Category: Uncategorized

I had another good walk today. It was a cloudless beautiful day that warmed up to the high 60’s. The walk from Zubiri to Pamplona was one of the shortest…about 11 miles. Along the way, I ran into Camino friends that I had met on earlier walks. I stopped at a cafe for breakfast around 10am and had a great time seeing these people, sharing stories. This is how I imagined the Camino to be. One of these friends, said (paraphrasing) “none of the literature or books or articles about the Camino says that we all have to get along and help each other on the Camino. But that’s exactly what happens. We are surrounded by people from all over the world and, and without any sort of directive, we are enjoying each other and supporting each other..without a second thought.” We share the trials and tribulations and frustration of the Camino, our aching muscles…but we end up laughing with each other. This is a the Camino…and for me…it’s only day 3. I’ve checked into my alberque for tonight. It’s another big hostel…I’m in a room with at least 60 other pilgrims. I’m going out now for drinks and dinner. Since we’re in a city…the alberques don’t tend to offer a meal. All for now.

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.

April 5th. I’m writing my Saturday entry on Sunday. My first day on the Camino was a defining day for me. All the literature and pilgrims say that this 1st stage would be hard and a challenge. Let me join that chorus of advisors. I hiked over the Pyrenees and it was the most physically and mentally challenging thing I have ever done in my life. It was a 10 hour hike…7 hours were spent in a steep ascent climb and 3 hours with a steep decline. It nearly broke me. The weather was absolutely beautiful (as seen in the pictures I posted) until about 2:30 when a sprinkle turned in a heavy shower. I was drenched. Time after time, the path appear top off…only to find that there was another steep incline waiting for me around the corner. With 6 miles to go, the fog rolled in with the rain. I finally got to the monastery at 5:30pm. The climb took me up to about 5,000 feet….and I fought for every one of those feet! In hindsight, I’m glad I did it…and really glad it’s behind me.

Things immediately changed when I arrived at the monastery. It’s a huge operation that has been hosting pilgrims since 1197. Volunteers were at the door helping us check in and acquaint us with the building. It’s got 180+ beds and it was sold out. My room had maybe 70 beds. It was clean and well equipped. I had dinner there…with a plate of pasta and sauce and a whole trout for the entree. We had a couple of bottles not wines to share at the table. The challenges of the days climb were fading away.

I continue to meet friendly and wonderful pilgrims from all over the world. In the misery of the climb, I met Theresa and Harry from Matt and Jennys neighborhood. They live about 8 blocks from them. They were with me during the rainy descent. Theresa was a talker (“I don’t want to complain, but this is really hard.”). From Harry…”I’m doing great, now that I have a new hip.” Lots of other great people with interesting stories. Maybe I’ll devout a blog entry to these Camino pilgrims.

So, that’s the story. Today’s walk from the monastery was much easier, although not without its challenges. I’ll send another entry out about that later on

Tomorrow, my destination is Pamplona. The bulls don’t run until July, and that works for me. All for now.