One Camino bit of wisdom learned in the last 24 hours: Sleeping on the floor is OK, but sleeping in a room elbow to elbow with 10 strangers is not. Nothing went wrong, it's not that, but it really throws me off my game negotiating my morning routine when someone whose name I do not know is six inches away from me.
Days without injury: 5
So we've had the experience of sleeping on the floor of a parish, and now we're in a big municipal albergue in Azofra, which we did not expect to do this morning.
We walked to Logrono, an easy six-ish kilometers -- Gina continues to outpace me and then has to wait 10-20 minutes for me to catch up -- and thought we'd get a bite to eat and then keep walking to Navarrete.
I wasn't exactly thrilled because unfortunately I've developed little blisters on my toes in addition to my screamingly painful plantar fasciitis, but I figured I could plow through. However, as we ate our snack, a bit of rain started, and that was it for me. Nerp, nerp, nerp, not walking in rain if I can avoid it.
So I convinced Gina that we should take a bus to Najera and call it a day. We spent possibly an hour walking the streets of Logrono (I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS TOWN BEFORE AND YOU KNOW WHAT? It's not small. Not a small town) and spoke with great frustration with my pathetic Spanish with 7-8 people about where to get said bus -- it was morphing into a Lucy and Ethel situation -- and finally found the bus station, where we walked right into Anna and Leonie,* two Dutch women who had stayed at the parish last night. They were also taking the bus to Najera, and had decided to then walk an additional six kilometers to Azofra, which they said was smaller and quieter than Najera. OK, we said, we'll follow you.
This seemed to be a good compromise in that we cut out some distance, which we need to do anyway, and we ended up with about 13 kilometers walking, which feels like a more worthwhile way to spend a day -- ON A WALKING PILGRIMAGE -- rather than just walking 6k and taking a bus ride. We walked past acres and acres and acres of vineyards. Spain grows a lot of grapes, y'all.
Anna and Leonie (who are now at the same albergue in Azofra) are not the only fellow pilgrims we found today: Before we left Viana, we ran into mother and daughter Presh and Nicci (who we drank gin and tonics with last night.) Today we ran into Lindy-the-Australian, the unhappy Brazilian woman, Andrew-the-Canadian and Sabrina-the-German in Logrono. We saw familiar faces in the streets of Najera. Now that we're here in Azofra, the faces are different, since we've jumped ahead a bit. I hope we see some of "our" people again. Funny.
Today is dedicated to Cousin Sarah Coode, on the occasion of her birthday. Play some ukulele music, everybody.
* Small world alert: Leonie knows the Dominican sisters from Nashville's St. Cecilia community who are working in the Netherlands. She and Gina know at least one sister in common.
Photos include shots from the plaza at the church in Viana - the children played this game where they got their hands wet and then plastered their prints on the fountain -- and a group shot from dinner last night. Leonie is on the far left, next to Gina. The German guy second from the right in glasses is the handsomest man currently on the Camino. This is not a great picture of him. There's also a shot of me in recline at the statue of the peregrinos in Logrono.
Days without injury: 5
So we've had the experience of sleeping on the floor of a parish, and now we're in a big municipal albergue in Azofra, which we did not expect to do this morning.
We walked to Logrono, an easy six-ish kilometers -- Gina continues to outpace me and then has to wait 10-20 minutes for me to catch up -- and thought we'd get a bite to eat and then keep walking to Navarrete.
I wasn't exactly thrilled because unfortunately I've developed little blisters on my toes in addition to my screamingly painful plantar fasciitis, but I figured I could plow through. However, as we ate our snack, a bit of rain started, and that was it for me. Nerp, nerp, nerp, not walking in rain if I can avoid it.
So I convinced Gina that we should take a bus to Najera and call it a day. We spent possibly an hour walking the streets of Logrono (I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS TOWN BEFORE AND YOU KNOW WHAT? It's not small. Not a small town) and spoke with great frustration with my pathetic Spanish with 7-8 people about where to get said bus -- it was morphing into a Lucy and Ethel situation -- and finally found the bus station, where we walked right into Anna and Leonie,* two Dutch women who had stayed at the parish last night. They were also taking the bus to Najera, and had decided to then walk an additional six kilometers to Azofra, which they said was smaller and quieter than Najera. OK, we said, we'll follow you.
This seemed to be a good compromise in that we cut out some distance, which we need to do anyway, and we ended up with about 13 kilometers walking, which feels like a more worthwhile way to spend a day -- ON A WALKING PILGRIMAGE -- rather than just walking 6k and taking a bus ride. We walked past acres and acres and acres of vineyards. Spain grows a lot of grapes, y'all.
Anna and Leonie (who are now at the same albergue in Azofra) are not the only fellow pilgrims we found today: Before we left Viana, we ran into mother and daughter Presh and Nicci (who we drank gin and tonics with last night.) Today we ran into Lindy-the-Australian, the unhappy Brazilian woman, Andrew-the-Canadian and Sabrina-the-German in Logrono. We saw familiar faces in the streets of Najera. Now that we're here in Azofra, the faces are different, since we've jumped ahead a bit. I hope we see some of "our" people again. Funny.
Today is dedicated to Cousin Sarah Coode, on the occasion of her birthday. Play some ukulele music, everybody.
* Small world alert: Leonie knows the Dominican sisters from Nashville's St. Cecilia community who are working in the Netherlands. She and Gina know at least one sister in common.
Photos include shots from the plaza at the church in Viana - the children played this game where they got their hands wet and then plastered their prints on the fountain -- and a group shot from dinner last night. Leonie is on the far left, next to Gina. The German guy second from the right in glasses is the handsomest man currently on the Camino. This is not a great picture of him. There's also a shot of me in recline at the statue of the peregrinos in Logrono.
Comments
Post a Comment