Day 7 - Urtega to Cirauqui - 15km

Today was a much easier day. One reason is I was more prepared, I forced myself to eat and drink and second, Christina walked with me all day. It was very nice getting to know her today. She is from Denmark and has a 3 month leave from work.

Had breakfast, if you can call it that, A piece of bread with butter and jam and a small croissant, but I am not complaining, at least I put food in my mouth. I set off just after 7:30am and was already on the wrong path within 10 mins. Not far though, so when I got back on track, Christina was just ahead of me. We walked about the same pace (though not on the uphills, she was faster.)

We were thinking of doing the Eunate option but we got to Obanos and realized we missed the turn off. We had a nice break in Puente la Reina, where I had a coke and tortilla. We sat at a table with a lady who had sprained her ankle who was taking a taxi for a few days and her friends are walking.

We stopped again in Maneru and I wasn’t hungry but had a small sandwich. We sat for a good 45 minutes, relaxing. Only 2.6km left and got into the albergue around 2. I am in the same room that Jörg and I were in but not the same bed. There is a nice couple in the bunk beds that we had who fell in love on the camino 4 years ago. How wonderful is that?!

Ok. A little less stressed today. I am just waiting for dinner and relaxing some more.

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

Today we started out by 7:15. Before we left, I listened to Desiderata with Joerg on the IPod.

After the usual shower and washing of clothes, Joerg and I went for a little walk. At one point I told him to go on without me, I wanted to just find a quiet bench and write in my journal and read. So here I am. I was thinking a lot about this today. Joerg always walks ahead and I don’t really have the freedom to stop where I want. I sometimes stop and take a picture but if I wanted to stop for any length of time, I couldn’t because Joerg would be waiting. I am tempted to tell him that we should go separately and just agree to meet up at the next stop (i.e. where we are sleeping).

The downside to this is that I do really enjoy his company and he takes care of me and I love that. I have never had someone do that for me before and I really like it. I have finally realized that I don’t need to always prove to myself and the world that I am strong and independent. I know it and so do most of the people who meet me. So why not enjoy having someone take care of me. One of the problems is that I love Joerg so much that it hurts. I know he cares very deeply for me and is showing me affection when he can (with hugs and smiles etc.) but I want more. I want a relationship. I want to kiss him, hold him and be with him.Read more