Yesterday was a good day of walking. Almost no pain except down those steep Roman roads out of a hilltop walled town:

I was walking in my shorts because it was in the eighties with no cloud in the sky! Gorgeous but hot, I was having flashbacks of Honduras. And I didn’t do a good job with my sunblock. I’m embarrassed to say the backs of my legs are really burned. They look worse than they feel, but they look bad. What a difference from being cold and wet in France!

My favorite part of the day was watching the transition of the landscape. We’re very clearly in a Mediterranean climate now and out of the Pyrenees. We were walking through scrubby hillsides covered in thyme, rosemary and lavender. I don’t think anyone else noticed, but whenever someone passed me that I recognized I stuck some under their nose. What lovely fresh air!

Quick explanation of daily Camino: A lot of people start in St. Jean Pied de Port (practically on the Spanish border but just in France, so they can say they crossed the Pyrenees) and try to get to Santiago de Compostela in 33 days (33 being of holy significance). So most of the guidebooks have split up the walk into 33 stages, which funnels most people into the bigger towns each night. I generally prefer to stay in smaller towns but there can be problems: the albergue can be closed (like it was in Zariquiegui three nights ago) or full (like it was in Uterga-did I mention we ended up splitting a room in a little hotel?) or sometimes it’s such a small town that there isn’t even a grocery store to get dinner. But on the plus side I don’t feel like part of a herd during the mass exodus from 6 to 8 each morning, and the subsequent plug flow of pilgrims.

Yesterday I had planned to stay in the town before the big town, and I was very ready to be out of the sun, but the albergue looked shut up and the town had this weird feeling and was completely covered with concrete. No green space to be seen. So I ended up walking the whole stage of 21 kilometers which is generally considered a short day, but for the new me it was a big jump from the 14k the day before. It ended up being a really neat town and I had a wonderful evening hanging out with two guys I had met the night before and an American couple. When I walked in the door of the albergue, sweaty and tired, the two guys sat me down at a table and put a huge plate of pasta with marinara, olives, chocolate, and wine in front of me. It was perfect. And they did the dishes!

Today there wasn’t any option but to walk the whole suggested stage, which was again only 21 k. I opted to take the path less traveled away from the road and into the mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous. Walking under olive trees and holly, listening to cuckoos. It was sunny today but not too hot, perfect walking weather, and the only other pilgrims I saw for 3 hours were way off in the distance. Perfect day, exactly what I had pictured the Camino to be. Towards the end my feet started getting sore and both knees were a little tender from the big (but gradual) downhill, but no towns for the last 10 k. I took a few stops to put my feet up and let everyone pass me by. Got in to Los Arcos around 3:30 and am meeting the group from last night for dinner. Tomorrow the suggested stage is 30 k which I will not subject my legs to yet, so I’ll be out of sync with them for the rest of the trip.

Oh! And how could I forget the wine fountain?? There is literally a fountain on the Camino in a town called Ayegui that has water on one side, and wine on the other. An enscription reads,”If you wish to arrive at Santiago full of strength and vitality, have a drink of this great wine and raise a toast to happiness.” Only in Spain!