And then there was Rain

After that first day of making a 1200m ascent, we were naturally euphoric and on top of the world. How quickly that feeling faded as we woke to the pitter patter of raindrops falling from the sky. After spending far too many days treeplanting in the rain, both Nick & I woke with that unmistakable feeling of dread. The idea of walking for 7 hours uphill & down all the while being wet sounded less than appealing! But walk we did. And here we are in a city called Pamplona! We spent quite a few very frustrating hours trying to find a place to lay our heads for the evening. Because it is off-season a lot of the "Pilgrims Albergues (hostels)" are closed. This means you have to pay a pretty penny for a regular hostel. So we arrived in Pamplona, which is a very large city and tried (unsuccessfully) to ask directions in Spanish. We were absolutely lost. This probably would have been quite comical if we hadn't just finished walking for an entire day and were desperate to get off our feet! But help finally arrived via our spanish amigos from the Camino. We found a place, ate a delicious dinner and slumbered like bears in hibernation.

This morning we have abandoned our small Camino crew made up of 2 Koreans, 1 French, 6 Spanish and Us. Nick & I have decided to carve out our own journey along this Camino. We have walked 3 days and covered 70km. Our bodies are quite sore and plead for rest... so today we oblige! We are going to hop on a four-hour train ride this afternoon to the city of Leon. We will have to experience this next part of the camino from the window of our train... but that is okay with us! Tomorrow morning, after spending the night in Leon, we will continue our journey with 14 days left of walking.

Our adventure is very much that: an adventure. A few days ago, along the camino, we stopped in a small Spanish town where every window was shut and no people were walking about. We happened upon a bar and bravely walked into a very authentic little place with burly workmen smoking up a storm and an older spanish woman cooking up eggs in the back kitchen. Nick, with much grace I'd say, ordered us something to drink and eat. He sat down after placing the order and said, "I have no idea what I just ordered." He ordered wonderfully though, and the food was great (we more or less got an omelette on a bun). This is the Spain we love... the small towns, the incoherent jabber from the bars, and us struggling to convey what we want in a language we know nothing of

Talk about being kept on your toes :)