On the train from Paris to St Jean I think we mentioned meeting a (Jesuit?) Priest from Kansas and his companion. Well we saw the Priest limping along the river in Najera yesterday. He had quite a flock of pilgrims with him.
When we arrived at the hotel yesterday after our long walk it was Siesta and we asked the hotel clerk if there was some place we could get some wine. All shops were closed, without walking a fair distance. The hotel clerk, who was a young and very fashionable lady, gave us two wine glasses, a half bottle of wine, and a corkscrew. She said the wine was from her boyfriend's vineyard and they were getting married next year. The wine was excellent. We tried to pay but she refused, saying it was her gift to two tired pilgrims. I think she had the impression we had brought a lot of business her way too, and that may have factored into the equation.
Jack and George, Margie from New York and Martha from North Carolina all managed to get a room at our hotel last night. They checked in when we did and it did rather appear that we had led them there.
We all had supper together along with a father son from Australia. The dad is doing the camino for the 5th time, and his son for the 2nd. Ever since Pamplona I've been searching for another bath bomb of effervescent minerals without successs. Martha showed me a bottle of Epsom salts she'd just bought at the farmacia which she was planning to soak her whole body in. I went there and even knowing the name of the stuff the pharmacist didn't know what I wanted so I went back with her bottle of the stuff and got some. Then Margie went and got some too. At dinner it came out everyone had a serious heat rash, cause Margie was afraid these epsom salts would make that worse. So I told them about the cortisone cream. My rash is totally under control.
Lynn didn't sleep well at all last night. We had done a lot of laundry which was strung all around the room and left the window open to help it dry. Some locals were being very rowdy outside late into the night. The earplugs weren't helping and finally Lynn woke up Russ and asked him to close the window. That helped with that, but then you could hear other pilgrims from 5am on getting up to get an early start.
Another beautiful day dawned. As breakfast wasn't until 7:30, we got an extra 15 minutes of sleep. The whole gang was there for breakfast and Russ mentioned we were doing a blog. George said 'I hope you haven't told them all this is easy. This is really hard.' I assured him I haven't said it was easy.
Najera is built right up against red sandstone cliffs. Somewhere in the past, people had carved out caves in the rock. This is very similar to what you see in Turkey.
The path to the trail was not that easy to find, and after we had found it and followed it for a few blocks, we found outselves passing a few steps away from our hotel. Oh well, it's all about walking.
The Way today was supposed to be easy but it was a steep climb out of Najera, surprise. Russell commented that it was surprising that the local 8 to 12 year olds weren't chipping at the rock lining the path, something he would have done.from
We saw something that looked like it had been a Roman column. It was the rollo or picata de Azofra, from which the heads of those that were executed were hung.
We met up with a pair from Colorado on the way to Azofra, and walked along with the wife for awhile. He had blisters and was slower at any rate. They were planning to walk to Santiago in 53 days (we are doing it in 35). She was doing the camino to re-establish communication with her husband now that the last child had left home after 30 years of marriage. She said she likes Gregorian chants and I asked if she had visited the Church at Eunate (the one you had to do a detour to go to). She said they hadn't gone into any churches on the Camino. They aren't Catholic, don't understand Spanish, and can't take mass. I know I shouldn't judge people and we all have our own reasons for doing the Camino, but I couldn't help thinking they were missing a really significant aspect of the Way. The husband caught up in Azofra, where we had a cafe con leche break and Russ and I finally indulged in a chocolate churrio. Those are addictive too. We had a lovely half hour chat with them, hope to meet them again.
Further along we met up with the Jesuit priest and his companion. The priest had his boots and socks off and was reading his Bible. Lynn wondered which was the stronger motivator for the pause. We mentioned we had seen him limping yesterday and he said his blisters were getting better. Lynn noted that we had not even brought a bible on the Camino.
It was a lovely walk today, only 21km over relatively flat ground. The farmers were busy bailing hay, or pruning their grapes. There is a section of the trail which has an extensive array of above ground concrete aqueducts. It is impossible to know how old they are but in many cases they are still carrying water to cicterns or fields.
At the top of one steep hill we came upon two unemployed students bearing cold drinks, bread, jams, fruit and trinkets, in return for which they didn't charge, accepting only donations. One said the unemployment rate for under 30's is 70%. He said they had made all the jams etc. This wasn't a strong selling point for Lynn but we sampled their wares and left a contribution to their cause well in excess of what we had taken. The jams were very delicious and no ill effects have followed (yet).
The Hospederia Cisterciense we are staying in in Santo Domingo de la Calzada is run by nuns (with very poor English skills). We went to get some lovely Rioja red wine for Siesta and Russ insisted on smuggling it in in his backpack and plans on carrying out the empty bottle tomorrow. Somehow I don't think the nuns could really care less! I'm sure they've seen it all operating this hotel.
I'm just disappointed the hotel today doesn't have a bathtub so I'll have to wait to try my new Epsom salts.
All in all we feel good, the body is toughening up. Lynn is really looking foward to the next day off, which is in Burgos after three more days of walking. This will be a total of ten straight days of walking. We've been told there are three phases to the Camino. The first is the difficult physical phase, where your body adjusts to all the walking. The second is the difficult spiritual phase, the mesa, which is somewhat boring and challenges your spirit to keep going. The third phase is the reward, where you are physically and spiritually strong, and walk the final stretch to Santiago.
Summary - an easy day for a change.
Diastance today - 21km
Distance total - 220.5 km
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