May 3, 2023

I had a terrible nights sleep in Najera last night, the mattress was the worst.  I took the bedding off of the second bed in an attempt to give a little cushion to the mattress I was on.  In hindsight I should have stacked the 2 mattresses.  It was easy to get up and leave Najera.  By 7:00 I was out the door and on the Camino.

It was a climb out of town, the red rock reminds me of Arizona. Once to the top it open up to vineyards that I walked through most of the day. It was very beautiful, sun was rising behind me.

I don’t really remember where I met Lee from Mississippi, but our walking was compatible and we walked together the rest of my day. Lee is a 61 year old retired army veteran. It is interesting how you can share a conversation with someone on the Camino that you don’t know. We walked into Azofra where we pulled in at a bar for breakfast.

The cafe/bar was a natural stopping point for anyone walking that morning. Both Lee and I saw many people we recognized and said hello to. Unknowingly, in the picture above is Rick and John from the April 26th posting.

Once I saw John’s beard, I knew him from somewhere. I also saw Stan and his Taiwanese group, and the Vegetarian from pre-Pamplona time. People are just given nicknames to keep them straight. Lee introduced me to Nate from New Zealand who joined us for our coffee con leche’s and food. Breakfast was over and Lee and I got back to the Camino. Walking out of town Lee stopped to fill his water bottle at a public fountain, I was able translate for him that the water was not potable. The walk out of town was much like before.

We came upon this monument without any description. Lee told me he thought it was to separate vineyards. It looks like a giant sword in the ground with its hilt in the air.

The walk continued on through the vineyards, unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the upcoming hill. As we approached Rick and John were ahead of us an found a lost South Korean boy that could not have been more the 5 years old. He spoke no English and they did not speak Korean. They convinced him to walk with them to look for his family. Lee and

I were now walking ahead of them and looking for the family too. I thought I recognized him from prior encounters with a Korean family of 6. When I found the 2 adult women from that group, I stopped to ask if they were missing a child. He was not theirs, but I explained the situation and told them that the people helping him spoke no Korean. They stopped to allow the group to catch up and talk with the boy to help out.

Lee and I started the last hill for the day, unfortunately I did not get a picture of it beforehand. I was happy that I almost walked the entire climb without a rest break. At the top of the hill a volunteer had set up a drink/snack stand that was completely by donation. I had a cold drink and got a pin for my pack.

Rick and John made it up the hill, as it turned out, the boy had not been left behind, he had gotten way ahead of his father that walked very slow. Regardless, they had done a good deed on the Camino that morning.

I was now just a few kilometers from Ciruena, it felt great to sit and take a break.

Ciruena has a golf course and must have had plans to be developed into a vacation community. But most of the buildings looked vacant and for sale.

As we continued to walk farther into town we found the original part of the city, it was definitely not new. Lee and I said our goodbyes, I feel confident that I will see him again.

I got a little lost, but eventually found my hotel for the night. Too early to check in I went to the bar across the plaza for a beer and after 12:00, lunch.

I had my first paella of the journey, chicken and vegetables. The chicken was wings and the vegetables were large green beans and fava beans. It was ok, not like mom’s. I have been sitting at my table for a couple hours now, I started here alone, now probably 20 pilgrims have joined me. Kevin is amongst them. It is after 1:00 now, so I will try to check in at my hotel.

I walked back across the plaza to check in. While I had a confirmation, my credit card was

rejected so I had no room waiting for me. The woman didn’t speak English, so I sat on the bench in front of the hotel to translate the email that I had received. I knocked on the door again to try to talk with her. She showed me the declined transaction on her phone and apologized for being full. I used google to ask if she knew of any beds for the night? She called the Alburgue de Guadalupe, they had one bed and she told me to get there asap. It took a little doing, but I found it. This place is run by one man who has walked the Camino multiple times, probably would not be my first choice, but I was happy to not have to walk 4 more miles and not know if I could get a bed there. His English is very limited to words like WiFi, pee pee, poo poo, wait, wash, shower and here. He will cook a lintel stew tonight for the guests and then sing for us after.

He took me to my room in the converted attic, see the 12" windows at the top of the picture above. Hopefully no emergy would happen that would require my escaping through that tiny window. I set up my bed before my roommate arrived, a woman from Germany maybe. It was obvious she was not happy to share a room with me, turned out to not actually be me, she was worried because her friend that she was walking with showed up too late and had to walk to the next town.

This is Europe and close quarters, so I took off my walking pants, and walked down to the shower in my compression shorts. After my shower I headed back up and got squared away. Now I am in the garden telling you this new twist. Janet, from a few days back, swears by the small alburgue experience. But this is hard to believe how this man is willing to spend his life helping pilgrims. He can be a little loud, I think that maybe he thinks it makes him more understood. Another interesting twist, he is the first lodging that could care less about a passport for identification, he only wanted my pilgrim credential.

I can tell that if you showed up here looking lodging, but not a pilgrim he would turn you away.

This only gets better, I had no reservation but was found a bed. I am sitting in the garden across from the front entrance, several people with reservations have been turned away due to being full. Reservations in albergues only hold a bed until 3:00 ish, after that most places release the beds again.

As an option for the stay, the proprietor makes a lentil and sausage stew for the pilgrims to eat at a communal dinner. It was a huge bowl with brown bread, water, wine and yogurt. It was a fun experience to sit around the table and meet other people.

Now I am full and ready for an early bedtime. Tomorrow I walk to Belorado, 17.7 miles.

[As it turned out, my stay at Albergue de Guadalupe, was a very memorable part of my Camino. It was my only stay in a small albergue where I partook in the communal dinner that Janet liked to do every night. I ended up meeting several people that I still remember to this day, not to mention the owner, he was a character. The owner, Ricardo, runs this albergue on his own. 14 new guests every night, laundry to do, building to clean, meals to make, check-in and check-out; not sure how he does it. When I return to walk on the Camino next time I will want to have more experiences like this again.]