Life's a Stitch

Despite a bad night, where the town's teenage girls sat in circles on the sidewalk squealing and shouting until after 11:00 pm, we got in a good day of hiking. I figure they were trying to attract the attention of the young men staying at the alburgue across the street.

It was a day of perfect hiking, although once again it started with a take your breath away uphill. A total of 11+ miles, about a third was comfortably flat.

Feeling a need to exercise the faith aspect of the Camino I dragged C into what appeared to be an old church near Zubiri, called the Abbey. There was a collection box for the restoration, but things inside the building looked inaccurate, more like Halloween decorations. Turns out it's an endeavour of two friends who want to turn it into a Camino rest stop, not really anything to do with a church. Felt a bit ripped off, would have liked the real story. The guys and the establishment reminded me of the Jimi Hendrix shrine back home, a quirky place run by well meaning hippies.

At the halfway point, in the middle of nowhere there was a pizza place set up for hungry pilgrims, complete with wood fired oven. No kidding it was one of the best pizzas we've ever had, similar to Canada's Famoso, but with an acceptable amount of cheese.

The Camino more than anything is about the people and their intentions for their pilgrimage. Each individual's Camino is a personal and often private experience. We've noticed lots young people and many of our age and older. I guess it's difficult to take the time in the middle stage of life, although some do sections over the course of years.

There is a man we've seen leading another older man with severe disabilities across the Camino, physically supporting him along the way. Today we saw a Mom with her three children experiencing their Camino as a family. The youngest at times was like the Pokey Little Puppy, lagging behind, then playing catch up. Exercising his own Camino made us smile.