking shoes. We recommend water resistant and not too heavy. Once you have decided please break them in!! Train with them for at least 2 months before your camino! This is very important as you will notice how your feet react to them even before you start your camino and you can still do something about it while at home!

Socks: Socks are as important as your shoes. Choose wisely, try them out. Some people like to use two pairs for friction, we did not have to. Take different sizes too, you might need them (ankle and mid calf socks).

Keep an eye on your feet from day 1. Check for blisters and anything that you might have felt throughout your walk. If you have blisters make sure to take care of them right away. The heeling will be faster and you’ll be ready the next day. There are many ways of taking care of blisters, choose the method that is best for you. We used needle and thread to squeeze the liquid out and let the blister heal without removing any of the skin.

Bring a warm sweater even if during the summer, there are usually cold nights and mornings.

Bring a very light sleeping bag, it is nice to lay in it and will also work if it is a bit chilly in your albergue.

Bring lots of sunblock during the summer months.

Use walking poles.

Don’t bring too many electronics, your cellphone or small camera will do just fine for pictures.

First aid kit: just a small one, don’t need to have too much. Make sure to bring with you all your medicine and anything you can’t live without! There are pharmacies and clinics all along the way.

Backpack: Pack light! Be ready to hand wash and air dry your clothes. Merino wool works great. You won’t use half the things you think you’ll need and you can find everything along the way also. Your backpack should be 10% of your total body weight. This prevents your knees and back from suffering. You are able to pay to have your backpack sent to the next town ahead of you if you need to at any time. Unless your backpack is very heavy you should not have to do this. The weight disappears as you walk.

Pilgrim passport (Credencial del Peregrino), remember to get your stamps along the way, 2 stamps a day is a good rule. You should always get a stamp at the albergue or hotel you sleep at every night so if they do not stamp it for you, just ask them and they will. Stamps can be found throughout the camino at rest areas, churches, cathedrals, and important monuments.

Remember to go and pick up your Compostela when you reach Santiago.

Have breakfast, if it’s too early before you leave walk to the next town.

Do it your own way, go at your own pace, remember it is not a race and take breaks as you need them. Listen to your body!

Talk to other pilgrims, it is very nice to hear other stories and to learn from others. They are always willing to help and share their issues if they had any during el camino, this will help you to know what is out there.

Buen Camino!!

July 27, 2019July 27, 2019

El Camino de Santiago – Was it tough?

Is it tough? Yes. We’re not going to lie and say it is easy, all beautiful, and amazing. It is all that, plus it requires all your strength, patience, and willingness to keep going. The pain is inevitable no matter how much you have prepared for your camino. We could not even imagine how tough it would be when we were back home training. On average it was between 20-30 kilometers daily for any given stage imagine that! You will feel exhausted at the end of each stage and you will be pushed to your limits at least once on the camino. Back pain, blisters, sun irritation, tendinitis, and soreness are all part of this journey. Santiago did not have any blisters throughout the entire camino (lucky!) he did have back, knee, and muscle pains. Ingrid did have blisters (amongst other pains) which became a daily routine for both of us to squeeze the fluid out, this would be painful depending on the location of the blister but very necessary in order for the blister to dry out. I remember two very painful ones, one on each little toe (weird), where Ingrid almost cried. After those two painful blisters heeled (about a day) Ingrid was a professional with blisters and the entire rest of the way they were not a problem. Everyday we would wake up with a different part of the body hurting or making it uncomfortable to even move. The positive side of all this is that once you warm up and start each day it all goes away until off course you stop for a break or finish your stage that day. There were also the days where we woke up perfectly fine, no pain, nothing! It was like magic! We were always amazed and still are of how much our bodies can change and get accustomed to as well as how we managed to keep going regardless of how much our bodies were hurting. This is a lesson we proved in the camino, that we are stronger than we think and it is all in your mind, this is so very true you just have to live it to discover it.

There will be times when you will want to give up, get discouraged, frustrated, and will think of taking a taxi or bus to the next town, don’t do it! just keep walking, I promise you will get there and it will feel amazing. Go at your own pace, take breaks, walk shorter distances, talk to pilgrims, take a rest day, have some wine along the way or a beer, it is your camino and you make it however you want!! It is not a race and everyone is equal in the camino, no one is judging, on the contrary, everyone is there to help and find their own way. You will find many pilgrims are suffering more than you at some points, you can help if needed, and then just keep walking. That’s just it! It’s so real and human that the physical pain becomes normal and it ends up being a part of your journey.

Rest days, are very important and we believe necessary if you’re going to be walking the entire camino. We took rest days in Logroño and Burgos. We also took a shorter walk of 8 kilometers to Ponferrada and stopped there. Rest days are very helpful for the body and the mind to recharge. A nice hotel with amenities such as a sauna, jacuzzi, normal towels, a nice shower, nice sheets, and the ability to sleep in without being disturbed is always good during the camino. We also used this time to wash our clothes at the laundromats around town. Using the hotel laundry service was more expensive so we took advantage of the laundromats around town for less than half the hotel rates.

Our backpacks we carried all the way
Sunny day
Feet in the river, great for healing

July 27, 2019July 27, 2019

El Camino de Santiago de Compostela / Way of Saint James

As many of you know, we have just completed our Camino de Santiago de Compostela (The Way of Saint James in English). If you’ve never heard of it you might be asking yourself, what is El Camino de Santiago de Compostela? In short, because it is so much more, it is a pilgrimage with many different starting points and ways all leading to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia Spain. Legend says the remains of apostle St. James were brought to Santiago de Compostela from Jerusalem and are buried where the cathedral now stands. There are numerous reasons why many follow the camino, some of the most popular ones are for religious beliefs and personal growth.

The many different routes/pilgrimages that lead to Santiago de Compostela. We followed The Camino Frances pointed in the picture above.

The reason we decided to do it? Ingrid was first motivated by Paulo Coelho, her favorite author, his books referenced it and it was like nothing she had ever heard about and thought to herself one day she would do this. Paulo Coelho did the camino himself and wrote a book about it, The Pilgrimage, which I recommend everyone to read. Back in 2014 Santiago’s mom decided she was going to do the camino! Once Santiago’s mom completed her camino, we were both so intrigued and motivated with all her stories and adventures that we promised ourselves we would do it together one day and experience all that it brings with it. There we were in 2018 planning 2019, our year of travels, and we think to ourselves why not start this new journey with he camino?! We would have plenty of time since you need at least 30 days to complete the entire Camino Frances (the French Way) about 780km which is the route we did except we started in Pamplona Spain about 70km after the starting point in St Jean Pied de Port France. It took us 28 days total with 2 rest days to complete around 710km always carrying our backpacks (210km we did by bike). We were not wrong about doing it and the experience is inexplicable and it is something we feel everyone should do once in their lifetime even if for a shorter period of time and you have to complete it over a few years. It’s a time to connect with others, nature, and more importantly yourself. It was nothing like what we imagined and felt like we were in a dream!!