AH San Fermin Suites Pamplona

... hopping back on the bus to go to the hotel at 7.45pm. After the sangria, it was a little harder trying to remember to speak Spanish rather than French as we are now so practiced in our french phrases. It was also hard to remember what room we were in! The cards don't have numbers and we just couldn't remember. Luckily Dan had an idea and yes, it turns out room 507 is us, not 407!

Dinner was served at 8.30pm ..an early dinner just for us according to ...

... typical 10 pm curfew), and I struggled with feeling jealous and disappointed, and wondering what this meant... should i have tried harder to stay with the group? was this just pure luck? Regardless, i hope to run into some town festivals along the way at some point, as they seem amazing.

Met a boy from south korea who told me he recognized what ¨Penn¨ was from the tshirt i sleep in!! He said he was impressed I went to such a great school, and i hate that I loved to hear that.

... George was great and intense.

A bit while later we were alongside a huge field of sunflowers, when George realized his camera was gone. I volunteered to run back to where we had been resting, as he thought he left it there. I ran (without my pack) alongside the same beautiful landscape i had just traversed. Somehow though, it felt more beautiful, slightly familiar. I now believe that walking back from Santiago to St Jean Pied de Port would be ...

... and doing just about anything you could think of in the streets and parks of Pamplona. I was having a great time and alternated between partying in the street and in bars. At about 4 in the morning I´m in a packed bar dancing and suddenly feel someone reach into my pocket and grab my wallet. I reacted immediatelty but wasn´t quick enough, it was so packed I had no idea who just stole my wallet... ****! I went outside and tried to collect myself but I ...

... taunts bull with his red cape and postures arrogantly to entertain the crowd. Once he or the crowd get over this he tries to use a sword to pierce the bull between the shoulders and through the internal organs to kill the bull once and for all
7: If successful the first time, the bull coughs up blood then collapses to the ground. the men in leggings collect all their spent spears and the sword and the bull is dragged from the arena ...

... meander through the streets until I reach the cathedral and stop inside whilst one of the hundreds of masses for the day takes place. More about the cathedral later. I find a bank to replenish funds, and sit on the statue of the bulls where Marc from New York finds me and takes a picture for me. We (I) decide that we (I) need salt and sugar to keep hydrated, so we walk about 4km to find a Burger King. It is ...

In yesterday's blog, I forgot to mention two amusing things associated with this visit. When shopping in Barcelona for gifts to take to the family (since I'd almost run out of Australian souvenirs), I came across an oddity which I couldn't resist but buy for Orión: a koala soft toy with the Barcelona football club's emblem!! It seemed like an ideal gift from an Australian living in Barcelona. I wish I'd taken a photo of it; who would've ...

... wouldn't make it this far west/south. Seven kilometres out of town one enters the town of Arneguy on the Spanish border. This is where I first saw the legions of 'Pilgrims' clad in their rain-slickers and Hi-Tec boots marching along the highway. Arneguy is where the ascent into the mountains begins to get tough. It is a gruelling 20 km stretch of uphill and switchbacks to the first of three mountain passes en route to Pamplona. El Puerto de Ibañeta. Elevation 1057 m ...

... this time most of the places stopped serving food, or the ones that did were packed with people. And it was all just so crazy. Trash and broken bottles everywhere. Guys peeing in the street at every corner. Megaphones screaming in your ear and palying the song "olay olay olay"...you know the tune. So much going on, and by this point everyone was beyond nuts. I´m not sure it would have been better to actually been drinking along with everyone or ...

... on our way. We drove paste the big dog made of flowers, which resides outside the Guggenheim museum. Its funny, on its world tour, I had seen it in Sydney, and now driving past it, I had this sense of both being at home and homesickness. Strange really. We had last climb to get towards Pamplona, and as we neared the top, the Chookster missed a beat. Was this the same problem in England ? Well, nothing else happened, and we ...