Logrono In A Holding Pattern

A funny thing happened on the way to Santiago. A road block was put in our way and now we are dealing with it. You will recall that Annemarie experienced some swelling and pain in her forearms and wrist. That has now moved into her legs and she has an interesting rash to go with this. I think it was a strange tapas, but its probably more than likely an allergic reaction to something she ate or got into somewhere along the way. A bit of a dilemma, but we are now in a consult room in emergency waiting in the liner to see a doctor to figure this all out. 

On the positive side this has done wonders for my Spanish as I've had to figure out how to arrange a taxi, get Annemarie admitted and sort out the vending machines so that I can get a bit of food and plan the bus ride back into town. Annemarie is mostly just uncomfortable and by the time I post this entry (typing as we wait to pass the time), things should hopefully be resolved. We have arranged to stay an extra night in Logrono which is not a bad place to hang out as there is stuff to do and resources to draw on.  Speaking of which, I connected with Caitlin last night and fortunately she was just on her way to work at the medical clinic and I passed Annemarie's symptoms onwards to be relayed to a doctor at the clinic. Amazing...word back was that thing seemed to be ok until this morning, so with Annemarie already asleep I put all our gear in order and finally crawled Ito bed at about 2 am. After our early morning it was great to get a few hours of sleep...there are benefits to my sleeping pattern as I can function without much sleep. So here we sit, Annemarie dozing in and out and me typing and munching on a Kit Kat for breakfast.

Depending on the out-come our options are endless, but we do have options, ranging from continuing our Camino, to returning home, to sending Annemarie to Holland to stay with the amazing family there, to flying somewhere else in Europe and touring. I think we will Camino, but it sometimes helps to consider the options. This is why we built in 6 down days to be taken if needed for things like this that you just can't plan for. We can always skip a stage or two if needed, but no need to make a decision until we have an out-come from our visit here today...2 hours and counting.

We did enjoy a fun evening with two very nice ladies from S. Africa last night (Cape Town and Natal) who are long time school mates. Nicky has injured herself will go home in a few days as originally planned, but in the meantime she continues to gamely walk on over shorter distances. Sue will continue to walk solo until she meets her daughter at a later stage to finish together...we hope to connect with her along the way if all goes well here. Lots of fun last night sampling tapas and the excellent local wines. The festival is in full swing this week and we enjoyed taking it all in...loads of energy! I'll try to load a few photos later today.

For now we sit and wait our turn in the queue....I have now managed to get someone's attention, so will see if we get some help now. Ok, now it seems we were sent to the wrong place for treatment, but a very nice nurse has sorted things out...my Spanish improves...and they will treat Annemarie here. So on we go...just another interesting day on the Camino.

4 hours later;

So we have met with a doctor who is about the only person who has some English and as suspected it is an allergic reaction to something. They took blood and gave her a big needle full of something, So they are treating her and she should be ready to continue the Camino in a day or two. We think she will bus to Najera and I will walk the 31 Kim's on my own and meet her there. This way we will be where we had planned to be tomorrow. Oh look...her legs are deflating while we wait for final word from the Dr! Very cool!!!!

Later the Same Day:

Here is the out-come...Annemarie is better than ever and about 20% smaller! We had another experience about how the Camino seems to come up aces when you need it. In the hospital I tried to ask a fellow to show me where the bus station was located and we messed around with that for a few minutes looking at our map. As we walked out the front door of the hospital our amigo pulled up in his car and offered us a ride into town...quite a way off. Now the amigo spoke no English, but we managed a bit of communication and we stopped to buy him lunch and a cold beer. Afterwards he dropped us close to our pension. Who was that masked man?

Just completed a nice meal at the festival and then off to the pharmacy to purchase some things for Annemarie to keep her small, then a bull run tonight, a long sleep to 6:30 and a 31 km walk to Najera. It promises to be hot, and we will send Annemarie's bag ahead with a service that does this for peregrinos. Annemarie is fit to walk with a day pack.

Buen Camino!

This one is for Caitlin...