A short update from Puente La Reina
We´ve arrived in Puente La Reina, a nice, mid-sized town midway through our journey. It´s 1:35 in the afternoon here, and the sun is just starting to heat things up to their warmest. It´s good to be done walking and inside by now.
Quite a bit of interesting things to report since my arrival in Spain earlier this week, but since the siesta begins in 25 minutes and this shop closes until 5:00, I´ll need to give the brief overview, and save the details for later.
Walking the Camino has been a real learning experience for me. I thought I was ready for it, but I learned early on that it had lots of surprises for me. Still does, most likely.
One very pleasant surprise has been my ability to communicate with people here, most often in Spanish. Although I don´t have the widest vocabulary, I´ve been able to engage people at every stop along the way, sometimes having conversations in Spanish for ten to twenty minutes or more. I´ve greatly enjoyed getting to know the people of Navarra (the province of Spain that we´re traversing), and have also enjoyed their graciousness toward pilgrims.
Our first day on the Camino was VERY long, as expected. I did fine, but was plenty tired by the end of the day. Absolutely beautiful scenery, and we were all very cheerful for the first several miles. As the reality of the walk set in, most of us felt our original high spirits fall a little bit. It was a wonderful thing to finish that night, and find that our hotel in Zubiri (although it was on the far edge of town) was a very nice establishment.
The next day was off to Pamplona, a good day´s hike off. Here´s where my real learning began - I crashed. I couldn´t make it. I managed about seven miles before finding myself absolutely wiped out. I think I may have been getting near the point of heat exhaustion. I wasn´t in any danger - the place where I stopped was a rest area on a highway, and I was walking with one other member of our group and our leader, who had a telephone. I´d been drinking LOTS of water (even Stewart, our leader, was surprised at how much was gone from my water bladder), but I hadn´t known that I needed to eat salty items in a good quantity in order to replace the salt I´d lose while sweating. I hadn´t been making any point to do that, and the electrolyte tablets I took at the rest area made a good difference. Also contributing to the breakdown was that I haven´t until today had much apetite while in Spain. I´ve eaten because I knew I needed to, not because I had a desire to eat. I´m learning now to distinguish between apetite and hunger - my body may not be displaying the first, but almost certainly is experiencing the second throughout the day. I´ve been much more deliberate about eating regularly and heartily (especially salty items - beer and potato chips are highly recommended), and have been doing much better since.
It was not a disaster, however. Another member of our group who had also struggled the day before had fallen behind us by accident (Stewart tries to pull up the rear, and she´d been passed while on an unintentional "detour". By the time I was attempting to make a decision about going on that afternoon, she had made it to the rest area and joined us. Between the two of us, we agreed that it would be best for us to catch a ride the remaining five miles or so, since it was late and rather hot.
This also turned out to be a good experience. Stewart waved a 20€ bill around, and within a minute or two we were riding with a very nice British couple in their ancient Mercedes-Benz bus (converted into a camper). We had a fine conversation, and they were glad to bring us into Pamplona, where they intended to visit a friend of theirs. Meeting Lynn and Steve was one of those unexpected gifts of the road - something I could not have planned and had not desired, but an experience for which I´m grateful, nonetheless.
Yesterday´s walk from Pamplona to Cizur Menor was MUCH easier - only three miles, most of it through the city of Pamplona itself. After a great night of sleep in a fine hotel, I was feeling pretty good, although a bit nervous because of the previous day. The walk was over, though, almost before it was done, and we spent the entire afternoon enjoying the hospitality of Doña Maribel Roncal, the keeper of our albergue, and swimming (free for pilgrims!) in the pool in down-the-road Cizur Mayor.
Which brings us to today. But since the tienda is closing in a few minutes, I´ll have to post that update later. Suffice it to say I´m well, in good spirits, and having a FINE day today. No worries - es bueno ser un peregrino en el Camino. It´s good to be a pilgrim on the Camino.
Hasta luego...
Quite a bit of interesting things to report since my arrival in Spain earlier this week, but since the siesta begins in 25 minutes and this shop closes until 5:00, I´ll need to give the brief overview, and save the details for later.
Walking the Camino has been a real learning experience for me. I thought I was ready for it, but I learned early on that it had lots of surprises for me. Still does, most likely.
One very pleasant surprise has been my ability to communicate with people here, most often in Spanish. Although I don´t have the widest vocabulary, I´ve been able to engage people at every stop along the way, sometimes having conversations in Spanish for ten to twenty minutes or more. I´ve greatly enjoyed getting to know the people of Navarra (the province of Spain that we´re traversing), and have also enjoyed their graciousness toward pilgrims.
Our first day on the Camino was VERY long, as expected. I did fine, but was plenty tired by the end of the day. Absolutely beautiful scenery, and we were all very cheerful for the first several miles. As the reality of the walk set in, most of us felt our original high spirits fall a little bit. It was a wonderful thing to finish that night, and find that our hotel in Zubiri (although it was on the far edge of town) was a very nice establishment.
The next day was off to Pamplona, a good day´s hike off. Here´s where my real learning began - I crashed. I couldn´t make it. I managed about seven miles before finding myself absolutely wiped out. I think I may have been getting near the point of heat exhaustion. I wasn´t in any danger - the place where I stopped was a rest area on a highway, and I was walking with one other member of our group and our leader, who had a telephone. I´d been drinking LOTS of water (even Stewart, our leader, was surprised at how much was gone from my water bladder), but I hadn´t known that I needed to eat salty items in a good quantity in order to replace the salt I´d lose while sweating. I hadn´t been making any point to do that, and the electrolyte tablets I took at the rest area made a good difference. Also contributing to the breakdown was that I haven´t until today had much apetite while in Spain. I´ve eaten because I knew I needed to, not because I had a desire to eat. I´m learning now to distinguish between apetite and hunger - my body may not be displaying the first, but almost certainly is experiencing the second throughout the day. I´ve been much more deliberate about eating regularly and heartily (especially salty items - beer and potato chips are highly recommended), and have been doing much better since.
It was not a disaster, however. Another member of our group who had also struggled the day before had fallen behind us by accident (Stewart tries to pull up the rear, and she´d been passed while on an unintentional "detour". By the time I was attempting to make a decision about going on that afternoon, she had made it to the rest area and joined us. Between the two of us, we agreed that it would be best for us to catch a ride the remaining five miles or so, since it was late and rather hot.
This also turned out to be a good experience. Stewart waved a 20€ bill around, and within a minute or two we were riding with a very nice British couple in their ancient Mercedes-Benz bus (converted into a camper). We had a fine conversation, and they were glad to bring us into Pamplona, where they intended to visit a friend of theirs. Meeting Lynn and Steve was one of those unexpected gifts of the road - something I could not have planned and had not desired, but an experience for which I´m grateful, nonetheless.
Yesterday´s walk from Pamplona to Cizur Menor was MUCH easier - only three miles, most of it through the city of Pamplona itself. After a great night of sleep in a fine hotel, I was feeling pretty good, although a bit nervous because of the previous day. The walk was over, though, almost before it was done, and we spent the entire afternoon enjoying the hospitality of Doña Maribel Roncal, the keeper of our albergue, and swimming (free for pilgrims!) in the pool in down-the-road Cizur Mayor.
Which brings us to today. But since the tienda is closing in a few minutes, I´ll have to post that update later. Suffice it to say I´m well, in good spirits, and having a FINE day today. No worries - es bueno ser un peregrino en el Camino. It´s good to be a pilgrim on the Camino.
Hasta luego...
posted by Bob at
6:34 AM
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