Day 3

As I woke up and finsihed orginizing I looked at the door to see the day's walk. All in all it was supposed to be a simple, pretty even and level ground all the way from Zubiri to Pamplona. What I didn't take into account was the extra kilo that the shampoo, bath wash (useless buy) and towel make. I also mis understood how tired my feet really are and how the cold I cought adds to everything.
If you are trying to picture the scenery as you are reading this think of a hike in mount carmel in Israel (except for the shape of the houses that look like houses you see in swizerland)
We started to walk at 7:30 and pretty soon my feet started aching. This slowed me down somewhat, but what
really slowed me down were my underware that were cutting me in the groin and hearting like hell. We were progressing at the speed of a turtle walking backwards. Instead of getting to pamplona around 1-2 as planned we got to Pamplona only at 3:30 with me barely standing, not to mention standing.
We decided to stop on the way in a bar to eat breakfest and drink coffee. Unfortunately the bar was on the other side of town from the camino which was not a pleasent feeling but we got there. I had my fleece on and since I was sweating (my t-shrit was already drenched) I was feeling cold so I set inside in the corner hoping to worm up, which didn´t really happen. I finished 1st and thus went out to worm up in the sun. As I was standing there my t-shirt was fuming out my sweat (yhea I know I'm obssesed with sweating and this is one of the reason I don't excersize much, oh yeah I'm also lazy ;) Luckly N suggested I change t-shirts. We kept walking and N decided to stop and meditate so we walked on. The road was never ending (Sitting in the internet cafe now, it doesn't look like much). We passed a couple of picnic parks that I thought would make a good palce to stop for the day and continue the next day. On the 2nd park I decided to remove my underware because of the cuts they were causing in the groin. I thought I would make it as an experiment for a few hundred meters. But it proved itself almost immediately that it was a smart move that I reached the conclusion that I need to buy american style underware (anyone can give me a better name? ) instead of the slips. So all my plans from yesterday to start picking up the pace went down the drain as did my moral. Luckly I discovered the miracle of foot masage and after applying it to my feet I was able to walk a little.
Tomorrow (Saterday I will remain in Pamplona to rest and look for new underware) and I will resume the camino on Sunday or even Monday. It all depends now on my health (cold and feet).

Day 2

The 2nd days walk is from Rocensvialles to Zubiri about 22 kilometers through amazing mountains, even more amazing woods and open fields. The general direction is down in altitude, but more often that I wanted the path climbed a hill instead of going around it. Still having the scars of the way up of the day before I took it personally every time there was I had to climbe. I don´t get what was going through the head of mideval pilgrims that decided this was the best path to walk to Santiago ...
I woke up at 6:30 and by 7 we were walking (again me, N and Andree) We stopped in the next town in bar to eat a sandwich, banana and drink coffee. Because it was very cold (8 degrees celsius) I had my plastic wind breaker on. After about an hour Andree convinced me to take my wind breaker off and what was underneath was a soaked t-shirt, so I had to change (sweating is suppose to be good for one's health, but I sweath enough for 20 people). A couple of hours later as we were walking through another town I saw a grocery store and deiceded to buy the missing stuff (towel, shampoo) and I added a Dannone (and here was the last I ate this day). We kept walking and it looked like the road will never and. My feet's soals were swolen to the point where I could barely walk anymore. At a certain point we saw our final destination. The sad thing was that the refugio was another kilometer into town. Dispair almost had me. When we got there I took my shoes and and couldn't walk for the next 3 hours. I felt as if walking with Andree was holding me back instead of enjoying the walk in my own pace. So for day 3 I decided that I will walk my own pace and open a gap if she can't stand the pace. I went to sleep at 6PM only to be woken up at 9:30PM because some pilgrims decided to be not so quiet in orginizing. I couldn't sleep untill midnight. I don't know when I fell asleep but until that time the guy in the next bunk was snoring and making the same sounds my dad made on his death bed in the last few hours of his life. Those hours kept flashing in front of me every time I heard him snore. Because outside it was 5 degrees, sleeping outside wasn't an option (even though my sleeping bag is more than capable) but having a cold and sore ears and throat convinced me otherwise.

Day 1

We finally getting to the interesting part of the trip: The walk to Santiago ...
On the 1st day I woke up at 6AM (not being a morning person, god knows how). Ate some bread jam and had a cup of hot chocolate. At 7 I was ready to start walking with 2 other English guys, but they didn´t wait for me (D: Are these the people you so admire ???). So I got the direction from the owner of the inn and started walking. As it turned out I mis understood his directions and took a wrong turn and walked on the main highway back to Rocensvialles. At 1 point I asked an old lady what is the direction and she told me that the main road goes forward. So I walked forward. A couple of kilometers later a farmer told me I was in the wrong direction :( So I went back and turned where he told me. At the certain point I started seeing other pilgrims, so I knew that I was on the right path. In the 2 hours untill I started seeing the 1st pligrims on the way I felt like giving up and going back to SJPP.
The climb was a killer. SJPP is at around 100 metters. The top pass is +1400 meters and the road to the pass is about 20 kilometers. Do the math yourself. Keeping up with the other pilgrims turned out to be an impossible task so I walked slowly and surely while stopping once in a while to rest and do the tourist thing (taking photos). At 750 meters (I have with me my super watch that has a altimeter, compass, thermometer and barometer) I stopped because there was a fork in the road and not knowing where to go I waited for the next pilgrim. Met an Irish dude and we stopped to eat a sandwich at a refugio a couple minutes later. Why is this little detail important: Because it the only thing I ate all day! And walk on and again I couldn't keep pace with him. At a certain point I met a 65 year old candian retiree and we walked the rest of the way to roncesvialles together. Pulling, waiting and encoureging each other. The scenery was unbelievable. The only drawback was that around 1PM it started to rain. Because the way was hard (almost too hard) I was sweating like crazy. So it turned out that my plastic covers were getting wet from both sides (G: Is this suffering enough for you ?) for the next 3 hours (until the refugio) it was a nightmare. When I got to the Rocensvialles I was soaked to the bone from any possible direction. Not having a shampoo and a towel only made the feeling worse. Luckly the refugio had some free towels and I borowed some shampoo to make myself feel good again. Tried to sleep but since the refugio is 1 big hall with 100 beds (bunks) it was impossible not to hear the snoring ones (for some reason I was not one of them). Basically I tossed and turned most of the night.

END of day 1

day -1

Because the bus that leaves Pamplona does so only at 6PM we had a whole day in front of us. So we did errands during the day: Sent too heavy stuff ahead to Santiago (see previous post), bought a couple of other things. I did the mistake of sending off the shampoo, towel and sweat shirt before buying new ones and forgetting that Spanish people have a ciesta between 1 to 4,5. So I got stuck without Shampoo and towel :(
We got to Rocensvialles around 7:30 and had to wait for a taxi to come from Pamplona to take us to the 1st station: Saint Jean Pierre de Port. We got there around 8:30 and found a place to stay. A little word about SJPP: Touristic as hell. I remembered that I read online that there was a pizza place there. It was closed. All the other places were too expensive (damn tourists ;) so I went to bed without dinner (for all those that know me: my eating disorder is working in reverse here: I bearely eat).

The good, the bad and the ugly

I´m on my way to the start of Camino Santiago. In Pamplona (which is also a station on the way) and already I met the good the bad and the ugly parts of a trip.
The good: On my way out of the airport I met an Israely girl that will be walking the camino so we hooked up. When we got to the hostel in Pamplona to stay a night the place was full (100 beds) so there are pleanty of people on the road and I will never be alone. The guy sleeping in the bunk below me was Italian. And the last thing now is taking down the weight of my backpack from 14KG (without water) to 8.5KG. It´s unbelievable how much a towel, shampoo, liquid soap weigh.
The bad: This somehow postpones/cancels the number 1 reason for the trip: Dealing with my fear of abandonmnet.
The ugly: Yesterday in the bus office while I was buying the bus ticket to Pamplona my small backpack was stolen. While there wasn't much in the backpack (rechargable batteries, cell phone charger, couple of books etc ..). I was lucky enough that just before we went to buy the ticket I took out the passport, money and camera. it still iritates and angers to the point that today while we were going around Pamplona from time to time I steamed out by suggeting things like: hit people with my walking sticks, Stealing a trumpet from a statue, breaking and entering closed shops etc ...

the last few hours

Is it normal to feel: guilt, hope, dispair, affraid, worried and exiliration in the same time when you are about to do something for yourself? There is a small but persistant voice in me that complains on the folly and futile thing I've have decided to do. That I left love ones behind at the mercy of strangers, that there are countless things that need to be taken care of before investing time in oneself can be even considered. My catholic (aka polish) side got a hold of me now. Lets hope I will be able to tame it to let myself enjoy the trip.

T minus and counting ...

T time is on: Monday, September 13th 2004 at 6:40AM. Finally after countless times I postponed (and almost 2 cancellations) the trip I will set out on my quest :)