Diario de kittsw

Tuesday
There are spiders everywhere so it is quite easy to get pictures of them. The dragonflies I saw in the early morning were really interesting. They were resting on the handrails by the foot path. I don’t know what was attractive to them about the rails but even when I disturbed them getting too close taking photos, they would only fly half a metre away and settle on the handrails again.

Starting about 7:30, I walked a slow kilometre and a half with stops for photos and Coke machines. There was a shrine where I rested. A couple of kids were running around there and I wondered what was going on but soon worked out it was the pick up spot for the school bus. After having walked for an hour who should I pass but the guy from the guest house. He was messing about in front of what looks like a cross between a small transportable building and a laundromat. I had already seen a small number of these while walking. I didn’t know what they were but subsequently found out that they are coin operated rice polishing machines.
When I left the Farm Guest House it was cool and misty in the valley. I was mostly in shadow while walking. It wasn’t really much cooler than previous days, but I think it was slightly less humid up in the mountains and perhaps a bit more breezy. Once out in the sun again it becomes sticky and sweaty just as it has been for almost the whole of my walk so far. I think maybe because I drank lots of water while at the guest house I felt considerably better today. My pack is less bothersome. Maybe I’m getting used to it hanging more comfortably. But I think I’m losing some weight and it fits me better. At the end of the first walk I did in April I felt a lot better in myself than at the start of it. I hope I can get back to that mental/physical state this time as well.

At 12:00 I stopped and talked to a bunch of westerners on bicycles. I had seen them come past me one at a time as I was walking toward Hiratacho. I didn’t think it remarkable when one or two lycra clads whizzed past me, but as the numbers increased I wondered if there was some sort of race. There were probably a dozen of them. When I got to the Lawsons they were all sitting around a folding table having their lunch in the car park. They were mostly Americans and some of them wanted their picture taken with me. There was one English man and we talked for a long time.
It was one of those types of tours where they had a van which followed them and set up things like the table. It also carried their suitcases and other traveling stuff while they rode their bikes. They had been to Temple 38 the previous day and were heading somewhere further north, I don’t think they went to Temple 39. They all probably thought I was some nutter.

Just before I arrived at Enkōji (T39) I booked in and dropped my gear at guest house Shimaya which was only a couple of hundred metres from the temple gates. It was four days since I left the previous temple, Kongōfukuji (T38).

Enkoji is more of an average looking temple compared to the the jewel of Kongōfukuji. Still, it is very calming. After my rituals I sit quietly in the quadrangle. It is cool and pleasant, it’s been a very much more comfortable day. There is a steady trickle of Henro arriving, but no buses turn up, so no turbulent crowds come through. Before I know it, two hours have slipped by.

In the evening I find that the guest house owner hasn't accounted for me to have tea. There are only two of us staying. The other guy is Hideto. He said he was 70 years old. He also said, I think he said, he was going to go to temple 48, which seems a long way away from here. Hideto is happy in the dining room drinking beer.

When the lady from the previous accommodation rang up to arrange this guest house she might have omitted to ask for a meal. I ask if there’s a bike or something I could borrow, to get back to Hiratacho but the man who runs the place quickly whipped up a curry sauce which he put on some rice. They always have plenty of rice. And I am more than happy with that.

If I can get to a decently built hotel in the next day or two that will leave me at least a day spare before the typhoon is predicted to hit. From there I could also hop on a train to one of the big cities, if it looks really bad.