Zubiri

April 6. Catching up on my updates. The days walk, about 7 hours and 12 miles was much more pleasant than the day before. What I want to share with you was our alberque/hostel. As opposed to the monastery with its size and almost industrial efficiency, my lodging in Zubiri was completely opposite. Sarah, my host met me at the door with a glass of lemonade. Her place can only accommodate 9 pilgrims. She was so nice and an amazing cook. For dinner we had homemade mushroom soup, beet root gazpacho, and these pressed round silver dollar sized rice discs, seasoned and covered with a tomato sauce (tomatoes from her garden). Desert was chocolate covered cherries and cherry liquor, also from her garden. It was a wonderful group. We went around the table, telling each other our past and/or present professions. We had 2 retired police detectives (Australia), a city planner (Richmond Va), 2 retired teachers (Michigan), retired police officer who worked missing children cases (Florida), a chaplain working on becoming a priest (Korea), a retired banker (me) and an aeronautical engineer currently between jobs (Korea). We helped our hostess set the table and clean. Lots of good conversation. Lights out at 10:30. We all had a good night sleep. All in all a great day.