April 25, 2023

Last night was my third night at the hotel, it was the correct decision to leave the Camino, and come stay here and recover. I slept in later this morning and hit my snooze a couple times on the telephone. Eventually I got up and got dressed and headed out into the area around the hotel. I walked down a couple blocks to where the Camino passes by and I decided to walk on it for a while, I probably walked out about 2 miles along a city park before turning around and heading back towards the center of the city.

When I was trying to do my packing at home and deciding on what I could live without, I left behind my suspenders. I tried a couple shops to see if I could find a pair, but I did not have any luck unless I wanted white. As I walked out of the first shop that I went into, I turned around, and I saw the two Dutch women that I had met last week in Espinal at the small hotel, Apartamentos Irati. It seems a common theme on this walk is going to be seeing people that I have seen before. I didn’t expect to see them though because I’ve been here for three days, we exchanged hello’s, and I asked permission to take their picture and they took mine too.  I decided that I need to take pictures of the people I meet repeatedly along the way.

The ladies reminded me that they were not walking the entire Camino, but that Pamplona was their final stop before heading to Paris and home.

As I walked back, I ducked into this very old church. I took this picture of the carving above the main entrance out on the Camino.

Check out the eight unlucky souls in the devils pot in the bottom right hand corner.

As compared to the people on the far left that are rising from their graves.

On my way back to the hotel. I found a pharmacy to pick up another box of ibuprofen and I went back to the little store I had gone to yesterday for some more fruit and water. After getting back to my room, I assessed my condition and decided that I was ready for tomorrow to get back on the Camino. Just yesterday I thought I would take a taxi from Pamplona to Puente la Reina, but after my walk today I decided just to walk down the street to the Camino, take a left and continue on foot. End of the day tomorrow I will see if I regret that decision.

One more time I purged my pack of some things that I have not used yet, so that I would not need to carry them, my pack is pretty lean at this point. While I eat my fruit, drink my water, purged my pack and decided on my route for tomorrow, in the background was the same accordion player out on the plaza. He must play out there every day, mostly the same songs, but it is great background music along with the birds.