We'll see...

A story about expectations and surprise.

While in Takayama I’d noticed a pronounced stiffness in my calf that wouldn’t yield to stretching or rest. We took the train to Shikoku, hooked up with the tour and started walking the next day. My leg was feeling odd. That night my calf swelled up alarmingly. After some consultation with Jess, the internet, my doctor, and my emergency-room-doc cousin we decided it might be a blood clot and I should get to a hospital.

So I did. Though it was a lovely, efficient and clean enough place It was a bit harrowing having to talk to doctors using google translate while texting my doctor back home to cross check their diagnoses. No blood clot! Mild case of lymphedema - not a big deal. But I missed the most strenuous and dramatic day of the pilgrimage (which I was looking forward to) and was told not to take hot baths. Every hotel we’re staying in here as gorgeous hot spring bath houses. Sad.

We’ll see….

Tonight we’re staying in the gorgeous Iya valley: peaked forested hills with rope bridges between them and a stunning river of a kind of whitebluegreen color I’ve never seen before. We arrived after a long day of walking and everyone headed for the outdoor hot pools with a open view of the valley.

I headed up river. Cold water is good for swelling and exercise is good for lymphedema.

I leapt, scrambled, climbed, and hopped along the greygreen stone of the river. The rock is shaped and flows like sandstone but is as hard as granite. It was dusk and every hundred feet or so a stream or waterfall came down between huge rocks to join the small running rapids.

Once I’d gotten upstream about a mile I jumped in to a particularly deep pool. Crystal cold and shocking. Then I made my way back down stream wading, sliding, briefly climbing and a couple times full-out swimming across deep blue pools of snow melt.

I arrived at the hotel freezing but elated. It ranks in the top five outdoor experiences of my life.

We’ll see…

- david

p.s. here are some nice shots i took today of my lovely wife and daughter: