#5: Lost Teeth, White Fang, and Shooting Stars

Pamplona to Burgos: 134 Miles/ 217 Kms: 11 Days

(Uterga, Estella, Los Arcos, Viana, Logrono, Ventosa, Azofra, Santo Domingo, Belorado, 

St. Juan de Ortega, Burgos)

Summer in northern Spain was in full swing when we left Pamplona. We made a new schedule which included walking somewhere between 10-13 miles a day and no more than 15 miles (16-24kms). Kaia and Cruz adjusted well to our daily routine as pilgrims: Walk...1st cafe for first breakfast...walk...2nd cafe for second breakfast...walk...lunch at cafe at our destination...check-in...siesta...journal...dinner.

Throughout our walk, we follow yellow arrows on the Camino, guiding us west to Santiago. The thousand year old path is well marked with stone markers and painted arrows on everything you can imagine (the road, walls, posts, sunflowers, etc). The greeting for pilgrims, bicyclists, and locals who want to wish us well is, "Buen Camino!". Buen Camino means, "good way", also "good path" (the physical and spiritual). We hear and say this at least 100 times a day.

A big part of being in Spain is for our kids to use their Spanish. We have them ask for a room, order our food, ask for directions, etc. When we get to a stopping point, we find an albergue (sometimes a hotel) and ask, "is there room in the Inn". Not booking accommodations ahead of time is a little risky but we  want to be flexible with how the kids feel each day. So far we have been lucky. 

They are doing an amazing job being our translators. People are impressed by their Spanish. Kaia is very technical and has been so helpful with specific communication situations. Cruz is happy to speak to anyone and will easily ask for directions and anything food related. In San Juan de Ortega, we were in a small family albergue/restaurant and when Cruz started speaking Spanish, the owner and other pilgrims started clapping. Sometimes he gets embarrassed by all of the attention. 

Another thing they have to get used to is people taking photos of them/us. So far, we are the only family other pilgrims have met who are walking the full French Route. Other families we have met are walking or biking only a week at a time. The majority of pilgrims we have encountered are solo and are on holiday. Some people ask for our photo and often we take a selfie. Others just pass us, look back and take a quick photo. A couple of times, bikers have ridden passed us pointing their phones at our direction and taking a selfie video. We tell our kids that people are happy to see a family walking together and they want to share that with their families back at home. "Ok mom", they said, "but it's still weird".

After our first week of walking, everyone is feeling good and getting into routine. We have the right gear but, unfortunately, Parker is starting to get blisters on his pinky toes on both sides. He has neuropathy in his feet so he did not feel them develop right away. We have a full emergency/first-aid kit so he is able to manage them daily. We met an Italian girl on the first day and when we saw her again in Zubiri, she had every toe and the balls of her feet wrapped in med tape. Yikes! Already there's a lot of talk about blisters and walking injuries amongst the pilgrims at the end of the day. To pop or not to pop?... that is the question. The kids and I are blister free so far. I will spare you Parker's blister photos for now.

 

Leaving our comfy apartment in Pamplona made for a late start to our next destination, (unkown at departure). Today we had a very steep climb out of the valley and came very near to some massive windmills. It was really cool to see and hear them up close. On top of the ridge by the windmills we could see Pamplona behind us in the valley. It was time to say goodbye to the Pyrenees that were visible behind the city as we climbed over to the other side. With our late start, we only made it to Uterga, 10 miles out of the city. In front of us was 137 miles and 11 days of walking to Burgos.

Kaia points to the horizon and says, "see that out there, of course you don't, that's Santiago and it's 580 kms away". Ha! One step at a time.

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Because we had a short day out of Pamplona, we were in a tricky situation for the next couple of days. Ideally, we needed to do an epic 18 mile/30km day to Estella, to get us on a good schedule the rest of the week. With the heat, it was best to get to the bigger villages/towns to make sure we ended up somewhere big enough for accommodations, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. We shared this with the kids and showed them our options. The family decision was to walk town to town to see how we felt throughout the day. Spoiler alert: we walked an epic 30 km! This is what our day looked like:

6am: Walk with the stars and watch the sunrise.                                      

7am: First town, Obanos: Closed! Nothing open yet.

8am: Puente La Reina, charming village and walked by a bakery. First breakfast at the bakery with a cafe con leche for me and an americano for Parker. Delicious warm pastries for everyone.

10am: Maneru, tiny village and decided to walk right through because we were still full.

11am: Cirauqui, one hour picnic lunch break on top of the town on the square. Walk over ancient Roman Roads.

2pm: Arrived in Lorca for a two hour break. Had some paella, cold Fanta, ice cream, and beer.

4pm: Final stretch to Estella

6pm: Made it to Estella!  There was a running of the bulls festival going on in town with every local dressed in white with red bandanas, etc. Had dinner and chocolate shakes to celebrate an epic 30km day! We took a lot of breaks and had a lot of treats throughout the day. Well deserved. These two were up for the challenge and earned bragging rights for the rest of our walk. Now the rest our our days will be much shorter. Our up coming days will be half the distance and we'll be done by 11am/12pm!

   

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Logrono was at the beginning of the La Rioja province of Spain, known for its wine production. We began walking through gorgeous vineyards and saw the wine farmers working their land in the mornings. There are more than 600 vineyards in La Rioja, more than half are aging their wine.  The pilgrim meals usually come with a jug of red wine. The oldest vineyard in La Rioja is from the 15th century. Also, right along the Camino were miles of blackberry bushes, some as tall as 10 feet. We had a blast picking some blackberries while we walked. In Ventosa, at the Saturnino albergue, they had their own labeled bottle of red wine for only $5, and at the grocery stores bottles were as low as $1.50! I remember paying $22 for a glass in New York City. Wine is literally cheaper than bottled water here. The selection of red wines through this region is incredible, affordable, and so delicious.. 

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We made it to  sleepy little village called Azofra. What an interesting day that was. We were having lunch, Kaia went to the bathroom. She came out and said, I lost my last baby tooth. What?! Then a couple of hours later, Cruz came out of the bathroom at our albergue and said, I lost a tooth! What is going on?!  At dinner, we celebrated with a Filipino Ice Cream, what are the chances they would both loose a tooth on the same day, so crazy?!

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Walking early was key because by 9am, we had already walked 6-10 miles/10-16 kms. Parker found the book "White Fang" at one of the albergues. He would read a couple of chapters at night. To keep the kids occupied during our walk, he retold chapters of the book. In the morning, he would retell what he read the night before, with a bit more flare of course. Parker is a natural storyteller and the kids looked forward to hearing about White Fang's adventures. He would wait until sunrise to start the story. He often waited for the really hard stretches (when it got hot) to help distract the kids. It became one of our favorite things we did on our walk.

The first book about the way of St. James included the simple instructions of "follow the Milky Way to Santiago". Now it makes total sense that the original Pilgrims followed the Compestela (the field of stars). They had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn because Spain is hot as hell in August! 

Another thing we did to off set the heat was to look for albergues/hotels with pools. It gave us something to look forward to while we were walking. We found a few good pools. It was a nice reward at the end of a solid morning of walking.

Following the Milky Way was something we all began looking forward to in our early mornings. We used our headlamps for a couple of minutes until our eyes adjusted . Welcome to Camino homeschooling. Look up kiddos, that is the Milky Way, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Orion's Belt, and the North Star. As long as we headed west, we would one day reach Santiago.

The Perseid Meteor Shower was coming up in mid-August so we woke up a little earlier to start walking at 5am to see the shooting stars. On the 11th, we saw a giant meteor with a tail. This got us really excited. The next day we saw 15 meteors. On the 13th of August, with much anticipation, we headed out of Beldorado in the dark and started counting. Between the four of us, we saw 55 shooting stars! 55! It was an absolutely magical morning. We were holding hands in the dark when Cruz said, "I am happy I get to experience this with my family". Sweet boy, it was an unforgettable morning for all of us. We saw fifty-five shooting stars and watched the sun rise over sunflower fields in Spain. 

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It was a massive 16 mile walk into the city of Burgos. We didn't mind because we were spending the next two nights there. We stayed in a cute apartment with a loft at the center of town. It's nice to relax, sleep in, and eat non pilgrim food for a couple of days.

The city of Burgos is best known for the impressive Cathedral of Saint Mary of Burgos. The cathedral  began its construction in 1,221 and was completed in 1,567. It is a prime example of Gothic style. We toured the cathedral and were speechless. It was a lot to take in with its incredible architecture, collections of art, paintings, choir stalls, tombs, and stain-glass windows. The cathedral is majestic and is more than deserving of its UNESCO World Heritage status.

Burgos is close to the halfway mark on our walk, Woohoo! Up next is the Meseta, the plateau of interior Spain.