Zalbadika to Pamplona: September 3, 2014

I love the monastery, but had to leave at about 8 o'clock this morning after having breakfast with our new friends and telling everyone goodbye. I think that we're learning about the Camino is that often times we see people again along the way. We are hopeful that we will meet our new friends from Germany, Holland, Canada, Finland and Ireland many more times before we reach Santiago.  I started my day by taking a couple of acetaminophen to help me with the pain that I'm having with my muscles and joints. Angie is having really a lot of difficulty with a blister on her toe. One of the women at the monastery from Canada, gave her a needle and thread, and she has pierced her blister several times. She is now walking in her sandals him limping. We've decided we need to keep today shorter and maybe spend an extra day in Pamplona so that her feet have time to recover.

After walking for a couple of hours having been treated to great views of beautiful hills and valleys we decided to stop for a little bit of breakfast. Coming to a medieval bridge that lead us into town our friends from Ireland came up behind us.  We were excited to see them again and decided to all stop and have breakfast together. We had tasty egg sandwiches and Angie had a potato egg tort along with wonderful coffee!
Before leaving town we stopped in the pharmacy so Angie could get some help with her toe. She was able to get some iodine and more Vaseline, along with some good advice on how to take care of her blister.
We then continued on to Pamplona, with Angie quite hobbled by her blister.
We entered the old city of Pamplona by crossing a medieval bridge and coming up to a huge stone wall that had been a fortress for the city.  We came to a big old drawbridge with gates and a sign next to it that claimed that it was the portico or pathway for pilgrims.  The old city is a wonderful medieval city. It is lively  with shops, tourists  and much commerce.  The streets are winding and made of cobblestone. This is the place that they have the running of the bulls on July 25 every year.
We stopped at the main cathedrals stairway for Angie to fix her blister. We were disappointed that they charged five euros in order to go into the cathedral. We decided we didn't really want to pay to go into a church that did not meet the idea of the church being a refuge or a place for the people. We learned that pilgrims could go in for three euros and had almost decided to do this when a man came along and said Angie should not be fixing for blister on the cathedral steps. That was our deciding factor that this was not a place we wanted to tour.
We continued looking around the old city and stopped for a smoothie. While we were there our Irish and Canadian friends came along and we all had a little visit.

That morning Angie made a reservation for us to stay in the pension in Pamplona. The pension is a small room with a shared bathroom. We decided we needed a night of rest and no snoring! We continued walking into the new part of the city of Pamplona, and finally after much looking found the place that we were going to stay.  We arrived at about 3:30 in the afternoon and since that time we have not left our room. We have just laid on our beds and Angie is soaking her foot. Both of us are resting and catching up on our email and blog while taking more acetaminophen and coating our muscles with BioFreeze.

In Roncevalles we met a woman from San Diego Who is creating a documentary on the Camino about the legends of the Camino. When we left Ronsevalles we did not know if we would see her again. When we stopped for breakfast in Arrieta there she was sitting at the cafe. There she told us about the hill of forgiveness that we will be coming to in the next day or two. The idea about the hill of forgiveness is that on the way you think about all the people that you have not forgiven in your life and the people that we need to ask forgiveness of.  And so tonight I will begin preparing my heart for this next part of our journey.

I have decided that at the end of each day I should write a lesson or reflection for the day.
The first a couple days both Angie and I agree it is hard to appreciate the beauty around us when we are suffering.  The load is lightened and made easier by sharing the journey with others.

Each day I walk I give thanks I can walk and say a prayer for those who cannot.