Hannah´s cough became worse overnight, cementing our decision for a second rest day. We´ve been in close contact with people from so many different places over the past fortnight, and I´ve sure it´s just exposure to different strains of cough/cold germs that have brought this on -- similar to when young kids first go to primary school.
We got directions to the doctor ("el medico") from the hotel. After arriving at the building we thought we had to go to, we were redirected to another building labelled "Urgencias", which seemed overkill for a cough. It wasn´t the Mexican ´Flu!!
This was our first real test of Spanish vobab. The receptionist spoke zero English, and our Spanish is mainly limited to food, directions & accommodation. We don´t have the vocab to cover the Spanish Helathcare System yet. All we really understood was the doctor´s name (Prof Juan Jose Garcia Diaz), and the appointment time of 11:35am. There´s also the possibility that he said something along the lines of "this is not normal"... but we´re not sure.
While waiting for the appintment, Hannah wrote out a few phrases to tel the doc:
"Tengo dolor de la tos y el resfriado por cuatro diaz"
(I´ve had a cough and cold for four days)
"La tos, todo la tiempo"
(I cough, all the time)
"Tengo esta a la farmacia"
(I got these from the pharmacy)
Right now we´re sitting in the sun at a cafe on the bank of a river, watching the stream of pilgrims cross a stone bridge close by, almost always headed west.
We walked past a "clinica del pie" (clinic of feet AKA podiatrist) this morning which reminded me of a guy from Liverpool we met a few days ago. He´d been wearing an "I <3 PIES" tshirt until he realised it was drawing strange looks. In Spanish it roughly translates to "I <3 feet". A foot fetishist could find better hunting grounds than an 800km walk.
We haven´t yet decided whether we´ll do the 800kms to Santiago, or the extra 90kms to Finisterra, the western-most point of Spain. Finisterra means "The End of the Earth", as this is where the Romans thought the edge of the world was. I think it´s also where the ancient Celts thought Rag-na-roc lay just over the horizon. It´s an extra 3 days walking past Santiago. By the time we get to Santiago I think we´ll either never want to walk again, or 90kms will be so insignificant we´ll do it without a moment´s hesitation. I don´t think there´ll be any middle ground.
Post Doctor: the doc didn´t seem too concerned. He prescribed (in Spanish) a big dose of Ibuprofen 3 times daily for the next 3 days. No Mexican flu, thankfully. :) (we´ve barely seen any news since leaving London a fortnight ago, so that´s the only topical news story we know of). :)
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