Shikoku Day 2

Temple 6 Anraku-Ji

Temple 7 Gokuraku-Ji

Temple 8 Juraku-Ji

Temple 9 Horin-Ji

Temple 10 (drove) Kiribati-

Miles between temples according to guidebook 8.1 km (4.86 miles) We got ride 3.9 km

Miles according to iphone: 10.8 (at least two without pack)

It went better today. Even though I slept little the night before, I started well rested. I took ibuprofen in the morning and the hip pain was less. Laura was also babying her Achilles heel and taking ibuprofen. The packs seemed less punishing.

We learned how kind people are on the pilgrimage. Once we asked to use the bathroom at a gas station. After the woman invite us into her tatami-matted home to use the restroom, she served us a special mochi and tea. I was overwhelmed with gratitude even though we were already well refreshed. A second time we were walking on a busy road and a man stopped to give us ginger candy. At the temples, Japanese people approached us asking where we were from, eager to practice their English.

We met a kind Japanese pilgrim who helped guide us and pointed out the signs in Japanese for walking pilgrims. He was exotically dressed with a brown pilgrim hat, white leggings, a brown long tunic, and a raccoon-skin hanging on his backside. We asked him the purpose of the raccoon skin and he sat down to show us that it was a wearable cushion! All this without words. 

We also met an older French man who had lived in Japan for 30 years. I wish I could have followed his conversation with "raccoon man." He did help us hitch a ride between temples 9 and 10. 

We were going to sleep in a hut, but when we arrived, realized it would be far too cold because the hut was open air and on the second floor. This would be a good sleeping spot in the summer, but not on a cold spring night.

We are staying at a more expensive but less pleasant minshuko where the tatamis are a bit sticky and the room smells of grease, although our rooms are huge. We opted for self catering today (partially due to the grease smell), so ate dinner and breakfast from the family mart instead taking the elaborate meals. It turns out that last night's 

Today we walk between 10 and 11 - 9.7 km, and will try to stay in a free place again. The next day, the most challenging day --  a 6 mile climb.