Los Arcos

We left Estella around 6 am after a great night’s sleep. We had gone to the store last night to get some bananas, snack bars and salty chips to carry today. Yesterday, I didn’t eat enough, and I wanted to not make that mistake again. We motored out of town with another group of young women. We got to a spot where we could go left or right, and we all went right, so we missed seeing the wine fountain. 🙁 We talked to this Irish guy later today, and he said that it was not open this morning when he went by, so that made me feel better.

We stopped in Azquata for breakfast, and noticed, as we were leaving, that we were in quite a bubble of pilgrims today. We hoped that Los Arcos had enough beds.

We spent most of today walking by farmland-vineyards, wheat fields, potatoes, and some family gardens. The family gardens are so perfectly tended to, and we have noticed how carefully they water each row or section. They do not waste any water at all!

A surprising moment was when we came upon a food truck along the way with music playing. The guy running it had food, snacks, cold drinks - even had beer taps! We grabbed a cold drink and continued on. We used our lightweight reflective umbrellas for the first time today to keep the sun off of us. It made a huge difference compared to yesterday when we didn’t use them.

We arrived at our place for tonight right as it opened. Within an hour it was booked full. Our friend, Anja, just barely got a bed at the municipal albergue when she arrived around 3:00. So glad she did, because she looked too tired to go on.

We spent the evening in the plaza having some sangria/beer and watching the World Cup. They had a tv rolled out for the Korea vs Germany game. There were a lot of happy Koreans in our group when Korea won. 🙂 We ended our evening with a meal served by the family here, and then going to the church for a pilgrims blessing. The inside of the church was crazy amazing! It would take years to notice all of the details.

Tonight, we are in a room with 3 bunk beds, and Alan is the only man, which hasn’t phased the Spanish women at all...They were trying to teach him some Spanish and then embarrassed him by saying he was handsome. 😂😂

Tomorrow, we have a 17 mile day to Logroño where we are splurging on our own room with our own bathroom and air conditioning!! Woohoo!!Read more