Day 2, Alpriate – Vila Franca de Xira

9km (out of 19km), 18369 steps

so many compeed in my feet.

Our second day of the Camino started after a good night in the Albergue in Alpriate. We were the first one up and we tried to keep it silent when we left.

We walked along some beautiful fields, the path going through bushes and the sun rising in the east. We talked a little, but mainly walked in silence. I was still half a sleep, just as the previous day when we left Lisbon.

After 4km we had our first breakfast. It was only a little and I was left a bit disappointed for not getting a proper breakfast. I was still half a sleep, but the coffee woke me up. There was new blister growing in my feet and I was forced to add a few more compeeds to my feet.

We continued our walk, crossing a railway then turning left to walk near the river. The scenery was amaizing, but I noticed my feet growing sore and my mood dropping quickly. The path took us over a swamp, through some fields and then following the railway for a while before crossing it again to get to the other side.

The last kilometers before the trainstation were hard. My steps were heavy and I felt tired. Not enough food. Not enough blood sugar. I had a few glucose pastils to me going. At this point I was so happy I had them with me. I stopped for a second to take a picture of a sign telling that you can call to a hostel for a free pick-up service. The only thought in my head was ”Damn, I just want to sit there and wait for them to come pick me up.”

Sissel going at a better pace than me, so I was forced to continue my walk. the stairs up and down the trainstation were very hard. My feet were aching and I knew that I couldn’t make it for another 10km’s today. The 30km’s yesterday were way too much for me.

She was waiting for me in a cafeteria on the other side of the trainstation. I took a juice and a cup of coffee. We had 9 kilometers behind us for the morning. We left soon after 6am and now it was 9am, so our pace was pretty slow. I was done.

We agreed that we’ll meet at our next destination and as I’m taking the taxi, I could take her backpack with me with no trouble at all. She continued walking to keep up the pace and I was left there in the cafeteria.

I soon figured out that uber needed me to signup again since it had been too long since my last signin. Thanks for this. I was exhausted and my head wasn’t working. My feet were aching and I just stood there frustrated, with two backpacks and with no energy left to deal with the problems with uber.

This is when Portugal hit me.

The owners of the bar didn’t speak English and trying to ask them to call me a taxi in English would’ve not been possible if the girl there hadn’t been translating for me. (Thank you!) In the end we got me a taxi that took me to the next village and to the hotel we chose earlier. The cab driver who didn’t speak English pointed me another pilgrims during our drive and once we got to the destination he took me to the hotel and made sure there was some to attend to me before leaving.

When the door was opened the man there told me they were full. He told me that everything in the city was full.

At this point it felt like there was a greater purpose for me to feel so exhausted. It would’ve absolutely killed me to walk another 10km’s and then find out that the whole city is fully booked.

The man was very lovely, he called to a few other hotels and arranged us a room from another hotel that was like 5 minutes away. It looked lovely, but ofcourse the staff at our new hotel doesn’t speak English at all. So after some help from google translate we got the backpacks in the room and I went out to find something to eat.

Portugal is in a way very similar to South America. Many people you meet just don’t speak English. I think it’s time to put that luxurious EU data and google translate in good use and start learning some more Portuguese. It’s surprising how quickly I get a grip of a language I never studied before. It’s a phrase there, another there. More words every day.

When I landed to Lisbon, all I remebered from portuguese was ”obrigado” which means thank you. Now I’m getting to the point where I order my coffee and other stuff in portuguese instead of using English. So this is happening.

Looking forward to getting to Spain and getting all messed up with these two languages again.

#CaminoPortuguese #CaminoPortugueseCosta #CaminodeSantiago #Camino #pilgrimwithadragontattoo