We walked past acres of land where thousands of vines were planted.
We also crossed several Medieval bridges along the way.
This day I was feeling particularly exhausted as we walked. I had skipped the coffee that morning (BIG MISTAKE) and was feeling quite like a zombie. I hardly remember the first 10 KM of the walk and by lunch, I was just beginning to wake up. As I sipped my afternoon coffee, I began to feel a little ache in my shin. I was a runner for years and somehow had managed to never get shin splints. This pain, however, I suspected was shin splints. As we walked the last 12 KM of the day, the pain got worse, a dull ache going from the top of my foot all the way to the middle of my shin.
That day we had decided to walk through Estella to the albergue that was about 2 KM outside of town. When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was the loud construction going on within the building. Men were working on god knows what, and making a ton of noise in the process. The man who greeted us said, "Hello, my name is Peter. I am from Germany and speak no Spanish." Abe and I were fine with that, as we have a hard enough time keeping up with what the locals say. We got signed in and paid and them Peter led us through the albergue (that appeared toq be an athletic facility), down some stairs and into the basement. There, we found a small room with 30 beds. It was dark and damp and smelled like mold, however it was where we had to stay. We practically ran to the showers only to find that they were open. NO DOORS. I found a handicapped shower that had a door and hijacked it for myself. Initially, the water was frigid (seriously) but it finally warmed up and turned to scalding. When I returned to the room, many other people had checked into the albergue. I noticed that every single one of them was speaking German. There was not an English voice to be heard. It was like some German Camino book said, "Be sure to stay here because the Germans congregate here, and its run by Peter, your local friendly German!!"
We ate our mediocre supper in silence (we had no one to talk to except for each other). I have had an upper respiratory/sinus infection for several days and so I took nyquil and passed out by 9 PM, the sound of soccer practice going on above my head. We awoke this morning eager to leave and get back on The Way. I made sure to drink my coffee so I wouldn't be a zombie again.
A few KM into our walk, we came upon the infamous wine fountian. Although it was 7:45 AM, we all though it would be an excellent idea to grab a glass of wine before heading down the road. The wine fountain is provided by a local vineyard and gives a glass of wine to each passing pilgrim.
The rest of the day we walked in the cold and rain past many more vineyards.
Finally the sun came out!
2 KM away from the city we are currently in, I was reaching in my pocket to take out my camera and get a picture of something and BAM, it crashed to the ground. I slowly picked it up, afraid of what I would find. The lens was stuck in the out position and wouldnt go back in (just made weird clicking noises). I had broken my camera. Like a big baby, I cried the whole way to town, cradling my camera in my hands. I am beyond sad that this happened, however when we got to our current albergue, the man said that the next city is large and I should be able to get it repaired. If we find a shop tomorrow, I'll probably just buy a new camera to get me through the rest of the trip. Until then, Jake has a camera and I've told him I may ask for it occasionally.
Buen Camino, from a very sad Pilgrim.
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