Pamplona!

It´s funny, but the pilgrim hostels (“albergues”) either have wifi or a computer lab. With the lab, I can use a proper computer with a proper keyboard, but unfortunately I cannot upload my photos.

So I´m here in Pamplona, after walking another 21.5km, staying at the Albergue Jesus y Maria, which is perhaps a block from the great Cathedral.

Day two was more difficult than day one, but mostly due to my own lack of foresight. Yesterday I set out walking and had coffee and breakfast in the first big village I came to, so I thought I could do that today.

This, my friends, was a tragic error. Oh, my friend Eamon and I went through village after village, but it wasn´t until 11am that we finally found a bar*.

Confusing note of the day: in Spain, a cafe is a bar (i.e. alcohol), whereas a bar is a cafe (i.e. coffee).

This was in the village of Irotz, and by this time we had walked about 11km. At the bar, I had the Best Cup of Coffee Ever. I also had a bocadillo chorizo, which I can absolutely recommend as the perfect breakfast after a walk of 11 or so kilometers.

One of the interesting things about the Camino is that people naturally form pods – usually called “Camino families”. They form and break up and re-form as the days progress. People get added and people fall away. There´s a metaphor there, but it´s now almost 10pm, and I can´t find it.

Since I can´t upload any new photos today, I´ll just explain of the ones I uploaded last night.

This is my current pod.

From left to right: Eamon from New Zealand, Allie from UK (currently living in the French Alps with her husband and twin 10-year old daughters), Cliff the retired firefighter from Massachusetts, Kristof the self-described “fat Belgian”, and yours truly.

We left Kristof at Zubiri, where he had some communications he had to take care of with the meat-packing plant that he co-owns with his brother, and the remaining four of us walked on towards Pamplona.

Allie quickly fell behind, and Cliff surged forward. He´s not very fast, but he never takes breaks, so there´s a bit of a rabbit and tortoise thing going there.

Eamon and I have about the same pace, so we more or less stuck together through the day.

The terrain today was more hills (up and down and up and down…) and mud. We walked through a fairly industial area, followed by more bucolic countryside with the occasional village, until we hit the town of Villava. This is a delightful medieval town, built up over the centuries.

Villaga transitioned smoothly to the suburbs and then the city of Pamplona.

In the “bucolic countryside portion”, Eamon and I took a detour to visit the fortified hill church of San Esteban in Zabaldika.

It was a steep climb up the hill to the church, but the church itself was a spiritual gem. Photos will follow (I promise) whenever I get wifi. A deeply meditative place, where I felt the full weight of the centuries and of the communion of saints pressing upon me.

The church was very tiny, but the interior altars and furnishings were absolutely exquisite.

The nuns who run the place rather indulgently let me climb the steeple (obviously built for defense, with a tight sprial stair and arrow slits) and ring the bell, cast in the 14th century.

And then Pamplona! Oh my goodness. Words cannot do it justice, though Hemmingway tried. I took perhaps a hundred photos which will give you some idea.

Keep looking at the Flickr link on the left to see when I upload the photos for today!

Tomorrow we will stay for the 9:30am Mass at the Cathedral and then press on, perhaps to Obanos or Puenta la Reina.

So much to say, but my time on the computer is metered, so I will leave off and wish you all a blessed night.

P.S. I must return to Pamplona. One day isn´t enough. I doubt a month would suffice to scratch the surface. It´s simply one of the most beautiful cities I´ve ever seen.

P.P.S. Kristof arrived in Pamplona this evening to join us.

P.P.P.S. This Spanish keyboard layout is making me crazy.