Sprinters and Bed Bugs

I am over my beef with the bikers and I have now focused my attention on the Sprinters. The sprinters are the people that start the Camino at the 100k mark. The reason for this is that you must do 100k´s in order to get the certificate at the end and they pretty much suck. They are the most unfriendly people and are extremely rude. It is just a long weekend for them and they don´t understand what it is all about. They come in late and loud, are constantly on their phones (in the rooma and on the Camino), they yell to speak, carry radios (!!!!) and listen to them while they walk so we can all enjoy their shitty music, and there are hundreds of them so they take all the beds. That last one really got us today. After walking 33 k´s to day (and 40 the day before), the place we were going to stay was full so we pretty much ran the next 3k´s to get to the next albergue where there was just one bed left and 4 of us. We must have done something good at some point because the hospialiro call the 3 of us back and gave us our OWN ROOM! I know you can´t understand the excitement, but we were squealing! For the past 30 days we have been sharing a room with 100 other people and to have 3 of us in one room is heaven!

Oh, speaking of sharing rooms. One of the many joys of this is that at some places, I don´t know how it happens, but people bring bed bugs. Up until now I have been very luck and have not encountered this but it finally happened about 3 days ago. Rike had seen one in her bed and didn´t think anything of it. Well, the next day she was covered in bites. They got into her bag, where she carried them to the next place and oh-so-kindly shared them with me. On my right arm alone I have 18 bites. I was so close! If they were just bites I wouldn´t care, but they itch like hell! It´s like having poison oak all over your body. And the best part is that I have 3 bites on my butt. I think I have rid my things of them, but the only way to find out is if I have more tomorrow...