uncompass

Paul and I decided to tackle the dreaded Dragonte route today (well, I decided and he hesitantly tagged along) instead of the regular Brierley route, and I think that on this day a part of me died a little bit. I was honestly just about as exhausted by the end of it as I was at the end of the 55k. This day was also extremely strange; a lot went wrong and it was a huge test of my patience and willpower, but it was also a really good day. Despite our exhaustion and hunger we were still laughing by the end of it, and we got to see some of the most beautiful views I have ever witnessed in my life. Nonetheless, I compiled a list of some of the things that went down out there so that you have an idea of how our day went.

•Waded across multiple painfully icy cold rivers with sharp rocks on the bottom
•Had to dig Pauls’ boots out of a muddy trench that was filled with spiders, resulting in tons of spiders crawling all over my feet and legs (Paul had to hike the rest of Dragonte in bright pink crocs)
•Move out of the way and hide from angry bulls blocking the path
•The sunburn on my arm began blistering
•Got stung by a bee on my neck and then on my shin
•Got my hand caught up in stinging nettle (holy sh*t this stuff is painful)
•Pulled thorns out of my body on approximately 10 different occasions
•Got thorns directly in my blistered sunburn
•Had swarms and swarms of bugs in my face and up my nose at all times
•Drank untreated water
•Walked up and down 3 and a half extremely steep mountains under the hot Spanish sun

I think that I needed a day like today though. It was a nice change of pace and a good reminder of how lucky I’ve been and how easy I’ve had it the rest of the time out here. Looking forward to a somewhat easier day tomorrow.