What we’ve been waiting for!
Where were we? Oh yeah, we were sitting in the suburb of Paris waiting on a night bus. And, FYI, suburbs of Paris do NOT resemble the Paris of the magazines and fashion shows. Anyway, the bus arrived an hour late from Belgium. Wish I could tell you that we used that extra hour to go have one last wonderful French meal but I will tell you the sad truth. We ate a Subway sandwich sitting in the bus stop. The bus ride proved to be rather uneventful. Sadly for those that were fortunate enough to sleep, we did stop about every two hours and we often took that opportunity to buy more ‘comfort food’ from the 7-11 type establishments. We did almost miss our bus station to make the exchange to the second bus in San Sebastian but with some quick foot work by George, he was able to get our luggage out just in time. A very kind Spanish lady befriended us there when we asked how to secure our next ticket. When she realized she had misinformed us, she walked across the street where we were having breakfast and led us personally to the correct ticket counter. We are sending good vibes her way in gratitude.
We were in luck in Pamplona. The bus station still provides large lockers where we were able to store our packs until we checked into the albergue. As a note, most lockers are unavailable because of terrorism attacks. Anyway, since hostels and albergues generally are closed until noonish, we were happy to visit the town without packs. We saw great city plazas, actually stepped on the Camino for the first time, visited Hemingway’s hangout and saw Plaza de Toros where the infamous Running of the Bulls takes place each year
Lucky again in Pamplona, it happened to be the weekend of a smaller festival similar to the July extravaganza. The restaurants, bars, and streets were filled with happy and somewhat drunk Spaniards. There were bands playing in every plaza. We must have seen a marching band around every turn. There were parades and fireworks, and more fireworks! A few fire crackers were a bit too close for comfort.
We stayed in our first Albergue, Jesus and Maria. The cost was amazingly only 6 Euros per person and it was located in 17th Century Jesuit Church. Of course, we did have to share a room with 32 of our closest friends. We slept like angels!
Feeling a little guilty, we packed our gear, not very efficiently this first time but we will get better, and took a taxi a few kilometers away. It seemed the right thing to do in order to reach our destination of Puente la Reina. Our 14K hike was perfect for the first day. The climbs were steep and we celebrated when we reached the peak of Alto de Perdon, the Mountain of Forgiveness. We arrived at Albergue #2 around 2:00 pm just before the rain began. This albeque is housed in a functioning monastery and is operated by Pares Repardores. We bunked in a room with only 10 people this time. We met a charming New Zealand/Columbian couple who will be traveling for 10 months when they complete the Camino. She shared tons of information about her favorite spots around the globe! Cambodia was at the top of the list. Wouldn’t have expected that but need to check it out. Of course the older (yes, older than us—-much older than us) couple from Ireland were nowhere to be seen. That zipped past us earlier during the day, quite friendly and talkative. They were even kind enough to pretend not to notice the fact that I, for one, was only able to give one-syllable responses to their comments. On that note, all of the wonderful peregrinos (pilgrims) assure us that within a week we’ll be zipping to the peaks like everyone else. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know how that works out!
The luck of the Irish was with us as, once again, good fortune came our way. We contribute that to Irish Shelly Monahan Mendoza and the Irish pilgrims. As we wandered the streets of Puenta de Reina, we noticed a corral structure in the city center as well as make-shift gates in front of every door along the main street. Ahhh, it was the evening for the ????? festival that happens only once every two years. We quickly moved into a restaurant across from the much anticipated event. This, a small town, was not reminiscent of the previous night, but just the same, there were families, music, and the macho young guys waiting to enter the streets with the bulls. We ate scrumptious tapas while we waited. When the festivities began, Rey managed to exit our gate and dash across and jump over the fence just in time! He photographed all activities from that point forward but I think our photo of Rey taking photos is the BEST. Yep, he was like a kid in a candy store and we were just hoping he didn’t jump out there with the macho men enticing the bulls. Since you are still wondering what in the crap I am talking about, let me explain. A bull would be released into the street. Young men would run around the bull. When the bull would charge, the men would jump either over or on top of the wall to get away. This happened time after time for a few hours and the crowd never tired although we did. The restaurant owner offered let us out his back door so we could avoid danger. In the process, we got to view his garden and his Pimiento pepper – a local tradition when prepared with olive oil. Quite good! You should try them on your next visit.
It appears that the Spiers packed a bit too much. So, the packs aren’t that heavy but we, if anybody, should know better. We now have a bag of items that we intend to mail to Santiago. The surprise was on us, however, when we learned that only the bigger towns have post offices that will accept boxes. We didn’t pass one of those towns on Day 2 so we still have the extravagant items with us….you know, extravagant includes things like extra batteries, a third shirt, extra deodorant and toothpaste, walkie-talkies, and unnecessary shoes. I mean, who needs shoes if you have hiking boots? What were we thinking?
Let’s just say that Day 2 walking was a challenge and leave it at that. Bigger hills than expected. In fact, I’d argue that these ‘hills’ should gain the status of ‘mountains’. We made it to our destination and that is the important part. We had a great lunch in Lorco in an alberque there where everyone broke into singing Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind. We are staying in Casa Magica Alberque in Villateria Puente with Miguel. It is our favorite place yet. Only 10 people here. We dreaded, or use a word stronger than dreaded if you can think of one, the walk back into town for dinner. Miguel is feeding us dinner, provides washer/dryers for our stinky stuff and even has internet. He’ll provide breakfast in the morning as well.
Another good thing about Spain, noted by the men in the group, is the cost of food, lodging, and entertainment. With their impressive math skills, they just determined that for the price of one bottle of wine in Paris, they could buy six. A bottle of wine in Albeque #3 costs only 4 Euros (US$5.00).
We have met people from Canada, New Zealand, Dublin, Columbia, Japan, and Germany. Everyone, thus far, has been helpful and pleasant. I shared my bister treatments with a girl from New Zealand and she thanks me every time she sees me.
The scenery is amazing. It is an agricultural area and every farmer’s dream. Fertile fields, hay, grapes, corn, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, pumpkins, fields of sun flowers, olive trees, and black berries everywhere!
We are smelling the paella so we’ll sign off for now. Buen Camino, Amigos!
……………and yes, it is comforting to hear Spanish that we can understand a bit, instead of the French that I have so forgotten!
Comments are closed.