Stage 9 - Navarrete to Azofra

Where We Are Tonight:   Azofa                    Miles Hiked Today:  13.5 (21.8 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  123.7 (198.3 km)         Miles to Santiago:  361.8 (582.2 km)

Steps Taken Today: 38,378                          Blister Count: 1 (P), 1  huge + multiples on bottom of foot (K)

Spanish Word of the Day: ampolla (blister)  L

What We Learned Today:  A cold Coke is nectar of the Gods after a long, hot walk.

Today started off with walking by the freeway for a time.  Then we got back into walking by farm after farm growing those wonderful La Rioja grapes.  Through this region, they have marker signs every kilometer marking the distance to Santiago.   The first sign was interesting  (if not depressing) but it's hard to walk and walk and walk and not very often see the signs marking off only 1 more kilometer!   The good news is that we're under 600 kilometers to go!

The rest of the day was uneventful except for going through a cute little town of Najera.

We stopped today in the small village of Azofra.  The town may be small but the albergue is the best we've seen so far...rooms of 2 with no bunk beds, a nice front patio for resting,  and a washer and dryer!   Wow!  The other thing the village has is a great pharmacy who helped me with my continued blister issues.  I got more medicine and bandages so hopefully it will help.  It feels like my entire left foot is one big blister now.  When I was reading all of those Camino books and when reading so many Camino websites in preparation for this trip,  people were always talking about their feet and showing photos of their blisters...and I thought,  "Gross!"  But now that it's my reality,  I'm going to have to share...sorry.

"There are no tourists on the Camino, just pilgrims who haven't found their way yet".

―Chico, volunteer hospitalero at Albergue St Nicolas de Flue, Ponferrada