Homer's Travels: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Well, That Was Interesting

I'm back ... sorta.  I flew home on Tuesday and I'm still a little jet lagged so bear with me.

The Camino was an interesting experience.  It was one of those experiences that are hard to explain to people who haven't shared them.  I'll need time to digest everything, decompress, and re-enter the real world.  Re-enter the real world because the Camino is a world unto itself.

Physically I am well.  My feet survived.  One large blister and several small ones.  Two lost toenails.  Tendonitis in both feet.  Nothing that really stopped me from walking though I ended up taking a couple days off to rest one ankle.  Other people I met were not so lucky.  Only a handful survived unscathed.  My knees, while punished on the downhills, were never an issue.  My issue now that I've returned home is an aching in my legs which could be a form of withdrawal from pilgrim candy (i.e. Ibuprofen).  The amount of Ibuprofen I took over the last 40+ days is rather staggering.  A typical day started with 800 mg in the morning, 400 mg after noon, and another 400 mg before bed.  There was some acetaminophen in there as well but I kept the doses low.

Mentally I'm in a slight fog.  It's taking time to get back into the rhythm of things.  The jet lag is one thing.  The Camino lag is another.  The Camino is such a simple world, returning to the real world, with all its complications, can be a little jarring.

I will be posting about the Camino when I return from our Route 66 vacation.  I need the time to figure out how to post about it.  So many of the days were spent on what can only be described as monotonous routine full of wonder that writing about it will be difficult.  I suspect that posts will be picture-centric as I took 1,628 pictures over the seven weeks.  I won't post them all of course but I will try to post a good sample of what I saw in northern Spain and Madrid.

Until then, I will be taking another hiatus, this one for about a month, as we take our Route 66 vacation and I get my act together about the Camino.