September 22nd, 2016

The Body's Capacity to Heal

Today we left most of our pack contents in our room, and hiked an easy 10k coastal loop. We met a couple from Poland, who took a photo of us, and later hiked and chatted for a while with an ambitious couple from Prague, who are hiking the entire Fishermen's Trail and camping along the way.

The scenery was gorgeous, and reminded me of Big Sur, in ways. As Russ and I hiked, we remembered that it was just six weeks ago he was in the hospital, having an inguinal hernia repaired! For a week or so afterwards, he could barely hobble to the bathroom. The surgeon told him not to lift anything over 5 lbs. for at least two weeks. I began to wonder if this hiking trip in Portugal would be possible. Today, he is trucking up and down mountains with a 20 lb.pack, no problems. Once again, I am witness to the body's amazing ability to heal. This is an aspect of my work that enthralls me, regardless of how many times I watch it happen.

Carrapateira

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Correction: I must apologize for the awkward sentence at the end of my post several days ago. I am posting via phone, with intermittent connection and a sometimes awkward blog app. Perhaps using "today" twice in a sentence further illustrates that it doesn't really matter what day it is, as long as I'm here for it.