Suckin it up

Suck…Suck…Suck

June 9, 2014

Today was a sucky type of day, in a great way. We saw lots of babies sucking from their mommy. A cute little foal that was born just prior to us seeing it. And then who doesn’t love baby kittens, though these guys were quite large to be nursing on their mother.

We arrived to the fountain that spews fourth wine freely for all to partake too late in the afternoon. Each day, it is filled up in the morning for the pilgrims to consume as they walk by just prior to entering Estrella, but it usually runs out by noon. That was ok with us, as we don’t partake in vino, so we could suck on the water pouring out of the fountain.

And then for dinner tonight, we bought these cute little yogurt cups…we thought they were a type of custard/flan thing, but no, this was just the ceramic jars that the yogurt is cooked in ( I really want to bring these home. Cute little clay pots. But…no. They weigh too much). It is made from sheep’s milk and isn’t sweetened come to find out. So we ate it with the sweet peaches we bought.

Today’s 10 mile walk ( others are walking 15-18 miles daily) fell between “this is a walk in a kids park” to ” suck it up, you can do it”. We left a beautiful Albergue that was small and intimate and we enjoyed the company of the 10 other people staying there, at 7 am. What a beautiful morning for walking. I love walking at 6:30/7 am out here just when nature is awakening. The morning sun is pale pink in the sky. The breeze is cool. The smells are intoxicating. The little villages that we walk through are still sleepy and still.

It is a very well travelled path. Tons of people walked by us intent on arriving to Estrella. I have been singing a Lynyrd Skynard song, pieces of ” give me three steps…” And the Beatles, ” here comes the sun” and ” we all live in a yellow submarine” As I was walking,a group of three kids, Abby’s age, were behind me singing songs from Frozen. I joined in with them and told them that my class would sing these songs everyday. It was hot and yet we were channeling icy cold.

Abby and I are soaking up the sights. We are walking where the Romans marched. Where Napoleon traveled. We are walking through history. The bridges, paths, a wide variety of structures were built by ancient civilizations. It is awe inspiring to see them still standing and in use.

We arrived in Estrella around 2:30 pm, tired, sweaty and looking for a place to sleep. One place was full. The next place didn’t have hot water and I didn’t like the looks of the metal bunk beds. The third place, a municipal hostel had beds available. And the woman checking us in gave us our own private cubicle with a locked door! We scored. It only cost us 12€ for both of us. Perfect.

After taking a shower, washing our clothes by hand, hang drying them, we got ready to go to the market for food items. But there was a HUGE thunderstorm. Quickly I ran to pull our clothes off the line and just as quickly snagged the one dryer to stick the clothes in to dry. I offered to share it but nobody wanted to put their clothes in with us, even though I was paying the 2€ for the 40 minutes.

Finally we were able to go to market. Abby and I can’t get over the fact that we are walking through these wonderful streets. It is just way cool.