Day 5 May 24 St. Jean Pied de Port to Valcarlos

7.5 miles 17,390 steps at a snail's pace! 

The official Camino Frances starts here in the Pyrenees Mountains in France, Basque Country.  Istvan , our host drove us here from his hotel along with Phil and Kathy and we all started out together . 

Since Craig and I immediately changed our minds about how long we wanted to stay walking on the Camino, now thinking about continuing past Burgos, we bought new peregrino passports! 

We walked with Kathy and Phil to the junction where they took the Napoleon route, the most strenuous uphill climb and we opted for the allegedly easier low route. Since we took the off road detours, we had a good share of ups and downs as well.  They will stay in Orisson tonight and we perhaps will meet back up in Roncevailles tomorrow.  

Since we didn't train much before we left, these first two days in the mountains at high altitudes should suffice to get us in shape. 

At this moment, we've assumed our post walk positions at the hotel- horizontal, twin beds, Craig listening to his happy tunes playlist, me writing and recording. We'll both be napping before long in that endorphin enhanced post walk moment . Later, we'll explore, eat and drink, get some Ibuprofen cream, and see what the evening brings. 

Happy, so happy to have returned to the Camino. 

Saying good-bye to Istvan 

We have emerged from our reverie of sleep and are now sitting on a cafe having a cana (Tilda over the n) and vino Tintoretto with tapas of olives , fresh bread and cheese with membrillo and I forgot the English word for this kind of jam!  A group of men with berets sits beside us playing a card game, laughing boisterously and eating potato chips. Reminds me of the WMS boy posse:)

A national event begins tonight and the entire nation, albeit Europe will be watching. It's the European soccer championship and both playoff teams are Spanish. It takes place in Portugal and starts at 9 PM. 

I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be. 

Beautiful weather today. Big rain tomorrow . No importa. 

No rain in sight!!

Day 4 Madrid to Pamplona to Bizkaretta

After a 12+ hour sleep last night, and after several cups of coffee and breakfast, we departed Madrid by way of the Metro to the Atocha Station to catch the train to Pamplona.  

Our pre-arranged transportation worked out perfectly as Istvan met us and drove to his Casa Rural in Bizkaretta. 

We have a room and dinner with breakfast tomorrow and a ride to St. Jean Pied de Port, our starting point. 

Istvan and his wife are Hungarian having lived and served peregrinos for 2 years. 

It's been a peregrino kind of evening with a communal meal shared with another American couple and 4 German women. 

We had a fascinating conversation with Istvan's wife about the EU, Hungary's role in it, her perspective on Putin and the Ukraine situation. Where you are from informs life and beliefs regardless of where one lives. 

The American couple is from Westchester but the husband is from Sourh Dakota and wife is from NYC. No coincidence?!?!??

We seem to enjoy each other's company a lot. Kathy is from Brooklyn and Phil is from a tiny town about 30 miles away from Wessington Springs where Craig grew up.  We are at similar stages in life now, as well as having similar backgrounds. The Camino does that, seems to know who to connect with whom or perhaps we are just a little more receptive? Suspending judgments is a big deal. 

Chocolate made locally and cherries.

Today it hailed , lightning, 100 km winds, rain and sunshine . Tomorrow? Quien sabe?