Day 15, part 2

The wind that had been blowing all night continued until afternoon. It was difficult even standing especially when the gusts caught our packs and twisted us around. With some modification, parahiking could be a new sport. At lunch the TV news was blaring the news-- Lisbon airport was closed due to high winds, with flights being diverted to Faro or Madrid. Porto reported several houses blown down by 230 kph winds. Yep, we were walking in high winds, across a bridge on the brink of collapse.

JH was still being grumpy, giving snippy answers to questions and barking orders. "Don't step in puddles. Watch out for cow manure. Don't cross there, cross here. It's cold, zip up your jacket."

She was driving us crazy.

After lunch, the wind subsided, the rain stopped, and dogs stopped barking at us. Not only did dogs stop barking at us, five cute puppies bounded (tumbled) toward us, eager to play. They were so happy to play with us that they kept falling over themselves. They followed us down the lane and we had to run to ditch them so they wouldn't follow us to the upcoming intersection.

That was the only time JH was nice, and it was only towards the puppies. Her nagging and micromanaging continued. I was wearing a wool cap in very light rain but my hood was down. I'd been like this for an hour. "Are you planning to wear your cap in the rain?"
"I guess so."
"Hmph."

Later, I stopped to pee. "Be careful of the wind." she warned unnecessarily.

"Ok. Thanks." I said out loud. "How would know more about this than me? Men make wind calculations without even thinking. We know about wind and flow. Please, my dear, shut up. I'm not a child.", I didn't say out loud because I value my life more than my pride, apparently.

I'm always cheerful. Well, maybe cheerful is a bit too strong a word. I'm always in a good mood and I don't like to see others in a bad mood. I tried to cheer her up. "Why do you do this? You're trying to trick me into feel guilty and apologizing later.", she snapped.

I had no answer so I just dropped back and decided not to engage the enemy. I even used Gyueon as a human shield.

In that peaceful 20 minutes I realized that she must think that she's traveling with two 13-year olds. It didn't make me feel better. I just don't understand how a bad mood trumps a good mood.

They reached an intersection and JH motioned for me to come. I was tired of taking orders so I dismissively signaled for her to go ahead. She motioned again and pointed to something I couldn't see and smiled. A woman selling fresh veggies, huge veggies that looked so good I could almost taste them. It was a simple sight but it thawed the ice between us. She apologized for being a bitch [her word]. Apology accepted. It's ok for me to talk about this because she put it on Facebook.



Photos:
1 puppies!
2 one of the best pictures I've taken. Notice the distinct lack of rain. I was confused. JH was grumpy and didn't appreciate this view at the time. And I was a jerk for pointing it out.