“1. Surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming.
2. Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be. 3. The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next, so keep climbing.” – André De Shields
Put on a pot of tea and settle in, this is a long one.
We are in a mountainous region for the next few days. It’s beautiful and giving our glutes a bit of a workout but details regarding the laundry is a bit of a pain. We haven’t had washers/dryers in a couple of days so everything is washed by hand which means the stench is still lingering when you wear it the next time. Because of the cooler temps and moisture my clothes aren’t fully getting dry. It’s not life or death, just a wee bit uncomfortable/inconvenient. Tonight we have a washer but no dryer so fingers crossed they dry before morning. They told us we could bring our clothes inside and lay them by the fire later tonight to help them dry out. As always with the Camino, give it a couple of days and it works itself out. I’m sure we will find proper laundry with a dryer soon. Maybe tomorrow…I’m hopeful.
I’ve decided to slow down my Camino. As I mentioned, I told myself I would let the Camino guide me so yesterday, I (and Stephen) stopped short about 10k (6 miles) of the place we had booked, found a place to stay in a village and canceled the other booking (which is good because another hiker probably needed it). I was exhausted and hungry. Which is not a good look on me. I had the best night of sleep that I’ve had since I’ve arrived in Spain. We ate Veal cheek stew and Hake for dinner. It was fabulous and probably my best decision so far. Well maybe sending the package back to KC was but this was a close second.
Today, was one of those big decision days. We could either hike the 8.3k we didn’t do yesterday and stay in the one Albergue in the mountain (there is nothing around it but another house and an Italian restaurant) or hike over the mountain to the next big town (in addition to the 8.3k) making it 27.8k (17.2miles) with an increase (pretty much straight up) of 500m (1,640 ft). The younger me would have pushed it to prove something to myself. The wiser me who has made more time for this trip said, “take it easy and enjoy the journey.” So we only did the 8.3k. We slept in, walked slow, stopped and had a coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice and a chocolate croissant and chorizo pinchos. It was fabulous. Then we stopped again at another place half way from our final stop and had a drink and relaxed. Rule of thumb – eat whatever has the least availability in the display case because that means the locals probably enjoy it. We both had some work items to do and the WiFi (pronounced Wee-Fee) was strong and free. Stephen has a bit of a headache back home at the moment with one of his rental properties. Ah, reality, what a pain in the arse.
I will say, I’ve learned a lot from Stephen so far. He sounds like a good business man. He’s learned how to win at the game of Monopoly. He buys land, builds a house and sells it. Then buys more land, builds two houses and sells them. Then buys more land and builds a hotel or apartment complex, etc. etc. Pass Go and collect $200. Plus he owns race horses so I’ve heard some fascinating stories about that industry. You just never know who you’re going to meet in this big ole world.
Speaking of introductions….
I met the saddest donkey today. I’ve named him Leroy. He was so sweet and he let me pet him for quite some time but he was seriously depressed. I tried to cheer him up, but no such luck.
The proposal….
We had just walked into Deba and noticed a guy on the roof of a really tall building that was level to where we were standing (hard to explain but look at the photos). Apparently, he had been fixing the clay tiles. We made eye contact and he gave us a thumbs up so we could take a photo. Then I noticed he was NOT CLIPPED ONTO THE SAFETY ROPE. So of course I gave him a hard time via sign language because I don’t know how to stay in my own lane sometimes. To appease me, he walked over and got the rope to clip onto…because I’m sure he is tired of strange women micromanaging him. Next to that building was a public, glass elevator. Being the modern day pilgrims that we are we took the elevator down instead of the steep stairs (if this was our first Camino, we’d take the stairs, but I’ve done the 500 mile Camino twice and got the t-shirt, I have nothing more to prove). While we were riding down, our new tiler friend asked (through hand signals of course) if Stephen and I were together. We both shook our heads and hands, no, no, no, (gross) so he looked at me and I think asked if I would “be” with him. So I winked and blew him a kiss. We are getting married next week at a rooftop wedding. You’re all invited.
The locals seem to love the pilgrims. They are so kind, helpful and watch out over us. The kids grow up knowing it’s part of their culture. Most people usually wish us a “Buen Camino” – a good journey – as we pass by. Even the animals seem to be okay with us walking through their pastures, petting them and taking their photos. Plus, it’s tourism money. Well, today when we were in Deba (a lot happened to us in this little village in a very short amount of time) a woman (pictured – permission granted) grabbed my arm, very concerned about me and was trying to tell me that the bridge was closed and we would have to walk around. I obviously didn’t understand at first but she kept pointing and said “ rotunda” many times and made circles with her hands. I finally understood so I told Stephen what we needed to do. He wasn’t so sure about this idea because it was about 2k out of the way. I said, “she seems very sincere. I joked, if I’m wrong in trusting her, I’ll give you a foot massage. (the Pilgrim jackpot)” Ha! “Deal,” he said. Well, she was very accurate in her directions and the bridge was out of commission. No foot massage for you, soldier. The Camino is always watching out and using Trail Angels to guide the way. We were very thankful.
It’s very safe for pilgrims considering we are actually very vulnerable carrying all of our belongings. Of course you always come across a weirdo or two but you just keep walking. There isn’t much crime among the pilgrim community either. You can leave your bag in the hostel and nobody will mess with it. Obviously keep your wallet, passport and phone with you but the other stuff nobody wants because it would just be more to carry!
The hostel we are staying in tonight is nice and clean. An American, Douglas from Florida, is volunteering here for a couple of months so it was nice to have an English speaking person on the staff. There is not much in terms of amenities in or near it. We are basically in the woods and we have to walk back one kilometer to eat at an Italian restaurant later tonight….BUT, they have a really hot shower (we’re in cooler weather now), a HAIR DRYER (this is actually unusual) so I don’t have to sleep with wet hair, and a bar with proper liquor, beer, coca-cola and chips. They were playing 50’s & 60’s music which had Stephen dancing in his little hiking booties.
Funniest moment of the day: We were walking into Deba this morning and Stephen was a little ways ahead of me. Some teenagers (along with their teachers) were walking up the hill and Stephen got distracted by them and missed the yellow arrow to take a little path down the hill into the town instead of the main road we were on. So I started yelling but all the kids were talking and laughing so he couldn’t hear me. I looked at the kids and said, “hey everyone, all together, please”…and in sync (I kid you not) we all yelled “STEPHEN!” It was hilarious. They all started laughing and Stephen turned around, completely embarrassed. But hey, we got his attention and contrary to popular belief, teenagers actually do follow directions when asked nicely.
Favorite sound: The farm animals wear bells. As you walk, you hear them before you see them. It’s magical…well for the pilgrims anyway. I’m not sure how much the animals enjoy it.
So far I’ve seen wild strawberries (only the blooms, no fruit yet), Sage, Eucalyptus (the Aussie was in heaven – he just needs a koala bear or two and it will be like old home week), Mint (we used to freshen our breath), and beautiful meadows full of wild flowers. Fun fact that I learned on one of my previous Camino’s, they don’t mow near most of the roads (highways, city streets, etc.) to keep their ecosystem balanced with the bee and butterfly population.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk today.
Itziar – Ibiri – 8.3km
Goodnight and much love from Spain.
