Day 19 - What WAS I Thinking? - August 3

Day 19 - What WAS I Thinking? - August 3

Very appropriate for today. Even though I've done this before, I have that, just about to jump off the high dive platform for the first time feeling. Do I really want to do this? Can I do this? Somehow my pack gained 7 pounds since I left home. And I'm the one that has been eating like a little piggie. :) All this stuff. A big cup of café con leche helped. I got packed and then set out to walk in these two parks until it was time to take the bus up the Saint Jean Pied de Port. One of the parks was just a lovely park. The other was the Citadel which was built as a military defense in the shape of a five pointed star with a moat around it. Apparently it was very effective. As a defensive measure, Pamplona, like a lot of towns and cities in Spain was built on a hill with tall walls surrounding it. Many of Pamplona's walls are still in good shape and you can wall around on them. When you look down you understand how hard it would be to attack a town on a hill surrounded by a solid rock wall. At this point in time the Citadel, which was built earlier to protect one area of the city, is a garden. What I didn't know is that they have deer and all different kinds of birds. Some I couldn't identify, so I took pictures and I can research later. I did recognize a couple of swans, ducks, lots of chickens, and peacocks. What a treat that was People use parks is Spain. It was Saturday. Dads were out with kids on their bikes, families were strolling, old people were sitting on benches and friends were walking around chatting. What a great discovery. 

When it was time to look for the bus station, I got a little confused. I had been there twice last year. What mixed me up was that it was on one side of this big Citadel park. I didn't remember it being near any greenery. I'm going to post a picture of it's location so you can appreciate how funny this is. 

In the bus station I met a Canadian couple, Bruce and Arlene. They are going to St Jean to start their first Camino. They are a lot of fun and, as it turns out we will be staying in the same albergues for at least the first three nights. We had a wild bus ride on winding mountain roads. Last year it was kind of soothing. But this year the driver seemed to think he was a race car driver. At one point he tried to pass a farmer, pulling a cart of hay with a tractor, on a curve and almost had a head on collision. There was a slamming on of breaks, things flying about the bus and everyone putting on their seat belts after that. I think the train wreck was on everyone's mind. I know it was on mine. 

But we arrived safely and I was able to get Bruce and Arlene to the Albergue and then the Pilgrim's Office to get the workers there to  call Orisson to get a reservation for tomorrow night. Later Arlene told me she had read everything she could, much of it wrong, and that I had turned out to be her best resource. I love it when I can be of service. We are staying at Esprit du Chemin right across from the Pilgrim's Office. 

It is nice. We had an aperitif (ok for me,) before dinner we went around the table and introduced ourselves and said a little some thing about ourselves. There were four French folks who are long time friends and they do a week or two portion of the Camino every year together. There was another group of four; a mother Jane, her daughter Aida, a guy who Aida met in college Paul and a guy Paul had known since grade school. Then there were my roommates an older fellow Jose from Madrid and a young man Antony from France, a German woman who speaks five languages fluently, and Dutch man who was 83 and had already walked 1800 kilometers from his home, a woman who had walked from her home in Holland, a young man from New Jersey (originally from Bangladesh (said his name is John, but since we're entering Spain it is Juan.) I had lots of great conversations with everyone. In our room before bed Antonio and I had a conversation about spirituality, prayer and true love. I used my marriage as an example of what I think true love is, wanting the other person to do what they want to do, because you want them to be happy and pursue their wants, dreams and desires. 

Now it's time for sleep and dreams of more adventures tomorrow. 

Big park right behind the bus station. I never saw it last year. 

Standing on the wall looking down