On the road again

Currently at a cafe about 35 miles west of Logrono, where we spent 2 days. It was the town´s fiesta, so we spent some time celebrating with Logronoans and our new pilgrim friends while spending the nights camping in a field outside of the city. Unfortunately, camping entailed hiking into waist deep brush and attempting to clear a relatively flat area on which to pitch our tents. And this was Kate´s first camping experience ever.

Luckily, it turns out that our tent is quite efficient shelter. The first night we had a thunderstorm and although some in our party had a miserable and wet night, Kate and I slept in relative comfort. It was quite an adventure, to say the least.

It is funny how quickly our lifestyle has changed. It now seems completely reasonable that we should wake up at 6 in the morning in order to walk anywhere between 20 and 30 kilometers over the span of 8 or 9 hours. It would be hard for anything to be more different from my normal mode of existence, and yet normal is exactly what it seems to be.

We are walking through wine country now, so we are pretty much constantly walking on dirt or gravel roads through vineyards. It is very beautiful and peaceful. It is also really cool to look behind you over the rolling hills and know that you walked as far as the eye can see.

On the plus side, we have grown quite accustomed to the bugs and dirt and have been spending our evenings battling blisters and cooking meals in the kitchens at the hostels. We have met several people who are doing this on their vacations from work, and its true that it is surprisingly relaxing to be on the road.