Pilgrim's menu (to Puenta la Reina)

Let me talk about something called the pilgrim's menu. Ranging between 8 and 11 Euros, it is supposed to be a full menu consisting of a starter, a main course and a dessert. In four days of walking I've had three of them now at the end of the day, so I feel qualified about commenting on those so far. A pilgrim's menu is supposed to be cheaper than the rest of the dishes, you get it at a bar or a restaurant and in the more rural and remote towns sometimes it's the only thing you can actually get. Up until the now, the starters were plenty and good, while the main courses somehow lacked... well, enthusiasm. Seems like the cook doesn't really feel like doing it anymore after the starters. Let's not talk about the dessert. For those of you who really crave to know, I just say on word: flan. And that's about it.

Columbus' Caravan

Oh but well, as a pilgrim I am not supposed to demand anything, but be content with what I'm given. At least that's what the signs in the refuges keep telling me.

Descending

So, let's talk about today's activities. Actually, it comes down to really just one activity: walking. Wouldn't have guessed that, would you?

Today we did the longest stage so far, even adding a few extra kilometres because some of my fellow pilgrims wanted to see the famous chapel of Eunate. That's ok for me. I've got to do some extras anyway, out of reasons that shall not be explained now. Just retain this until further elaboration that these extras are to be measured in waldis (1 waldi roughly equals 998,17 metres). 3,4 waldis later we approach (stumble on to) Eunate. It is an octagonal shaped chapel dating back to the 12th century, roman style, and supposed to be an energy centre of some sort. Well, I'm not too much into that sort of things. It does look nice tough. I try walking barefooted around the chapel, then I try walking barefooted on the grass, and eventually I am walking barefooted in the clayfields around the chapel. Clayfields top everything. The clay neatly sticks to my feet and protects my skin against stones and whatsoever. From the remnants of it I craft a tiny boot which I give to Agnesa, brave fellow pilgrim. At Eunate, we meet a lot of people we have already encountered earlier: Louise and Outdoor-Croc Christina (oh man those are some really awful blisters she's having!), Sven the 40-kilometer-man, José-María who's quite an artist and who does a wonderful on-site sketch on my hat. So thankful for that, amigo peregrino!

Eunate

Now, due to our detour, we don't arrive at the refuge until half past seven which is absolutely the latest by far up until now. Showering in a hurry and limping to the restaurant to get something between our teeth. Tonight I'm sleeping in a room with five other girls. Nice. Definitely prefer that over the 120-pilgrim-snoring-monster-hall. Wow, always thought that being a catholic heritage, they would do some gender sorting there. But no, even the showers are unisex. Well, as a pilgrim, I have to endure all those hardships.

Tonight there's no hospitalero (that's Spanish for host) turning off our lights, so we turn it off ourselves much later than usual - around 11:30 pm. After those 28 kilometres or so (already including the waldis), I definitely feel entitled to fall asleep as fast as possible. And so I do.

Jose-María

Outdoor-Croc Christina