Day Seven

Well, I guess it is par for the course that there be a day at some point where being away from home, over working my body and sleeping in a room of snoring people would catch up to me. That day was today. I cannot overstate how much I considered coming home.

I woke up knowing I would not hike and that I would get myself together, bus to Pamplona, then figure out how to get to Cizur Menor, which is the end of the day’s leg of the Camino to meet up with Deb. 

When you enter an alburgue, you are asked to put your hiking shoes on a rack prior to moving to your room, which is just a way to preserve floors, etc. When we got into Zubiri, I could not even walk down those stairs to put my shoes on the rack, so Deb took both of ours. When I packed up for the day, I put on my flip flops and loaded everything into my pack to set out about trying to figure out the bus system, and of course, didn’t even think to grab my walking shoes from that rack. I was all the way to Pamplona when it occurred to me that I forgot to grab them!!! 

The day in Pamplona happened to be the first day of the celebration of Running with the BULLS. It would be impossible to describe how completely nuts it was in Pamplona and how hard it was to find a way to get to my next location, much less turn back for my shoes. 

Friends we met were staying over another night in Zubiri so I banked on them being able to grab my shoes and get them to me the next day. 

There were thousands of people, all dressed alike, all speaking Spanish, everywhere I looked. I have never been so aware of how blond and light skinned I am. The Camino trail goes right through Pamplona, so I figured I could look for that and just walk to my next location, which was about three miles away. I thought wrong. It was like being at Fort Vancouver on the Fourth of July: millions of people, all working to find fun for themselves in the form of food, music and alcohol. 

I ended up taking a cab to where I was meeting Deb and reserving our beds, taking a shower and waiting for the hordes of pilgrims to arrive. It wasn’t my best moment. I was all alone, amongst people celebrating at every bar and restaurant, and I started feeling like I just wanted to go home. In addition, I had a new problem to solve since my shoes were still in Zubiri. 

When the walkers came in I felt weird and left out. There were several who didn’t walk but I was in a major funk about it. After all, I came on this trip to WALK! I was sad about missing Joe's 18th birthday, and really just considered whether my weak knees were going to ruin all that I dreamt of. 

Deb was a great friend who listened and offered her thinking. I could not be consoled. We hung around and visited with others before dinner.

Dinner was where the magic happened. We were sitting alone, getting ready to eat and we saw another woman sitting near us alone. We asked her to join us, and that is where God intervened.

Heather is about my age and has two daughters who live with her in New York. She shared with us that she is a school counselor and is missing both of her daughters’ birthdays, one of whom is turning 21. She has been traveling with friends but they took a rest day and stayed in the last town. 

She didn’t know what was going on with me or how what she said helped me feel less terrible, but I went to bed feeling like I may just stick it out a while longer.