Before I explain the provocative title of today’s post, let me go back to yesterday, and my rest day in Santo Domingo. Man o man, I didn’t realise how much I needed it.

As soon as the Farmacia opened, I hobbled in and asked for some Compeed for my heel blister, which by this stage was humongous. I had already Compeed it, if I can use it as a verb, however I wanted a larger patch. (Compeed is like a second skin that covers the blister and takes out the fluid. Usually it’s very effective.)

Anyway, the Farmacia bloke wanted to see my blister, so I delicately took off my shoe, then my sock, and showed him. His eyes widened in horror, he put his hand to his mouth, stepped back a few paces, then he looked at me gravely and said: Muchos problemo.

Now, I don’t know Spanish but I got the drift.

He wouldn’t sell me the Compeed. He said I had to go to the Municipal Pilgrims’ albergue and see someone there who would advise me what to do.

I had decided not to stay at the albergue – I wanted a private room so had booked into a hotel around the corner, but as it was apparent that the Farmacia would not only not serve me, but he regarded me as toxic goods, so I went around to the albergue.

It turned out that the lady who was at the reception desk was a nurse. I told her the Farmacia bloke had insisted I see her, so she too asked to see my blister.

Muchos problemo, she said, then nearly gagged.

(I’m not posting a photo of the blister out of common decency.)

She then proceeded to tear off the Compeed that was vainly clinging to my heel and the incumbent blister, then she dressed it with Bentadine, then some kind of antibiotic cream, and put a dressing on it.

She didn’t want any payment – this was something that she did for the pilgrims. I pointed out that I wasn’t even staying at the albergue, but that didn’t matter to her. I gave her a big hug, then went back to the Farmacia and bought all the stuff that I needed to carry on the treatment myself.

What an angel she was.

A side note to pilgrims staying in hotels: in the bathroom, the disposable plastic bags for feminine hygiene products are fantastic for holding your toothpaste, or anything else that tends to leak.

I slept in – determined that I would start my new “easy” Camino with the right spirit. Sleeping in for me was 7am. By 8am I’d had my buffet breakfast, and raided it with the same clinical efficiency I’d applied to the bathroom, then I was on my way.

Oh, I forgot about the cock.

Yesterday on the day off, I went to the Santo Domingo Cathedral. It’s very famous, but I didn’t know why when I entered. I was wandering around, and noticed that a young couple had entered too.

Suddenly I heard loud screech, and I turned and saw the girl laughing.

Keep it down guys, I thought. You’re in a church.

I wandered around a bit more, and heard a second screech. Louder this time. I looked around for the young couple, and again they were laughing.

The young have no respect, I thought. If you want to skylark, why don’t you go outside. I’m a pilgrim, after all. Can’t you tell? I’m limping.

And then I saw the girl pointing to something up on one of the walls. I walked over and saw it was a medieval hutch, and inside were a live rooster and a hen. It was the rooster, or cock, that had been making all the noise.

The Cathedral has a wonderful miracle story that goes back centuries, that involves a cock and a hen. And for centuries, there’s been a cock and a hen in a hutch in the church.

I was so quick to judge the young couple. When it was just a cock.

So, this morning I headed off, feeling not so much rejuvenated but a bit stiff and sore. But there were clouds, and it was cool, and great weather for walking, and I soon found my rhythm.

I crossed over the old bridge leaving Santo Domingo and headed into some of the most beautiful country I’ve seen so far.

I took it easy, stopping to take photos regularly. It’s interesting – by the time I actually left the town, it was 8:30am. Normally I’m on the road by 6am or 6:30am latest. And what I found is that a different kind of pilgrim leaves after 8am. The social pilgrim. The casual pilgrim. The pilgrim who is doing the camino in stages and often sends their backpack on ahead in a taxi.

This is something I would never countenance, however I’m not one to judge.

(Witness my judgment of the young couple in the church!)

This morning, there was a group of French pilgrims sauntering along ahead of me, having a great time. They asked me to take their photograph beside a cross by the track – and this I did.

The thing I’ve noticed with French pilgrims – they like to picnic, and they like to pee. Probably because they have wine with their picnics. They’re always picnicking, and always peeing. I saw a French pilgrim today walk past with two Perrier bottles strapped to his chest. No doubt he pees often too.

I was walking into Granon, a beautiful little village, and I saw the Grim Reaper walking towards me. A long way off, on the road up ahead, but wearing a black cloak, a black hood, and holding a silver scythe.

It freaked me out. Surely it couldn’t be the Grim Reaper. But it looked exactly like the Grim Reaper looked in that Bergman film.

I started to wonder, what if it IS the Grim Reaper walking the Camino, walking up to me. What would I do? What would I say? I mean, I know I’ve had my physical difficulties lately, but jeees – it’s just a blister.

I know – Muchos problemo.

Anyway, I figured I’d tell the Grim Reaper that there was a fat bloke behind me who had red blotchy cheeks and was having a hard time on the hills, and he really should go have a chat to him instead.

As it turned out, it wasn’t the Grim Reaper, of course. It was an American lady wearing a poncho with a silver coloured bag slung over her shoulder. She had a radio, or a some kind of tape recorder, because she was blasting out Country & Western tunes as she wandered through the streets of the beautiful village.

I got through to Belorado today – 23 kms. It was a glorious walk. My knee is almost back to normal, the heel blister is on the mend, and the shin soreness is calming down.

Not time for the Grim Reaper yet.