Stage 6 - Estela to Los Arcos

Where We Are Tonight:  Los Arcos                 Miles Hiked Today:  13.5 (21.8 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  84.2 (135.5 km)             Miles to Santiago:  400.8 (645.0 km)

Steps Taken Today: 41,861                             Blister Count:  0 new

Spanish Word of the Day: zumo de naranja (orange juice)...always freshly squeezed!

What We Learned Today:  Don't just walk on by the church.  If it's open, go inside; it's worth it.

It's an interesting phenomenon that albergues want you gone pretty early in the morning,  but it's too early for stores to be open to buy food for breakfast.  That hasn't been a big problem;  we just walk to the next village and by then something is open and we can get our coffee, fruit and something substantial to tide us over until we need more food.  It's fun because these cafes are filled with peregrinos catching each other up on the state of their feet, how they slept, and other important peregrino business.  Another interesting phenomenon is that peregrino information offices (found in bigger cities to help you find lodging) close very early in the day...when we are still walking in the Camino!  That just makes no sense.  We've yet to arrive anywhere near time to take advantage of this.

Today, before we even had our first cup of coffee,  we came to one of the most exciting attractions on the Camino....el Fuente de Vino (the wine fountain) at Irache!  This area, Navarra, is well known for its awesome wine production and one Bodega is generous enough to provide a fountain of their product to fortify peregrinos for their walk.  I filled up my shell with wine like peregrinos used to do.

I (K) have a rip in my pack and one in my fanny pack.  I brought along some duct tape for situations just like this.  It looks like the repair on my pack will hold up for awhile but my fanny pack is trashed.  I really need to find another one because it holds all of the necessities that I continually need (like my credencial) so I don't have to rummage around in my big pack.

We can now add Greece, Palestine,  and Guadalupe to the list of places where peregrinos we've met are from.  We've only met 2 people from the US so far - one from California and one from New Mexico.   There are rumors that there is a couple from Portland but we've yet to meet them.

The last photo is of small snails.  We've noticed a few people going through the brush along side the road collecting these snails.   And I thought they were only crazy enough to eat snails in France!

"For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length--and there I travel looking, looking breathlessly."

―Carlos Castaneda

Editor note:   Yesterday Karen described a bit about the environment at the albergues, including the loud snoring and other horrible noises that people make during the night.  Her biggest fear was not being able to sleep.  The Camino is exhausting enough with a good nights rest, and close to impossible if you can't sleep.  So, I outfitted Karen with a pair of Bose noise canceling ear buds, and downloaded a 10 minute audio clip of rain that she can play in a continuous loop on her iPod nano.  Karen days that this has "SAVED MY LIFE!"