18th Day / Calzadilla de la Cueza - Calzada del Coto - 26km

not much to report today, we´ve had a casual day walking in the sun with bright blue sky, whispy white clouds, wheat fields rustling in the wind; various plowed fields of rich chestnut brown soil with little field mice scurrying across our stone & dirt path. nicole and i interestingly enough developed a blister on our left little toes and each were squished at an angle. for me, i believe it was the combination of our roads yesterday; asphalt for long periods then with rocks buried partially and jutting upwards making it very difficult to walk and also painful. we have stopped in sahagun to the farmacia where we could doctor our toes; buying a small gel toe cap to cover our baby toes. we still need to walk 5 km more as soon as we are finished here with our blogs. i do hope everyone (families, friends) are doing well and able to keep up with us as we cross the backroads of france & spain. everyday is filled with magic...today´s magic so far...hearing upbeat french music (which makes me want to dance)in a small restaurant at an albergue in san nicolas del real-camino; having the wind each day as we walk in the sun and going through the villages on our route and seeing the locals go about their business of the moment and wishing us buen camino. Life Is Good. i would like to leave you with a thought...please do not think i place any judgement on your beliefs, this is just something to ponder...Why in moment of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure....Bill Scheil....a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario....he describes himself as a ¨modern day nobody.¨ i like some of the quotes on the starbucks cups...some, really make you think. LIFE IS GOOD - AriZona

15th, 16th. & 17th Days / St. Nicholas - Calzadillia de la Cueza

15th Day....Wow! the Camino is as Magical as ordinary life if one observes it as being...the morning of june 28th we had a little bit of a climb and soon the camino road was straight, flat and long; walking 31.4 km. we arrived st. nicholas at 5:15 pm, having about 2 1/2 hours of breaks along the way. it was suggested by my friend diane, to stay at st. nicholas a church which was one run by italian monks. upon arriving the church was not yet opened and so nicole and i set our packs on the ground and took off our hiking boots; although i love my hiking boots it was a relief to feel some air on my tender feet. soon, a woman and man in their late 60´s or early seventies arrived telling us we needed to leave our boots outside, then inviting us inside. at this point the woman who only spoke italian began assigning beds (8 beds), nicole and i were lucky to have a bed. as it turned out many others arrived not to be turned away and later in the evening after dinner were given mattresses to lay on the floor. we were instructed by alba to go take showers and wash our clothes and by that time it would be 3 pm where we could go inside once again. dinner was being prepared for us. it felt disrespectful to alba for anyone to lay on the beds so, we took sleeping bags or pads to lay on the green grass outside of the church. this was very comforting until a little old man came upon the women. when he came to me he leaned down so quickly i knew he was going to plant a kiss on my lips which i quickly turned my face so he could only kiss my cheek. this little old man took it upon himself to plant maybe 20 kisses on my cheek making smacking sounds and producing a giggle from me; okay i´ve had enough. what is it that in spain little old men think they can have their way with solo women? i told him no, and go away. another woman when he tried this with her she pushed him away telling him no and soon he disappeared. stay clear away from little old men on the camino. okay, back to my story of st. nicolas. soon it was 3 pm and we could go inside. nicole and i were asked to set the table with bowls, silverware and candles (there was no electricity in the church) which is what allured me. soon we were told to go near the alter all 20 of us sitting in leather chairs in a semi circle where we began a cermony in italian welcoming us with one foot being washed by alba´s husband (?) and then kissed by him after kissing your foot he would look you in the eye while alba read. it touched my soul. afterwards, we all shared in our own language where we were from but i think it got changed to why each was doing the camino. when the ceremony was finished dinner was served; pasta, white beans with boiled potatoes and tomatoe, bread and wine or water, desert was ice cream all by candlelight. dinner dishes whisked away and people gathered outside on the steps to sing along while someone from spain played the guitar. i´m so glad i did not miss this opportunity to stay at this special place. it was not long before i decided to go to bed and others followed and soon, there was only silence. i slept very well that night. in the morning as everyone was gathering their sleeping bags and getting ready to leave i took a beautiful picture of our boots lined up on a stone shelf a foot off the ground. alba served us cafe con leche and toast for breakfast. after breakfast she gathered us in a semi-circle outside on the church step where she began an italian blessing to each pilgrim then kissing (a friendly kiss, one not touching our faces), on each cheek, looked into our eyes and wished us buen camino and sent us on our way. what a magical place.

16th Day.....standing on the bridge just 100 feet away from the church i´m looking at a stand of trees that are perfectly aligned in any direction while seeing a darkened doorway at the end of a row of trees. i love doorways of any kind. most of the day felt like we could be in the palouse country near coeur d´alene, idaho. the wheat was swaying with the wind. after leaving st. nicolas and walking 13.8 km we made a slight detour so i could show nicole another magical place; boadilla del camino. this is home away from home. although it was too close to spend an enchanting night here it pleased my heart that we could stop and have a cola cao and some sweet bread. i tried my hand again at the computer and soon realized i was as slow on this computer this time as in 2002. i did not write any letters this time. i did check my blog for comments and noticed 6, thank you everyone-i am recieving you comments and loving them. edwardo (sp?) was there with his sweet smiling face and welcoming us. it took awhile but then he remembered me. he sat with nicole and i until we said good bye then he walked us outside and bid us buen camino, until next year. now we walk to our nights destination: villalcazar de sirga. since we arrived late we only had time to make a phone call each and visit the small village before having dinner and going to bed.
17th Day......i slept about 40 mins last night because my mattress was so bad. we only had 22 km to walk today so i did not think this a problem. the path today was very straight, mostly asphalt then dirt roads with lots of rocks and no shade. it turned out to be a long, long hot walk. but, as always magic appears...out of nowhere a jeep wrangler pulled slowly towards us, ah i think we´ll find out how far we are from our destination calzada del coto. the jeep is filled with 4 british guys and soon the maps came out to compare. it wasn´t long and soon a camera appeared and they said they were doing a documentary and could they please film us while walking. sure, we say sounds fun! it was!!!!! Samuel (camera man), Gan, chris and dario were so much fun. gan, would move the jeep far ahead and park; samuel would be guided backwards while filming by dario; while chris walked between nicole and i asking us questions as if we weren´t being interviewed. we had a great time as usual. afterwards, i said i´d really would like a short ride in the jeep and told them how i loved and missed my beautiful orange jeep. i think gan may go back and buy a jeep rubicon unlimited in orange. they drove us to the albergue, just a short distance where we had beers and nicole a coke. what a great time we had and they will e-mail us info when the documentary is finished on the camino. LIFE IS GOOD - now i will go shower. i love everyone and love hearing from all of you.







.

17th Day?

we are fine, just a quick note to say we haven´t had any computers until today. we are still walking and have 17 km to go. hopefully there will be a computer available in calzadilla de la cueza. LIFE IS GOOD - AriZona

14th Day / Burgos - Hotanas

i am very happy and feel like i am five years old. i have a bottom bunk in a wonderful alburgue. my bed is angled in a corner but the wall is also angled in a corner making it a cozy spot. i put up a maroon blanket colored blanket to make a fort. i have my head lamp on so i can journal. just finished eating an ensalada mixta. this day has been so magical. searched out computers found a nice internet cafe. instead of staying out of town at the albergue and missing the festivities in burgos we decided to stay at the hotel there was great music everywhere. for us we ate rather late 10 pm. deciding on a little restaurant where we found an italian carbonara pasta dish absolutely inviting. as soon as we finished we walking back to our hotel when i saw and heard great drumming. okay, this is so much fun and i have to follow them. eight men in black long gowns, with something strapped to their backs, a big drum strapped around their waists, faces painted the color of blood, black hoods with horns, symbolizing bulls. i cannot stop my body from dancing to the rythm of the drums and my excitement is over the top to be witnessing such a wonderful event. we laughed, running ahead of them as they moved through the town. my endorphins were running high. the things strapped to their backs were fireworks which they set off at the end. they also had two lights at the top of their heads. the crowd was growing with anticipation and excitement. during this moment they also set off fireworks from a can in the center of their circle. what a great way to end the night for us. we went running back to the hotel laughing the entire way. my night in bed was not so enchanting. the bed was short, hard and slanted. i did not sleep, my toes hurt from the tucked in sheet that was too tight (i finally pulled the sheet out a few inches but it was too late, my toes were already painful). i knew we had a long walk ahead of us today, 31 km and i did not have the energy to walk ten steps. when checking out of the hotel i nicely told the sweet woman about the beds that were very uncomfortable. she said, she was sorry about our night and could not do anything about our room but she could give us breakfast. we had earlier declined breakfast, but for the moment we did not have the energy to take one step toward santiago. something about having two coal cao´s each, a croissant and other breads lightened us up. making a comment: just drop us off in the middle of nowhere got nicole and i laughing hard again as we do when we get very tired and cannot put one foot straight in front of the other. this one comment changed our day to a magical one, forts, nicole and i being rori and loreli of the ¨gilmore girls¨ a wonderful program on the tv for the past seven seasons and ended in march 2007. one thing i´ve learned today is you have to chose your own adventure. your next thought if acted upon can bring you enormous joy. nichole and i reached our albergue today in record time and are excited about slipping into our sleeping bags and sleeping until we wake up. i´ve been journaling for an hour, nicole has already slept one hour longer than me. i am going to take a picture of my very cozy fort. life is good.... oh, to add to my joy today my sweet, wonderful new friend (diane) was unexpectedly sitting at our albergue eating a tomatoe and cheese sandwich. when i spotted her she had aready seen me and we both had the biggest smiles. buen camino, my friend. we talked for awhile when she had to leave to walk another ten km to her destination for the night- catrojeriz. i know as she does we shall meet again on this camino. and now, a few pictures of my cozy retreat. life just got better, yes, it is a magical day. we have seen two more of our wonderful friends walter and stephan and of course andrea. the only dear friend missing is willie who maybe in leon. we miss willie, who is known by his friend walter as ¨casanovä¨. willie is endearing. as of today, we have walked 222.51 miles or 350 km. life is good.

13th day / Atapuerca - Burgos

we slept in this morning knowing that our walk was short since we walked farther yesterday. after breakfast of a cola cao and croissant we left the village of atapuerca at 10:15 am. we walked with our friend andrea to burgos. he has taken to nicole as a teacher, and i like watching them interact. he told us that when we are in another country we should try to speak their language, yes, this is true. and i have not been responsible in this area, next year will be different when i return. our walk started with wind, dark clouds threatening to rain as soon as we started walking. nicole added that yes, it will rain very soon! it took awhile but indeed it wasn´t long before it started to rain. andrea and i stopped, nicole already had her rain jacket on but we needed to put ours on. it seemed another day where my jacket went on, then off, then on, then off until finally i could not stand the heat of the jacket anymore and just took it off. somewhere along the way i found a field of poppies (my favorite flower in spain) and wanted a picture with me in the center of the flowers. so there i was again, very happy, being close to the flowers that bring me so much pleasure; the other flower i love is for it´s essence: the tiger lily that is pink - i can´t think of it´s proper name. we came upon a woman who was from madrid and started walking in roncesvales, she sang us a wonderful little song from her childhood about bringing the sunshine when it is raining. after singing that song we sang singing in the rain by gene kelley arm in arm and skipping. the day was spent walking and nothing much to report. we need to get a room for the night still and make a phone call to our loved ones so they know we still exist. mcuh love to everyone - life is good, AriZona

12th Day / Belorado - Atapuerca

As always the way is difficult but joyful at the sametime. we walked 30.4 km yesterday and when we arrived in atapuerca we discovered there was only one computer and a line to use it, we passed. we were so very exhausted arriving in Atapuerca about 3 pm that i really didn´t care to do anything. our friend Andrea was worried for us (he is Swiss)and said we should go farther than where most everyone was stopping for the night (san juan de ortega). we heard along the road that morning that the only meal you would get would be at the church with the priest (garlic soup)and that didn´t intice most people, following with some complaints. thanks to our friend we did walk past this town. let me back up a bit. when starting out at 6:05 am from Belorado our morning was easy, walking in fog drifting in out of the hills. it was a blissful and enjoyable meandering walk. then, 12 km into our walk we stopped at a bar for something to drink. then immediately leaving Villafranca Montes de Oca we started a very hard climb, it went on and on and on and didn´t stop for at least another 9-12 km! we were in shock, thinking this has got to end soon; no it did not. as we walked on we were in the forest with ferns, bugs only in one spot that sounded like the cicada bugs in arizona. this area reminded me of the times marc & i and friends had gone into the forests of idaho to gather boughs for our wreath making party every year the first weekend in december. continuing with our story: on my map there was a solo picture of a church, when i caught sight of that church i could not believe it because that meant we had another 6.4 km. nicole was so excited, very excited but at the very moment i said it´s the church my own heart sank, poor nicole said in a moment she went from being very happy to depressed all in an instant and she said i was the cause of this. at this same moment she remembered someone saying that in san juan de ortega there was a church with 3 small buildings and yes, there was a church and 3 small buildings! we discussed this and became so delirious you would not have believed it was the same people you know us to be. we must have goofed off, laughing so hard we would trip ourselves and then all of a sudden imagine having to go pee and to find a bush as fast as you can. yes, more laughing indeed. when getting to san juan we discovered a church that was vacant except for a few statues and a coffin and a dark stairway leading down into a very dark we didn´t know what. indiana jones and tomb raiders here we come! i got out my little light but it wasn´t bright enough then nicole remembered we had head lamps, yeah perfect! i ran up the steps to get my lamp and go back downstairs. it was so cool, there was what we thought to be the tomb of san juan de ortega, a large coffin on the floor and a large cross above it on the wall and nothing else. we had to turn off the flash on our cameras because the reflection was too bright. so i took a picture of nicole on the stairs on our way back up....have any of you seen the Blair Witch Project? that´s what the pictures turned out like it was very cool. yes, i know this was a religious place of rest for san juan but i like to think he was looking upon our kind spirits and knowing that we were honoring him but also on an adventure of our own. Life Is Good. after leaving the church we got something to drink at the bar i did not think would be available and left town and all the pilgrims behind us. wooooo hooooo here we go again! we arrived weary and wanting to get off our feet, they hurt so much i could not tell you we could barely walk. what a day, but i´d do it again, maybe not tomorrow but, soon. until the 13th day.....LIFE IS GOOD - AriZona

11th Day / Santo Domingos de calza - Belorado

Hello to everyone! we started walking this morning @ 6:24 am. we walked 22 km today; with two breaks adding up to half an hour. we arrived at belorado at nearly 1pm, neither one of us looked at our watches so we don´t know the exact time. we were close to the first to arrive having hot water when we showered; i can´t believe our luck we´ve had hot showers everyday except one day and that is unusual. wooooo, hooooo, the small things in life are most appreciated and bring a joyous smile to my face. let´s see, so you want to experience our life here on the camino: i just went to the bathroom and little things we take for granted are not so on the camino, it makes you think of how you use the resources that are available to you: the lights are on very short timers, in this bathroom when the light goes out there is only darkness, no hint of a light anywhere, it´s only on for seconds, not having time to do anything. the showers at the albergue were also on a timer, i would just put shampoo in my hair and the water would turn off, simple things that we take for granted. our day is simple enough: we get up, quietly gather our packs, trekking poles and sleeping bag in our arms )it makes too much noise when stuffing it into a sack), take our shoes off the shelf, put our things down on the floor somewhere, use the toilet, brush our teeth, pick up our things as we walk somewhere where we won´t disturb anyone who might be sleeping, put our boots on, stuff our sleeping bags into a stuff sack, put our packs on, walk out the door quietly if it´s not locked and go to the local fountain in the village to fill our camelbacks (add our elixer tablets for electrolites), put our packs on and follow a yellow arrow out of the village. Walah, we are on our way! we normally walk through a few villages before reaching our destination; at the first bar that is open we buy cola cao (hot chocolate) and a croissant, mmmmmmmm)& sometimes buying something small for lunch & put it in our sack for later when we get hungry. today we had a treat for lunch, in 2002 i discovered a product in the local supermacado: isabelle, a can with veggies. this time they no longer carry that particular product but have improved on it: rice, veggies, and tuna with some oil-it was so delicious. we are thinking even if the can´s weight is more than we want to carry it is worth it so we can really enjoy our lunch. the walk today was simple: walking through rolling hills of wheat fields and two other crops that are unknown to me. yesterday we passed through fields of snow peas where two combines were cutting them. it´s interesting, every piece of machinery i´ve seen on this journey is brand new. i haven´t seen a piece of old machinery anywhere, i just don´t understand why. the old camino as i know it is in many places being replaced with new buildings and that is very sad to me. we passed through a new town yesterday and we arrived at a golf course where mercedes benz was putting on a tournament, it just seemed so out of place. yes, progress in motion. a new camino is being born along with some old. i have started to think in terms of not what i am missing but, what will become. last night we had an unexpected reunion with a friend we haven´t seen since pamplona, Andrea. because of an injury he stayed behind and walked 40 km yesterday so he could find nicole and myself. tonight, he has invited us to have dinner with him, we are excited to see him again. he mentioned he may come to LA in january and come to visit us in arizona. since arriving today in belorado we have done our house chores, found a place to eat some french fries (not just any french fries, they are very good) and a coka cola and then went in search of the internet. Walah, here we are and now we are going to leave, maybe go rest a bit, we haven´t talked. I LOVE EVERYONE - LIFE IS GOOD - Sweet Dreams, AriZona

10th Day / Najerra - Santo Domingos

hello everyone-computer is extremely slow and the man is waiting to close. we had a wonderful day beginning at 4:21 am! we were excited because we got to use our headlamps. a man from belgium before us and needed to turn around because it was too dark. here we come to his rescue he walked with us because we had the Light! we were finished walking by 10:30 am! it was wonderful, same scenery as yesterday only not as many grape vineyards. here is a book some of you might like, i discovered it today by another pilgrim: A Pilgrim´s Guide to the Camino de Santiago - a practical & mystical manual for the modern day pilgrim by John Brierley.
travel - spirituality 1-84409-069-8 $29.00 i really liked this book and think you will too. got to run....LIFE IS GOOD! ILY - AriZona

9th Day/ Navarrete - Najera

we got a late start today beginning @ 11:30 am with dark skies threatening to rain but ended with cloudy skies and breeze so wonderful making it a joy to walk. with only 14 km to walk it was a short day which allowed us to leave later. the landscape was incredible with trees patching the undulating hillsides sharing the land with wheat fields and grape orchards. the birds were singing along with the crickets. we had a great soft moist dirt path part of which was a constrution road with a lot of traffic noise. it was a challenge trying to pee with pilgrims so near and construction workers so close. we´d pick a spot, drop our packs, laugh, pee, grab our packs, put them on and laugh some more as we tried to stay ahead of the pack and keep our place. we laugh a lot. we came upon cairn city...people stack rocks and there were hundreds of them. at 2:20 pm nicole noticed a sign which read Potatas Fritas Aperitivos (french fries and appetizers) we were wanting those french fries! oh no, could the path take us there, no. no potatas fritas for us. coming into najerra nicole discovered a chinese restaurant on the other side of the street; we ran to a crosswalk with out trekking poles tap-tapping away and of course laughing. yes, they were serving dinner now and we didn´t have to wait until the usual 7-8pm when we were ready to go to bed. a chinese restaurant where the chinese family lived in spain and spoke spanish, with irish music playing. again, we laughed but had a wonderful unexpected meal. our clothes are washed and hung outside to dry, we´ve made our phone calls and now i need to turn over the computer to someone else. i think we´ll take a walk around this lovely little village. until tomorrow - LIFE IS GOOD - please anyone send me some mail or thoughts for me to think about. thank you carla i got your e-mail and will write my letters as if you all were on the camino with me. ILY Marc. Have a wonderful day and sweet dreams tonight. tomorrow we will walk from najerra to santo domingo de la calzada 20.7 km. much love - AriZona

9th Day - Good Morning

nicole and i are getting ready to leave for our day´s walk. here is something to ponder on your own journey´s no matter how big or how small; from the book ¨Without Reservations...the travels of an independent woman - Alice Steinbach

¨the Journey´s Echo¨ Freya Stark -

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasant sensations in the world. you are surrounded by adventure. you have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it. ADVENTURE...

this is how i walk each day. i´m as eager as a child and have no expectations, therefore, i am never disappointed. LIFE IS GOOD, Love to all - AriZona

8th Day / Logrono - Navarrete

we had a playful day today in logrono, meeting lots and lots of people and of course laughing a lot. on our way out of town today i needed to find an older man named ïgnacio¨who was part of my journey here in 2002. another pilgrim and myself had injuries to our knees and legs and this little old man popped playfully around a corner mimicking us hobbling along. he invited us to come with him, we did and it was quite an adventure. he took us to his workshop and possibly home. when georgianna and i stepped inside we saw many religious relics, he also showed us an article Paulo Cohelo had written about him in spanish. i wanted to find him today but with all the changes made, new homes, the camino path changed i thought it would be difficult. but my sherlock homes nose led me directly to him and he was there even though i still could not understand him. i was so happy to see him! soon, we will be in the village Santo Domingo which has a story about chickens. but, i cannot tell you tonight i have to go or i will be locked out of the refugio for the night and it is raining. We also stopped at a children´s park and swung on the swings. we had a good day. hopefully it will stop raining during the night so we do not have to walk in mud tomorrow. i love everyone and hope LIFE IS GOOOD for you. Good night. AriZona

7th Day / Los Arcos - Viana

hello everyone: i just spent an hour typing a wonderful letter to you only to have the timer go off and the letter disappear as i typed in one more word. of course this letter will be different and hope you will enjoy my journey. nicole and i left late this morning so we could go to the post office (correos) to ship forward some of our weight out of our packs and lighten our load. it was 9:30 when we started walking out of los arcos. it was a difficult day climbing most of the day in steep hills. we arrived in Viana about 2 pm. the weather has been fantastic, cloudy, sunny off/on, windy and of course we had rain two days ago. with our packs a little lighter we walked easier. when we arrived at the albergue we were lucky once again to have showers with warm water readily available to us; that is not the norm. we also had available to us a washer and dryer once again. after doing our chores we went to check out the village for something to eat. we went to several bars and quickly found out that our timing was off and settled on having a good dinner for 10 euros. oh my gosh, i died and went to heaven: ensalada mixta (a salad w/lots of vegetables, no tuna this time), 2 slices of chicken with red and green peppers cooked to perfection, french fries, i had sangria and for dessert: ice cream. what a dinner! nicole and i also grabbed a bocadio (bread & meat) for tomorrow´s lunch. i accidentally packed our maps for today and tomorrow and didn´t know what villages we would walk thru so we could grab something for lunch. it was too soon after leaving the albergue this morning passing thru the one village we passed thru today to reach our destination, Viana. i am now ready for bed but, i must tell you a story nicole thinks i should share: we arrived at estella on our 6th day. i love this albergue. the next morning as we were getting ready to leave i signed the diary of the albergue. as i was trying to write i needed to step on my tippy toes and soon the host of the albergue grabbed my waist and lifted me up to finish writing in the book, i giggled. soon we put on our boots, taking our backpack and trekking poles to leave the albergue. we walked about 20 steps when i hear something and turned around to find the host saying good bye and wanting a hug. as europeans often do we kissed but didn´t kiss on each cheek; nicole and i waved good bye. as we arrived in los arcos who was there to greet us, this host. nicole thinks this host ¨liked¨me. if he had appeared today i would have not paid much attention to him so he got the idea i am not interested. i forgot to mention there was raggae music playing that morning and i had said the day before that i liked raggae music, sycrinisity. my time is up. ILY, AriZona LIFE IS GOOD, Sweet Dreams until the next time i find a computer. i still cannot write in my email although i was able to access it today.

Web Sites and Comments

Hi, it's Marc. Arizona is having problems with her email, so the easiest way to drop her a note is through the "comments" section at the end of each posting. Click on "comments" following the "Posted by AriZona" script. If you look at the end of "6th Day cont'd" you will see "1 comments" I did as an example.

Some web sites I use to follow their progress across spain are:

http://www.xacobeo.es/2006/index.asp?idMenu=13&idIdioma=3&int1=1 This site shows the route with information on distances between towns and a whole lot more.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm I use this site to convert kilometers into miles.

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/WeatherCaminoFrances.msnw This site provides the local weather.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/temperature.htm This site converts from Celsius to Farenheit.

Walk On

Marc

6th Day cont´d

i´m sorry my time ran out. i believe the hosts are ready to close the albergue so i need to finish my letter quickly. the paella was wonderful. we met a man who is traveling by road bike and is from england. today he road from pomplona to los arcos and crashed twice since leaving roncesvales. we shared stories of the camino. nicole is in bed and i need also to get to bed as we are going to rise at 5:40 am to walk to logrono. it will be a long walk tomorrow; sinc i´ve walked the camino before i remember parts of this days walk. we may walk up steep hills but i do remember there will be a long flat area. our pace is good, we only stopped a couple of short times today, nothing to really tell you except the country is absolutely beautiful and i was very happy because there were still fields of poppies everywhere today. i am not able to open my e-mail but when i do i´m sure i will have lots of e-mail and i thank you. i do not know how to download pictures on these computers. if anyone is responding to me blogs i am not seeing these posts so i cannot answer any questions you might be having. i will figure this out soon because i would love to hear from everyone. i must go to bed now, nicole and i have 2 other female roomates tonight in a small room that has 2 sets of bunkbeds and only enough space to put backpacks on the floor. three of them are trying to sleep and i have my things on the top bunk and i will try not to wake them but it will be difficult to not make any noise, and i am a very quiet person when i am with others. please wish the sleep gods with me tonight, i´ve not slept well the last three nights even though i am very tired. it is not because i am in a strange place, i get very hot then i get cold or my body aches. soon the aching will be less, wooooo hooooooo! i love everyone, there and here - LIFE IS GOOD, have a wonderful day and when night comes - SWEET DREAMS

6th Day Estella - Los Arcos

We arrived in Los Arcos @ 12:29 pm. Our chores are done, showers, hand washed clothing, hung clothes on clothes line to dry. we had a treat today, an Acme Wringer, ltd. 1935 (?). usually i hand wring each item with a special backpackers towel which takes time to do but wrings out the moisture. with the Acme special & the wind we´ve had, most of the of the day the clothing will dry quickly. the atmosphere here at the albergue is relaxing. ken (yuri) an asian man in late twenties is playing his guitar on a small grassy knoll just outside the albergue. next to him young people 30ish are gathering discussing their day & getting to know one another. a cyclist is on the patio fixing perhaps a spoke on his wheel. three men were pulling on spokes. there are 2 maple trees full of rich green leaves; the center has been topped, the branches are blowing in the wind. there is a coke machine sitting on the small concrete porch, a few wooden tables. people are walking about relaxing from the days walk. we arrived at an early time today, leaving Estella @ 7 am and arriving in los arcos @ 12:30 pm. we had a casual day, it was hot, we are drinking lots of water and make sure we have enough to get us through each day. tonight, nicole and i had paella for dinner then we were invited to have dinner again here at the refugio with two older wonderful men in their 60´s (walter & willie), since we already had dinner we ate just a little.

Puenta La Reina - Estella (Sunday, Happy Father´s Day)

i tried to get up at 4 am this morning but couldn´t manage it since there were some pilgrim´s who found it necessary to turn on the big lights when they came in. it was difficult to sleep another night and i am very tired tonight. nicole & i started walking this morning @ 7:30 am after having a cola cow (hot chocolate) & crossaint, mmmmm, delicious. as a pilgrim it is customary to set your backpacks outside along with your trekking poles. when we finished eating we put our packs on & it started raining. we had only walked a few steps & needed once again to take off our packs to put on our rain jackets. it seemed we did this about 20´times today; our jackets were like a sauna, extremely hot, too hot to walk in. on/off, on/off, on/off i think you get the picture, it was very frustrating for us. it rained on/off all day creating mud along the path we walked along. it was juicy & thick which slowed our walking, at times becoming slippery as we climbed up & up. coming down was just as tricky. Snails - seeing many snails along the dirt paths made me think that our trekking across spain may not be as difficult as one would think. a snail may take all day to cross the 5´span of dirt. thought: we entered a church yesterday when i saw again the cross with jesus hanging. there he was, a man, just like you and me. after trekking in the mud all day today with what i think is a heavy pack made me realize it was nothing compared to his journey: carrying the cross while people beat him, throwing anything they could at him, yes it was his burden just as my pack is my burden. but i have nothing to complain about. there are many things i need not to complain about. i have no burdens to carry like jesus.
my time is running out and i am completely exhausted, i am going to get our clothes out of the drier (i don´t believe we will have this luxury again, so i will enjoy it tonight) and go to bed. it is 7:30 pm. we will walk 20.4 km tomorrow and hopefully it will not rain all day. we have been fortunate to have cool weather to walk, but it will not last. ILY (i love you) all - buenos tardes AriZona

4th Day - Pamplona to Puenta La Reina

Hello everyone: nicole & i had a wonderful day walking 22 km in about 7 hours. sadly nicole has a blister on each heal and did remarkably well. we needed to climb a large mountain this morning just out of pamplona and can proudly say it took us only 1 hour!!!!!!! we brought with us for our journey from our favorite outdoor store REI, a product called elixer which helps us replenish our electrolites. we had so much energy it helped us climb up, then we made a game to see how fast we could descend - 25 mins - wooooo hooooo! we had trekking poles which helped us nearly run down the mountain stepping on rocks large & small. we laughed & laughed traversing the downside. the last 3 km were very hard for us today, but we managed to have fun even if we were delirious (really)we couldn´t even walk a straight line and couldn´t stop laughing and then we would laugh even harder. i haven´t figured out how to post pictures but i will so have patience please. i have 4 mins left and do not want to lose this letter. after arriving at the albergue (refugio or jeet) we showered and washed & dried all our clothing, ate dinner all by 6 pm. we are now ready to go to bed so we can start walking at 4 am tomorrow. I Love All of You. Sweet dreams, Life is Good - AriZona

To Bayonne

AriZona and Nichole, after much delay have made it to Bayonne and are visiting AriZona's dear friend Francois.