treat! At the refugio in Tui, May 24, 2008
On my hike last Saturday, one woman mentioned that she was getting a blister. I offered her one of my Compeed patches. No one in the group had heard of it before. Neither had I until I started reading about this mystery product in Camino books. Even then, I still wasn't quite sure exactly what it was. But it sure sounded good!
Without even knowing it, I had before Camino picked up a box of Compeed disguised as Dr. Scholl's "Blister Cure." It really is an amazingly good product. I brought a whole package with me on Camino but was lucky, no blisters! I did develop a "hot spot" as we walked around Tui in the evening on our grocery/sightseeing run. It was raining and I didn't want to get a fresh pair of socks wet, so I walked around town barefoot in my pseudo Crocs and paid the price. I kept Compeed on that spot the entire Camino and never once felt the slightest bit of discomfort.
Foot care items fall high on the list of stuff to bring on Camino. I had my package (sans the package) of blister cure, moleskin, two washable gel corn pads, lambswool and footcream. I'll add my little, what I call, makeup scissors to this list because cutting moleskin to size was about the only thing that would require scissors.
Medical supplies consisted of a mini-first aid kit with bandaids, tiny tweezers, some alcohol wipes and antibiotic cream packs. I also brought enough Ibuprofin to take a dose in the morning and in the evening each day I walked. I read in one of the Camino books that once the author started taking Ibuprofin before he started to hurt, he didn't hurt. When he missed a dose, he hurt. Made loads of sense to me!
Personal care items were another thing. What to bring, what to leave behind. I brought a small bar of hotel soap, an "airline" size bottle of shampoo, the small tube of hair conditioner that comes with my hair color, a comb, little packets of face cream, travel size deoderant, travel toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste and lip balm. In case it got sunny, I brought a few packets of wipe on sunscreen and body lotion. I also put a little anti-frizz serum into a travel size bottle. It helped! I had earlier found a travel size roll of toilet paper and brought that, along with one of those purse sized packets of tissues. Karin had given me a supply of paper wash cloths that suds up when you add water. I brought those as well.
As for makeup, I really feel that if I don't do the whole thing, it's better not to do anything at all. Still, I brought foundation, eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss. (It was a mistake)! I'm not sure if this falls into the clothing, gear or personal care category but I also brought a bandana. It could serve a multitude of purposes but I used it mainly to hide my Camino hair!
Then there's the miscellaneous stuff. A small rope for a clothesline, enough safety pins to hang up all of my laundry each night. I had a combination whistle compass thing and brought that. A digital camera and an extra memory card are absolutely a must. Since my camera doesn't take regular batteries, I had to bring along my electric converter so I could re-charge. I also packed a needle and thread, both for blisters and any possible repairs.
The only food items, if you could call it that, that I took were those coffee packets that work like a tea bag, some Splenda packets and packets of instant creamer. I had to have my coffee in the morning, first thing!
Lastly, there was my Guide to the Camino Portuguese. I had considered photocopying the key pages, as was recommended by many of the Camino books and websites but I opted to bring the entire book. With my imminent move, I had too many things to do other than cut and paste photocopied pages into some sort of readable guide.
So now, I was all set. I had all my Camino clothing, Camino gear and Camino stuff. Now, I just had to wait until it was time to pack it all up!
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