A wizard hikes the Camino de Santiago

Day 3

I woke up feeling excellent! My toe seemed to be throbbing slightly less than yesterday, so the compeed had to be working!
I ate a big portion of breakfast, soaked my feet in Vaseline and then went on my jolly way.
It all went very well, right until I stopped at a bench to take off my socks and let my feet breathe. I was met with a shocking sight. My little toe was numb and had turned completely green!!
And so, I naturally started howling and sobbing like a vampire with cavities. I’m not particularly proud of this moment, but a mental breakdown can happen to even the most powerful wizard.
A Spanish garbage collector came running over to my bench and told me (by means of some exotic sort of witchery colloquially known as ‘google translate’) that he was there for me if I should need someone. The Spanish are very pleasant people, indeed, I like them a lot!
With his help I found my way to ‘Urgencias’, where a nurse took one look at my toe and then wagged her index finger disapprovingly at me.
She cut off the compeed and put some brown stuff on my toe, which made it change colour from green to yellow. Then she wrapped it in bandage, and my toe was now effectively mummified.

She told me that I needed to get a pair of proper walking shoes and some merino wool toe separating socks, because a pair of fluffy poulaines were not optimal for trekking. Humpf!
Even though I was sad to leave my beloved poulaines behind, I followed her advice and went to buy myself a brand-new pair of trekking sandals. They were not covered in little sparkly stars and they did not make a jingly sound every time I took a step. They were just plain brown and boring – which made me very sad! (Magical tip #2)
But I figured I could endure until this trip was over.
Afterwards I stopped at a café to eat some tortilla and drink an aquarius to renew my energy, and then went on my way.
On the trail I met Brian, a British man, who was doing the walk for spiritual growth. He wore a cross the size of his head around his neck, and he told me that it was God who had told him to walk to Santiago. He knew this with absolute certainty, because he would never have come up with such a foolish idea himself.
I was starting to see eye to eye with him. Together we found our way to an Albergue where we could rest our feet.

To be continued…