Update on my blister
I tried contacting the Podiatrist that a friend had spotted but they didn't reply. I tried talking to a pharmacist but they weren't much help and just wanted to sell me some Compeed which I bought and then discovered was too small.
The blister covered half of the ball of my foot and down into my arch.
My accommodation was directly opposite the entrance of a very large research hospital and university and the area has the vibe of students and medical staff.
I was walking back to my room after seeing the pharmacist and stopped for a breakfast coffee when a young woman sat next to me at the bar. I decided to take a punt and see if she spoke English and had a medical background and got lucky on both.
She said that she was an off-duty nurse and that Yes she did speak English. I asked her for her advice and she told me to go to the Emergency Department to be treated.
I wasn't keen on that option because it seemed like overkill and based on my ANZ experience would probably mean that I sat around in a queue waiting to be seen for most of the day while staff concentrated on more urgent cases.
I needed to do some washing and so grabbed my dirty clothes and went to a laundrette to clean them while giving me time to think.
After washing and drying my clothes I pulled out my phone, opened Google Maps and there highlighted for me on the screen was a Podiatrist just around the corner and so I went there to see what help I could get.
When I got to the address from Google Maps it was a building with professional rooms that I needed to buzz one of the bells in order to be let in. My dilemma was that the number shown on Google Maps had the word Dentist associated with it on the panel of buzzers.
I stood there wondering how I would explain in Spanish that I wanted the Podiatrist rather than the Dentist when a woman walked up, pushed the buzzer for the room that I wanted, said something in Spanish and the door opened.
Taking a huge punt, I asked her in English about the Podiatrist. Again I was in luck, she spoke English and explained that both a Dentist and the Podiatrist worked from that set of rooms. She said that she was an administrator for the Podiatrist and invited me in.
When we got out of the lift and into the reception area she helped me explain what I needed. The nurse/receptionist said that they could help but that the Podiatrist was very busy and could I please come back another day.
I told her that I was a pilgrim walking to Santiago de Compostela and she smiled and said she had also walked to Santiago, had another look at the diary and asked if I could come back that evening and, of course, I said yes.
I returned that evening and saw the Podiatrist who disinfected my foot, took out a scalpel, cut the skin off the blister, cleaned and disinfected the wound and put a dressing on it before I quite realised what she was doing.
Only then did she ask me when I would be walking again.
When I told her, the next day, she was not pleased. Then she asked how far I would walk the next day. I thought that I had better give her a low figure and so I said 16 kilometres. Again, she was not pleased and told me not to walk more than 8 klms.
We then had a conversation about my needing to buy some Betadine and a replacement dressing so that I could change it and keep the wound clean.
When I said that I have arthritic hips and that it is difficult for me to attend to the bottom of my feet, she said that I could leave the current dressing on for three days but that I should keep it clean but not get it wet as it wasn't a waterproof dressing.
I walked back to my accommodation to plan how I could walk three 8 klms days and without showering!
Ultimately, after trying lots and lots of different transport and walking options, I decided that it could not be done on this area of the Camino Madrid without extensive and costly use of taxis and so I decided to end my Camino Madrid for now, move to cheaper accommodation in Valladolid for two nights and then head up to Sahagún and Burgos so that I can be on time for my retreat at Santa Domingo de Silos and then come back here and finish my Camino Madrid after that.
I have plenty of time as I don't fly home until mid August but I don't have unlimited money and so I need to choose options that don't cost too much.
In the meantime I am enjoying Valladolid very much and as I mentioned to someone else, it is the biggest Spanish city that I never knew existed. It is the Antipode of the capital of ANZ, Wellington and in some ways shares a quirky, small city, big personality vibe with Wellington.
I have been exploring Valladolid and yesterday I walked 10 klms and so far my foot is feeling much better. I have moved to a cheap Airbnb. I have one room in an apartment that I share with an elderly Brazilian couple and their adult son.
It is interesting because they talk to me in a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish and I reply in English and none of us know what is actually being talked about but we do seem to understand the essential things.
Immediately after the retreat at Santa Domingo de Silos I need to travel back towards Madrid to pick up a bag of excess things that I need but not until later in my trip (another long story). Then I head to Pamplona to meet a friend and have lunch with her and the other Nuns at Zabaldika.
Then I need to decide about completing this Camino and/or doing something else.