It was wonderful to sleep in without an alarm this morning and to have a day ahead of me without walking. I was able to find and navigate a local laundromat, so will be able to start the next week of this trip with clean clothes.
While having lunch in the main square of the old town, near the cathedral (which is resplendent with way too much gold on the altar), I was found by Mary and Freddie who had arrived today from Viana. We also re-connected with Nadina and polished off two bottles of the local Rioja, which was fabulous. After some food and laughs and sharing stories of the Camino we parted ways. I may see Nadina again, as she is walking tomorrow, and somewhere in town is Johnny, so I may run across him again, but really the truth of the Camino is meeting and parting and finding new connections for the next stage. Still a bit sad.
Some of you may be wondering about how I’m faring with my Spanish, since I tried so hard for so long with Rosetta Stone. I will say that I’m doing better than some, but since we are in Basque Country and I purposefully chose to learn Latin-American Spanish it’s a bit of a disconnect. They appreciate that I try, and I did help a woman figure out the machines in the laundromat today (and she was local!), so I’m feeling pretty good about my basic capabilities.
Speaking of Basque Country, there are many signs and political statements along the way about the separatist movement — they are pretty serious about their identity here. I’m just happy to be where the RIoja flows cheap and plentiful.
Off tomorrow for a 30 km walk to Najera. I’m looking forward to wearing my new boots.
strong opinions in this area
Time for a goodbye
sunset over Rio Ebro
Gothic Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda, 14th Century
What are the top 10 showtunes you sing to yourself while walking and why?
I haven’t been singing show tunes to myself at all. For a few days I was trying to think of all the songs I know with the word “road” in them, so would hum some of those, and some days I listen to my ipod and let it shuffle through. If I were thinking show tunes, it would be songs from Music Man or Sound of Music. Actually did belt out “The hills are alive…” on the first day because the view was like that scene in the movie but my companions didn’t appreciate my singing!