Wow! First impressions of Pamplona: 1) the Camino Frances is a completely different place/experience than the Camino Arles, I bumped in to 7 pilgrims just on my way from the bus station to the albergue (pilgrim’s hostel), and 2) I picked the right day to come to Pamplona! Our host says there are always parties here, but seriously, music and traditional dancing in the streets all day, different groups every couple of hours, everyone and their brother and their children out, drinking (not the children obviously), dancing, having a great time. It is the “Day of the Third Republic” which as far as I can figure is a regional pride thing, since there is no Third Republic of Spain. What a great little city!

These guys were dressed in sheepskins with giant cowbells on their behinds which clanked as they marched along:

As soon as I got to the albergue I met two guys that had been walking together, one of which had to go to Barcelona for a job thing. So the other one, a sweet Canadian named Duncan, and I hung out for the afternoon. He brought me to a real tapa place for dinner! I mean, this was the real, order at the bar, place is a madhouse but the food is amazing, tapa place. Finally! My pictures didn’t come out very well because it was so dark, but here you go foodies:

Notice the weird wormy things on toast in the lower corner. I asked three people what they were and couldn’t figure it out. Some kind of sea creature, but not tentacles.

I had a whole round of goat cheese on toast with yummy chutney-like sauce and another toast thing with cheese and vegetables. Duncan had a stuffed pepper (fried, apparently it’s a local thing) and some chorizo which he said was amazing. 4 tapas, 2 glasses of wine, and some delicious garlic brined olives came to $20. Not bad! And then I got a torrija for dessert, which is a delicious version of french toast. We walked back to the albergue close to 10 o’clock and still, everyone was out in the streets.

Also staying in the albergue was an Australian guy who had started out less than a week ago and, like me, is very active back home, has trained a lot to prepare for the Camino, and two days ago developed serious knee pain. He was resting here for the day yesterday and his knee was still really swollen and painful. But off he went at 5:00 this morning! My knee feels really good walking around town, but is still sore going down stairs. Seems about the same as it was yesterday so I’m going to hang out here today and then start off slowly tomorrow. After two conversations about walking poles (Duncan swears by them even though they’re an ‘old person’s’ thing, and he is 28),Mom you’ll be happy to hear, I was going to try to buy some today for the hill tomorrow. But, alas, today is Sunday and everything is closed, even the big department store. I might go in the morning before I leave, but they don’t open until 10. We’ll see. I asked Duncan about how many people started the same day he did last week and he guessed 150. WOW. That’s a huge change from… 2. I hope there is room for me at the next place!