Shorter walk today, only 21 kms. The surfaces were better than yesterday (a lot of 2000 year old Roman road - what did the Romans ever do for us- and concrete yesterday). Got to the albergue about 11.30 am and it opened at 12. This one´s run by a German I´ve nicknamed him the fuehrer´. He made us line our packs up and then get into a line ourselves, then he gave us his blurb in mediocre Spanish. He then called for Number 1, every one pointed at Ray and I, he gave us a distrustfull look and again called for Number 1. Eventally he had to accept we were number 1. He asked our nationality I said Australian but that I speak Spanish (better than his) from then he will only talk to me in English and I will only talk to him in Spanish! We were than allowed through the door one at a time while he stood guarding the door and his henchman, Sargeant Shultz led us inside. I kept imagining Pete here doing his famed German impersonation, goose step and all ("don´t mention the war"). Once we booked in we had a shower and a short siesta, woke about 4 forgetting that everything closes until 6-6.30.
Will look for a bar soon. yesterday in Estrella we found a nice little bar, lined up tapas and beers and played cards amongst the locals for a couple of hours!
Keep the messages coming, which reminds me - Ray and I do not endorse the use of offensive national stereotyping eg " cheese eating, surrender monkeys" to describe the French (Ben?), in fact -... les belles filles Frances son le chemin tien courage y fromage!!!
Tommorrow we leave Navarra and enter the wine region of La Rioja! It will be a tough day - 32 km - and our feet have not toughened quickly enough. Rays still getting blisters but his knees improving ( many people have strapped knees - I´d say that the oldies are doing better than younger walkers, many of which we´ve left behind.´my feet hurt at the end of the day but so far no blisters (the camino does not reward hubris!)
My Spanish improves daily, in fact twice today I was approached by Germans who asked if I spoke German and I replied only Spanish and a little English. Yesterday a Spaniard asked me to translate into English to two women and when I explained in English what he was saying they looked at me blankly - didn´t understand a word (i think they were French). We have strange multi-linguial discussions. The main languages are French (they won´t try anything else), Italian (they´ll try anything) and German (they usually have some english). It´s all getting friendlier as people get to know one another. my dollars running out, next post tommorrow. (photos tom. hopefully.
Will look for a bar soon. yesterday in Estrella we found a nice little bar, lined up tapas and beers and played cards amongst the locals for a couple of hours!
Keep the messages coming, which reminds me - Ray and I do not endorse the use of offensive national stereotyping eg " cheese eating, surrender monkeys" to describe the French (Ben?), in fact -... les belles filles Frances son le chemin tien courage y fromage!!!
Tommorrow we leave Navarra and enter the wine region of La Rioja! It will be a tough day - 32 km - and our feet have not toughened quickly enough. Rays still getting blisters but his knees improving ( many people have strapped knees - I´d say that the oldies are doing better than younger walkers, many of which we´ve left behind.´my feet hurt at the end of the day but so far no blisters (the camino does not reward hubris!)
My Spanish improves daily, in fact twice today I was approached by Germans who asked if I spoke German and I replied only Spanish and a little English. Yesterday a Spaniard asked me to translate into English to two women and when I explained in English what he was saying they looked at me blankly - didn´t understand a word (i think they were French). We have strange multi-linguial discussions. The main languages are French (they won´t try anything else), Italian (they´ll try anything) and German (they usually have some english). It´s all getting friendlier as people get to know one another. my dollars running out, next post tommorrow. (photos tom. hopefully.
Hi, Daniel here. Sounding like quite the adventure. The blog is witty, informative and very readable. The 1$ San Miguel is a winner. We need more photos! It's hard to picture the surroundings. I'm sure being able to see the places and spaces will only encourage feelings of jelousy. Look forward to hearing/seeing more. Keep on truckin'
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