Day 19 Mansilla de las Mulas to Virgen del Camino (Bree)

Day 19: Mansilla de las Mulas to Virgen del Camino
17 miles
Total: 298.3 miles

After a restless night of sleep for all of us, we headed out of town towards Leon, our next big city.  Our entire day essentially consisted of walking from one end of the cities outstretched arms to the other.  Walking through the industrial sections of the city, next to the noisy traffic, made us appreciate the simplicity and beauty of our previous days scenery.

We had lunch in Leon as we gazed at the huge cathedral, then continued on to Virgen del Camino for the night.  We made a nice big communal dinner tonight of pasta, salad, bread and dessert.  It was nice to take advantage of the communal kitchen before the big rush and enjoy a real meal. 

Overall, today was fairly "normal"; which for me was a blessing.  A few days ago as the rest of the group left Carrion de Los Condes, I decided to try to sleep in a bit longer as I was feeling a bit strange. Shortly after they left, I spent the next hour thoroughly testing every toilet and garbage can the nuns had to offer.  I'm guessing I got food poisoning from something I'd eaten the night before (my bet is on the crab salad).  For those of you that have had the pleasure of experiencing the consequences of eating contaminated food, you know that your body then tries to do it's best to get rid of everything inside your stomach as quickly as possible. When your at home, safely curled up next to your own personal toilet, it is no day at the beach.  It happens to be a bit less enjoyable when your in a bathroom used by 50 other people or on the trail in the middle of nowhere.

I will try to spare you all from the gruesome details, but to give you an idea of my state of being, it took me eight hours to walk a measly ten miles to the next city. At one point I was woken up from where I had passed out on the side of the road by a lady who started screaming as she ran to her husband. After I woke up, I realized she must have thought I was dead as she could only see my backpack and legs sticking out of the bushes. A few hours later a guy had some Red Cross nurses to come talk to me as I'm guessing my green and pale face made him a bit concerned.  The five of them all spoke to me in Spanish very quickly about how stupid I would be to continue walking the next 8 km to the next town during the hottest part of the day when I was so dehydrated.  They tried to convince me to go back with them to the town I had been crawling from all day to see a doctor, but the thought of that was enough motivation to keep me going the other direction. 

I'll be honest, I was a bit worried at a few moments during the day as I was discharging so much liquid from my body so often, that all of my muscles were cramping every time I moved. The Rehydrate packets I had saved me and also gave me something that didn't taste too bad coming back up. I had also listened to a podcast of James' the other day about some research on how you can trick your body into going farther then you think possible.  I tried the trick they used in the study as well as the 'puke and rally' approach, and it worked! I eventually made it to the next town and decided to splurge and get a hotel room to spare myself and the other pilgrims from the dreaded shared bathroom experience of that morning.

After an interesting night of violently interrupted sleep, I got up at 4:30 a.m. to try to catch the others before they got too far ahead. I figured if I could get to where they stayed by 7 a.m., I could catch up quickly if they had already left.  I walked into The Peaceable Kingdom, but didn't see any sign of the group. I hurried down the trail and didn't see them all day. I assumed they must have taken the alternate route or I would have caught up to them.  I got to Hermanillos de La Calzada by 11:30 and had quickly covered 23 miles trying to catch them, still with no food successfully staying in my belly.  

After a shower I decided to try to find some Internet to send James a message telling him where I would try to meet them tomorrow. At about 1:30, as I sat in the shade, the group walked into the town. It turns out they were actually only feet away from me when I entered The Peaceable Kingdom this morning, but we didn't see each other.  A bit frustrating, but we were at least all in the same town again and they were spared having to witness the horror show of the day before. I prefer to suffer through those types of things alone anyway, so I guess it all worked out for the best.

I think I've returned to a somewhat "normal" state of existence and hope to remain that way.

So here's to good health and strong legs for the last few hundred miles!  

We're getting close......er!!!
~Bree