20. 2. 2019, Arcos

My first visitor left three days ago and the next one arrives in another three, and I am still recovering from being sick, which means perfect conditions for work. I am like a machine, a household without Internet is a blessing for my discipline. I like it so much that I decide to cancel Internet connection also at my home in Czech when I return.

I finish my daily amount of work quite early (and I even spent a third of today‘s working time procrastinating by setting up my flat – I created my rooftop office! and got tanned!), go to a café to send it (all the waiters in a radius of half a kilometer know my regular order – and I know their Wi-Fi passwords) and I realize that I still owe the last bit of money to my retail assistant Juana Mari, so I set off to withdraw it and hand it over to get that done. Well, but she would have to be at work – and what would she do there on Wednesday afternoon! Anyway, I am out in the town and I feel like doing something – I got used to some physical activity at Lucas’s place and I miss it – I wanna feel my healthy body, which apparently means that something’s supposed to hurt. And I keep looking at the lake from my house and eye-searching for some running trails but haven’t found any yet, so I could look around now for a bit. It is a common knowledge that all work and no play makes Jack one a dull boy girl.

However, I will not go nuts by working. It will happen because of my exploring trips. The plan is simple – I will follow this trail, pass by the town somewhere here below and return home from the other side. The trail looks like made for short walks, a tree alley, benches, it’s a bit boring, so I turn to a dirt road leading in a promising direction. For a while. I reach the river and try to walk along it, and despite the track disappears after a while, I still like it. I can see the beautiful cliffs on which the historical centre lies, everywhere around me are horses, cows, meadows and fields, plus the orange evening light, an idyll. There is a cow’s path between the river and the steep bank, so if it was good for the cows, it’s gonna be good for me, too. It’s not like I am walking the same path back (I hate walking the same path back), right? I scrawl on the bank, my city clothes get a bit dirty, here we go. But the bank gets straight again and I can walk just fine. The sun slowly starts setting – not my problem, I will surely find some real path soon, and turn towards the town. Surely. Still following the camino de vaca, I begin to wonder if really… Yes, I can see a bridge! I will reach it and get to the town on the road, it’s gonna be OK.

But. When I do get there, I find out that it is not a bridge, it is an old aquaduct, and there’s no road anywhere to be seen. I know, it’s pretty, but not exactly my point. The dusk has come and I am further from turning around and going back than before. So I start crossing the canyon, I meet some blackberry bushes, a hole in my new stockings, lovely, some blood on it, too, from the scratches, and on the other side of the canyon I only find out that there is nowhere further to go anyway. I give up, try to cross the canyon back again, on a different spot, and I meet some other blackberry bushes and tree branches, and get captured by it, ouch! Wave of adrenalin makes me all sweaty, I panic a little, then I force myself to relax, deal with one runner after another and I get free again and spend some minutes by getting rid of all kinds of stuff out of my hair, skirt, trainers. Fine, screw the canyon, I am going to follow it up on the field, there must be a road somewhere here, needn‘t it? A moment of wondering… I already start thinking of how many kilometers am I going to have to pass before I find something, but wait, here it is, and not too far away. Which is very good, as it is dark as hell and why would I have a flash light when I just went to withdraw some money originally, right?

It crosses my mind that most people around me live in the 21st century, having all those smartphones with maps and GPS… Well, not me, because this is more interesting, muhehehe. The crazy explorer inside me still considers following the road in the direction in which I originally wanted to go, but I tell her off immediately and start walking back towards the part of town where I set off from. The road takes some D-tour so I emerge by the Carrefour, you cannot go more to the (further) edge of the town than that. Nevermind. I’ve done some workout, haven’t I? But well, this is not going to be my favourite running trail. At least I know now! And all the visitors can appreciate me knowing – if I, in the future, manage to find some paths that actually lead somewhere, that is.

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