Mandy and Karma managed to walk the last 5 miles of yesterday’s section in the heat and into Santarem to the hostel. When they arrived they mentioned to the woman at the desk that it was their mom who came in with the blisters. “Ah, yes!” She said knowing exactly where to send them.

I was so pleased to see them and happy that they were willing to stay to help me figure out how to handle things. They graciously said that they would zero here (a day with no walking) while we worked on plans. They went out to get us dinner and Mandy got some gauze pads and tape. A help for certain. The private room was a also a help as we could discuss things without disturbing anyone. Plus we could all take showers to wash off the dust from today’s dirt roads.

A good nights sleep helped. Feet no better so I’m certain I made the right call to get off the trail for a while. I decided to head up to Porto, where actually most pilgrims in Portugal begin. I booked a train there tomorrow as well as an Airbnb for ten days. That’s how long they think it will take to walk the sections from here. Plus it ought to give my feet time to heal so hopefully I can head back out again once they join me.

The last dilemma was working out why the credit union was denying my cash advances. The problem is so many places don’t take cards that aren’t Portuguese so cash is required. After much ado, we got the snafu worked out.

We wandered out, slowly, with me looking like a rather fumbling oldster. But we needed lunch. Amazingly, other hikers we had met showed up at the same restaurant out of the many that are here.

On the way back to check in for a second night Mandy stopped at a pharmacy to see about getting antibiotic for my feet. We haven’t yet decoded how to find a walk in med clinic. So there’s Mandy trying to describe what she’s looking for using Google translate. Back and forth she goes with the clerk. Finally she says “a picture?” Yes! So she whips out a dreadful picture of my feet and the clerk says “ Bad, VERY bad” and finally knows just what to sell her. Thank goodness for pantomime, google translate and iPhone pictures. I’ll still try to find a clinic once I’m in Porto.

So now we’re just finishing transferring some extra things from their packs to mine to make it a tad easier as they go through long, hot sections. This is not such a bad recalibration as I’ve long wanted to spend time in Porto. I just didn’t expect it to be forthcoming this way.