Occidental Europa 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 ...

... sometimes occurs here, and how I should consider the new relationships that were forming. I left him at a cafe, after a delicious cafë con leche, with his Woody Allen book and oversized walking stick. I sincerely hope I see him again along the route, and I hope at this moment he is still on the camino, heading towards Santiago.

I walked alone most of the day. In the beginning however, almost aimmediatly after hugging George goodbye, i ran into a group of very fiesy middle ...

... although too much for the trip. The camera was not there, and my extra kilometers of running tired me out, but not mentally or spirtually. The camino seems best at doing this: traumatizing your body while easing your mind.

I eventually walked on faster, without George, over a high mountain. Along the crest were a multitude of wind generators,.. very eery to look at for some reason, but beautiful. It was a very steep descent, and with every step ...

... walked for miles back to look for it for him, but with no luck. This will set him back a few days to get organized.

Slow, painful walk to Pamplona from here with Gorge (slow for me, painful for him), and his knee was really erally bad. Fun though, as he is a fun walking companion and still gets me laughing despite of (or sometimes because of) the language barrier.

That night in pamplona I went out for dinner with Damon, Tim, George, and Simon and his mother. Simon ...

... y salsa”. Sounds pretty good, right: potatoes, cheese and salsa. Wrong, it was really the first meal which I hated enough to stop eating thus far in the trip. Mitch and Justin found some great traditional bites though, Paya and a dish made of octopus, potatoes and lots of butter. The octopus dish was so popular with the locals that one of them turned to us and said that this dish was very good.
We then wondered around the city, stopped for a few cervezas and tried to ...

Cathy and I have climbed up and over the Pyrenees. . . long climb, beautiful scenery, and worth every step! We have stayed at four wonderful pensions (have not stayed at a refuge yet and i am getting spoiled). Two days in the mountains and yesterday thru the woods, today along the river to Pamplona. Cold, windy and foggy as we walked thru mts the second day.

Straw flowers dotted the road in the high Pryenees along with herds of sheep, steers, and horses ...

... the 2004 bombings by Islamic terrorists on Madrids commuter trains- foreshadowing the tragic events of our own 7/7- but also from home grown terrorists in the form of ETA ("Basque Homeland and Freedom" in the Basque language) who seek, as you may have guessed from the name, Basque independence. The Basque country is basically part of Northern Spain and some of Southern France and a majority of the population probably really couldn't give a flying **** about ...

... later on. After walking for some time alone, I catch up Agnesa, an amiable German-Italian I just met at the garage-bar. A conversation enrols and I decide to stick with her for some time. We're walking on a slower pace than yesterday, but that is perfectly fine by me now. After what feels like a very short time of walking compared to yesterday, we have entered the outskirts of Pamplona. We are both surprised that we reach the pilgrim ...

... It wasn't long before I was joined by two Brits and one Canadian. We said bye to Heather, personal photographer and headed downhill to see the bulls. Our walk was very cheery until dead silence fell when we saw the contents of the pen..Holy **** they look like tanks. These monsters are six feet tall and look like a ****** Off WWE SuperStar on Crack !!! You're half expecting these "things" to be sharpening their horns. If they had hands they'd probably single you out, point a ...

... Eventually, one girl climbed up and took her top and bra off and dived. From then on, every girl basically had to get her tits out or she would not be caught. The first morning of the run, we went to the bullring. We watched all the runners come running in and once the bulls are put away, the locals then let out some calves to run at the crowd gathered in the ring. Another night on the beers/sangria/calimotxo, and we were heading for our balcony. Karen ...