Bilbao to Portugalete, Spain

Tomorrow we leave the Basque Country and enter Cantabria. This trail will cross 4 regions, which is cool. All so different in their own unique way. We will be in Cantabria for about a week.
I’ve debated whether or not to share a little story with you about last night, but decided I will. You deserve the good, bad, and the ugly, right? Wouldn’t want you to get bored 😂 Since I started doing these Camino trails 10 years ago I’ve done a ton of research. One topic that has always freaked me out was the reports of….here it goes…100% honesty…BEDBUGS. So remember last night I told you I booked a private room all to myself? It had beautiful white crisp sheets, so I didn’t need my sleep sac. The place wasn’t a USA quality hotel or anything, it was a hostal that had bunk rooms and private rooms. I woke up at 1:30 to use the bathroom and tuned on my side lamp, flipped the covers back and to my surprise, I wasn’t sleeping alone. 😬 There were bugs in the bed, on my pillow, under the bottom sheet. Probably a dozen. They come out in the dark and hate light, so I surprised them. I got up so fricken fast and went to the other side of the room where my backpack and packing cubes were and started getting my stuff together and looking through everything for any sign of them (don’t want to pick up a hitchhiker and take it with me), but didn’t see any. Still. When you see that you think they are everywhere and crawling all over you. None were on me, but I went to the shower and scrubbed the hell out of my head and body and checked myself out for bites. No sign of bites. I gathered all my things and went down to the lobby. No one was there. I sat in the corner, on a chair, knees bent, feet on my chair like someone who’d just seen the worst scary movie ever. I wanted to run. I didn’t care that it was pitch black, or that my hanging dry clothes were locked out on a balcony drying that I couldn’t access. I sent a WhatsApp group a message, thinking maybe they were being feasted on while I sat there. No answer. So there I sat. A long time. Called Sterling, grossed out and freaked him out (why is my wife calling me at 2am Spain time, what the heck happened), and then decided I really needed to sleep an hour at least, so I got my permethrin treated (twice treated) sleep sac out and covered my entire body, head and all, inside and tried to sleep. Ya right. That didn’t happen and pretty soon it was 7:00 and lady who helps run the place walked in. I peeked my head out from my sac and said “Buenas Dias, I slept here since 1:30, I was in room 51, and”before I got out the word bedbugs she knew. SHE KNEW. She immediately said she would give me a full refund. Big woop. I’m traumatized for life. They definitely know they have a problem and have yet to shut down and address it. There’s protocol for this. Close down. Fumigation. Clean. Notify other hostels down the road to watch for them to be spread. Anyways I asked her to unlock the balcony so I could get my things, the only things that were truly safe because they weren’t in that room, and she promptly did. Probably wanted me out of there quick as to not alert the others pilgrims. But, then I awkwardly sat there for a half hour until the girls came down. Nathalie saw the message and was mortified. Holly hadn’t checked it yet so I told her. I felt like quitting. I was mentally tired and pissed. I did a ton of reading about them and bites can take up to two weeks to show up. Not typically, but there’s a chance. I turned my attitude around and got on with the walk. What could I do? Although my pack was not near the bed and didn’t see any near it, I still wanted to protect my friends and other travelers who share space with me so I washed everything I have in the laundromat when I got to Portugalete. As I pulled my things out I examined everything closely, looked at the seams of my pack, everything. No sign. But, I did go to the pharmacy after laundry and got cream for it in case I discovered any bites in the coming days. Awesome. This trip has had some sort of challenge since before I left home. Frustrated, but for now, hanging in there. I’ve seen people before who have been bitten and they are covered in sores quickly. I’m hopeful and don’t want to let my thoughts go crazy and get to the point where I stop. If I’m covered in bites in the coming days, I’m definitely going home. It’s too hot and sweaty to deal with itchy bites everywhere. But, for now, I’m ok and I’m still in.
OTHER THAN THAT, the walk was pretty flat today through industrial Bilbao and then along the beautiful Nervion River. Went 2km past where I needed to at the end of the day in 90 degree weather, so there was that. On to tomorrow. It can only get better right…….? 🙏🏻Read more