This may have been my most challenging day of the whole hike. It started off so pleasant as I walked a pair of Germans I had met the night before, but right off the bat we took a wrong turn. As I regaled the woes and story of my life, they kept second guessing the amount of descent that we were undertaking, and I scoffed a little and didn’t think much of it (we were doing two seperate hikes that overlapped for a bit). Eventually they split off and headed back uphill to join their track, and this would be some very poignant foreshadowing for me.
It was an absolute scorcher of a day, and I was so thrilled to be descending into a lovely little village. I then had some difficulty figuring out where to go, and finally pulled out my maps. I wasn’t supposed to be in a cute little village right now, and the trek definitely wasn’t supposed to descend this much! I cross referenced with Gaia GPS and I was way, way off where I was supposed to be. Well, not too far off, but with the elevation gain required with the heat of the midday sun, I was screwed.
I looked for some electrolytes at the store without any luck, and some blister bandaids for my pinky toe at the pharmacy. Then I sat by the town’s public fountain and slowly came to terms with my predicament. I charted a route that would link up with the trail, and I’d be on my way.
As I left the town, a car with a taxi sign on it drove by me! I waved him down, and through broken English and Spanish he told me he was done for the day. Feeling very defeated, I watched him drive away, right up the long, winding hill that I needed to walk up 🙁
This part of the day sucked. It was so hot and so steep, and it was a surprisingly busy road. No one picked me up, and when I was 2/3rds if the way up, I swear I saw the same taxi cab leaving his home and coming back down the hill. Salt in the wound.
When I got to the top though, I met a trio of hikers that were sitting under a shady tree, and after introducing each other as Julia, Gabo, and Andreanna, we stuck together the rest of the day along the long, windy ridge! It was really nice to have some company, but all of us were low on water and needed more asap. It was tough to enjoy the views, and we took long breaks under any tiny amount of shade that we could find.
Walking along ridges means there’s no creeks or streams to take water from, and it was many kms of walking before we descended through a forest and found a water trough with the tiniest trickle of water coming out. I shared my water filter with my new friends, and we moved on just as a horse and foal swung by and took over the fountain from us!
The rest of the walk from here was still very long, and we tried hitchhiking and got spots for the two women in our group. So Gabo and I walked the rest of the way, and met up with the girls at the public pool in Elizondo where we swam, showered, and drank a LOT of water. I still had no place to sleep, but we stopped at a restaurant for dinner and I swear, they had the absolute BEST vegan burger that I’ve ever had in my life. They also had Greta beer, and played punk and metal music inside. It was absolute heaven.
We stayed out past dark, and then walked over to the hostel they had booked, and they generously helped me get a bed in their room. It was stinking hot inside and I slept horribly, but it was much better than illegally camping in town or walking further than I had to that day. Despite the difficulties, I survived and might have even thrived that day. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it, and when you are at the mercy of nature to figure it out or die trying.
