On Sauntering

As usual, Chris beat me to posting, so I’ll just share a few thoughts. I’ll try not to duplicate pictures— except for the picture I took of the baptismal font at La Iglesia de la Virgen de la Calle (The Church of the Virgen of the Street) because the lovely volunteer who’d opened the church early for us bullied me into taking a really good shot.

When the volunteer saw me taking a picture of the baptismal font, she showed me the exact place and exact angle to get the perfect shot. She watched me take the picture, and then sternly instructed me to take another one because I hadn’t followed her directly closely enough.

I think I mentioned last night that I was nervous about today’s walk since it’s the longest distance I’ve done. I’m pleased to say that I’m sore and tired but not nearly as wiped and mentally drained as when I was waking up at 4 AM and walking in the heat. Still, I’m working with Chris to see if we can’t keep our distances under 25 km (18-20 is my sweet spot, I think).

Thanks for all of the prayers for my feet! I really appreciate it! Pretty much no new blisters, just a couple on the sides of my feet that need a bit more bandaging.

I now know that my side of big toe and back of heel blisters happen after my foot’s slipped and twisted on loose rocks — which happened a few times during our last few kilometers— so now I’m at least able to appreciate those blister flare ups as signs that I didn’t twist or break my ankle today.

I’ve also noticed that my feet do better when I walk more slowly, so I made a conscious effort to tune into the pace that felt the best on my feet. That seems to be between 4-4.5 km/hour.

Every book, guidebook, podcast, and video we encountered mentioned that the word saunter has its roots in the French phrase “sainte terre” or “holy land” after the slow way that medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land walked. I’m trying to get better at sauntering: I want to savor the sights and the experiences here — I’d also really like to save my feet, my soles as it were.Read more