{"id":2852,"date":"2017-05-10T15:40:43","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intothewideopen.com\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2017-05-17T15:43:54","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T15:43:54","slug":"camino-norte-day-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intothewideopen.com\/?p=2852","title":{"rendered":"Camino Norte: Day 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>May 10th, 2017\n

Bilbao to Portugalete<\/p>\n

Km walked: 20<\/p>\n

Km total: 169<\/p>\n

It only took a week on the trail, but I finally managed to lock myself in a public toilet. It was hot in there, and humid, and the smell of urine and crap was almost suffocating. There are hardly any public restrooms in Spain, so when we saw one after walking through an urban jungle for 10 kilometers without anywhere to relieve ourselves, we decided to use it.<\/p>\n

The public restrooms here are singular cubes, almost like a metal chamber. And when I went in, the door closed automatically and snapped locked. I used the toilet, a mess of a thing, with unidentified liquid all over the black cracked seat and all over the floor. Gross doesn\u2019t quite describe the utter filth of the thing. And the moist air- why was it so damp in there? I swear it was almost raining inside the cube. Their was no windows and no ventilation to be had, and if someone decided to die in here the body would probably decompose overnight. A perfect place to get rid of a dead body, now that I think of it. After doing my thing, I proceeded to the door. I pushed on it and it was still locked. There wasn\u2019t a handle to twist or pull and for a brief moment panic set in. There were two red buttons on the side wall, both lit up. I pressed the top one and this flushed the toilet. I tried to push on the door thinking that it would now let me out because I flushed my waste down the drain, but alas no luck. I tried the bottom button. The toilet flushed again and the door remained locked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh boy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I started pulling and yanking on the door, yelling at Carolyn to try and open it from the other side. But it wouldn\u2019t budge. My heart raced in my chest and the room suddenly became hotter and more humid, something I thought was surely and impossibility only a few moments ago.<\/p>\n

Outside, Carolyn was trying to ask some people in broken Spanish how to open the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPush the buttons!\u201d Carolyn yelled from the outside world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI did! Nothing happened!\u201d<\/p>\n

More Spanish resumed on the other side. I was starting to wonder how long I would be stuck in there. Carolyn would have to call the fire department. They would have to use the jaws of life to pry me out of this tin can. I could see the news headlines now- \u201cstupid American locks himself in public toilet- almost dies.\u201d I would become a meme on the Internet. The joke would be all on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you try both of the buttons?\u201d Carolyn asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, nothing happened!\u201d I yelled back.<\/p>\n

More Spanish. Faster Spanish. Not from Carolyn, but whomever she was talking with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I looked at the blue tiled floor. It was wet and sticky. I wouldn\u2019t even be able to sit down and wait for the fire department. I would probably pass out from having to stand in this awful air, and when they finally pried the door open, they would find an empty room- the humidity having consumed my dead corpse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPush the button and push the door at the same time!\u201d Carolyn said at last.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I did as instructed and the door finally snapped open. Cool and refreshing air fell over me, and I sucked it all in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carolyn stood laughing at me, and the people she was talking with looked at me too, smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuchos Gracias!\u201d Carolyn said to the old couple. They smiled and said something back that I didn\u2019t understand. They were all having a good time of it. I almost died and was consumed by the evil humidity, and everyone was laughing about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t go in there first!\u201d Carolyn said. \u201cI think I\u2019ll skip going in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWise choice,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we both continued walking on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Took a trip to the world famous Guggenhiem museum of Modern Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
Inside the museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
Getting lost in the maze<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
Buildings in Bilboa<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
View of Bilboa walking away from the city<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
That\u2019s a lot of baguettes<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"\"<\/a>
Old church looming above narrow streets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 10th, 2017 Bilbao to Portugalete Km walked: 20 Km total: 169 It only took a week on the trail, but I finally managed to lock myself in a public toilet. It was hot in there, and humid, and the smell of urine and crap was almost suffocating. There are hardly any public restrooms in 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