yet another day...

It's the start of another day, September 15th. It's going to rain today. A typhoon is going to brush Japan later and then we will really see some rain, but today it should be a gentle rain.

I used a squat toilet in the morning, but it had bars installed in the front so I could hang on. Never saw that before. It was like riding a bike with training wheels. Still, I worried that I was going to fall off. When I was practicing haunching at home there would be times I would get light headed when standing up too quickly. I had visions of doing an Elvis on his last day on earth when I was finished. Obviously, I didn't or I wouldn't be writing this.
And talking about toilets, last night while in the benjo (toilet or literally convenient place) I discovered that I was sharing it with a spider that made the ones at home look like whimps. It wasn't as big as a tarantula, thank goodness, but it got my attention. So for the whole time there I had to worry that he wouldn't climb the wall to drop down on me, and that a woman would not enter the stall next to me. I did tell you the bathrooms are mixed? No? Well, they are. You could make music together, alto and tenor all the while you're doing your thing. It's togetherness taking to the extreme. Needless to say all that distraction didn't encourage efficiency if you know what I mean.

Each morning Emi and I check our bodies for the signs of our walk. Her six blisters are getting better, uglier but better. Her heat rash is staying mainly around her waist while my rash is spreading from my back and moving onto my shoulders. The rash around my ankles seems to be healing, turning a darker red and becoming flush to the skin. That is a good sign isn't it? The muscle fatigue, pain is staying at a tolerable level. Emi is gulping advil like candy, and I'm not taking anything because I'm a real man and because I'm stupid.

I also do my stretches and exercises in the morning in hope it will make it possible that I finish this trek. I have brought my handy dandy rubber cord as an aid. My PT and chiropractor would be proud.

We finished the day at 1:30 and sat in the rain for some 40 minutes waiting for the ryokan to open. We were still so tired that we were falling asleep in the sitting position. The innkeeper came out early and called us in. She said (to Emi) that she allows the henros to come in early when the weather's bad. I guess rain counts as bad weather. Even though we ended the day at 1:30 it was still 6 hours of waking, and I cannot tell a lie; I was dragging. I wondered if we would get stronger as the days passed or if we would get more beat up. I guess it's the latter.