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500 km on the Camino Frances without even the hint of a blister. 3 days into my writing/productivity-holiday and my feet are plastered with them.

What the heck? I know!

Before you get your hopes up, this post is purely for entertainment purposes. No deep-rooted life lesson behind it. Unless, maybe, that the use of common sense can come in handy at times.

The first one announced it’s arrival when I got off the plane in Tenerife. I was wearing my new super comfy sandals.

I bet I know what you’re thinking. Every three-year-old knows what to expect if you wear a new pair of shoes for an extended period of time.

But we’re talking about sandals for crying out loud. Super comfy as I mentioned. And, I didn’t have to walk any kind of long distances. The farthest I walked was from security to the gate. That’s it.

OK, so I made it to the apartment I rented to be productive in. As it was late-ish already and I was getting hungry, I decided to put a band-aid over the blister and walk the short stroll into the little town for a bite to eat.

12 minutes on foot he said…

Those were among the longest 12 minutes of my life and I’ve been around for a while.

Of course, you can double or better yet triple the distance. After all, I had to find a place where I could get something to eat first, grab some groceries for the next day and then walk back.

So, I’m sure you guessed it. By the time I made it back to the apartment, I had a total of 4 blisters. One on each pinky toe and one on each ball of my feet.

OK, no problem, I came here to do some work anyway.

But I had to eat. I know I said I’d grab some groceries. And I did. Got coffee and all… but forgot the milk and the sugar. And black coffee doesn’t really go near me any more. Yuck.

Gladly the blisters were a lot better. You could say they were almost gone.
So I decided to walk back to the little town. This time fully aware of the distance and therefore preparing myself respectively. Or so I thought.

Band-aids on both pinky toes, other, well broken in shoes on my feet, I made my way into El Médano for my favorite Spanish breakfast, a cup of cafe con leche, a glass of freshly pressed OJ and a toasted slice of bread with a freshly pureed tomato, olive oil and a bit of salt. Mmh, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

While I was sitting on that terrace enjoying my breakfast I noticed a bit of a pinch on my right pinky toe but didn’t really think anything of it.

The whole tour was well thought through. My way back lead me past a little beach bar where I would have a little something.

Don’t get your knickers in a twist. I had breakfast quite late. Meaning it was already afternoon by that time I got to the bar and had a small draft beer. So, no, I was not falling off the bar stool totally sloshed at 9:30 in the a.m.

Next stop, on my way back, was a supermarket for the sugar, the milk and everything else I needed.

By the time I got home, the blister on my right pinky toe looked like it was ready to burst.

I’ll give walking a rest for a day or two

After all, I came here to get some significant work done on my project. So, I’d wait for the blisters to heal and then check out some nearby attractions.

I worked away, did some writing, some planning, some crossing-off, some getting in touch, watching online courses, etc.

Almost there, tomorrow I’ll check out the Red Mountain.

Tonight, I’ll be clever and wear my pink flip-flops

Sure, that made the most sense. They didn’t touch any sensitive part of my poor feet.

No, they made sure I got plenty of new sensitive parts on them.

The initial plan was walk to the beach bar as they usually have Paella on their menu. This is about a good 15 minute walk.

Unfortunately the Paella on that day was only for guest’s of Matthias, a German guy celebrating his birthday there. Great, now what?

I really wanted something nice to eat. After all, I came all the way down to Tenerife, I will not only have toasted bread and olive oil, as much as I like it.

What I had totally forgotten was…

…that my beloved flip-flops are extremely comfy even for walking longer distances, ONLY once I have worn them a few times casually around the house or walking shorter distances.

From a foodie point of view, I had not much of a choice. I had to walk
further to find a nice place.

At this point, I already noticed that my feet were not as comfortable as I had thought they would be. Only a little further. Just until I will have found a nice place to have some fresh seafood at.

After I had walked almost twice as far – again, I know -, I found the place.

I enjoyed some fab food, a glass of wine and a yummy dessert right there by the beach. Perfect.

And then I got up

You probably know the feeling. You sit down after you have walked a
long-ish stretch or stood around in your heels for a while. Your feet hurt and you cannot wait to take the weight off of them.

What a relief!

Then you get up…

That’s when millions of tiny needles start penetrating the soles of your feet. The pain is now much worse than it was before you sat down.

Why? Why did you do that? You know better. It’s torture – both, mentally and physically!

It wasn’t like that.

It was like I had grown two small balloons on each sole of my feet. What had happened?

I hadn’t thought things through before I had left the house. That’s what happened.

If I had, I wouldn’t be in this pickle. Then I would have known that the part where the strap of the flip-flop meets the sole would give me grieve if I walked in them for too long.

Well, no use crying over spilled milk. Nothing I could do about it now. And, I still had to figure out what would be the least painful way to get home. I hadn’t seen a lot of taxis around. Neither did I have a clue where the bus stop was, which one to take and when the next one was due.

So the seemingly obvious choice was to walk back. I was able to tough it out until I was away from all the restaurants to remain some of my dignity. That’s when I took the flip-flops off. Ah, better. Even if only a little bit.

50 m done – 2,450 to go

While I was, what felt like, inching my way back to the apartment, I switched between wincing and laughing. Wincing, when I stepped on a tiny pebble and laughing about myself and this absurd situation.

Gosh, I am so glad I have the ability to laugh about myself. All the fun I would’ve missed otherwise.

And there was still more reason for laughter in store for me that night.

When I finally made it back to the apartment I had a glorious idea. Tonight, I’d go out to the pool area and hang my feet in the pool to cool them off a bit.

I made it back, got to the pool, sat down and hung my feet in the water. But what was that. It was warm. That’s when it hit me. The description of the place mentioned a heated pool. But guys. Heating a pool is one thing. But bathtub warmth is a totally different story.

There was no way I could cool my feet off in that water. But it still felt kind of nice.

Then I got to chat with a few kids who were playing in the pool at that time and totally forgot about the blisters.

Only when I got up I realized what a genius move that was (rolls her eyes).

Now the babies were twice the size. As if I had pumped them up to make the most of them. I couldn’t help but laugh again. What a genius I am.

Let me see if I can find a moral to this story

Yeah, maybe my subconscious mind tricked me in order to keep me productive and away from the temptations of this probably very beautiful island.

There you have it.

That’s what I am telling myself. After all, I came here to get on top of my game.

As always, have a lovely day!

Renate xx