Still kicking...

We arrived today in the town of Estella, about 50 kms or so west of Pamplona, the capital of the province of Navarra. Pamplona was amazing, probably the best place we´ve been so far. We stayed in the oldest part of town, which was filled with some great bars and tons of Spanish kids. Like many of the refugios we´ve been staying in, however, the one in Pamplona locked its doors at 10:00 pm in order to allow everyone a good night´s rest. It would have been nice to have spent an evening out on the town, but 5:45 am wake-up calls generally make late nights unfeasible. Between snoring and hostels varying in quality from decent to poor, sleep is at a premium on the Camino. It generally feels great, though, to be up before Spaniards and before sunrise, walking by headlamp and feeling the day warm up around you.

The basin in which Pamplona is situated might be one of the prettiest places I´ve ever seen. The strong winds coming down from the Pyrenees stir up the hilly wheat fields like water, making the entire landscape (as Paul mentioned) appear as if it were breathing. The stark contrast between these bright green fields and crystal blue skies is evocative of a Windows desktop, or maybe a scene from that movie ¨Toys¨ with Robin Williams.

The past several days have been extremely intense physically. Fatigue is setting in, muscles are starting to cramp and joints are constantly aching. At one point yesterday, my left knee was hurting so bad that I was tearing. Ibuprofen is the cure-all of choice and is carried by almost every pilgrim, but you have to be careful not to cover over symptoms of a problem that is more severe that simply general soreness or cramping. Blisters are popping up and being dealt with at night by everyone as if we each were amateur surgeons. The problem with the pain is that it forces you to put your head down, look at the several feet in front of you, and worry only about your next step, which can become disheartening. You begin to think that you´ve only been doing this for several days, and that there are so many, too many more kilometers between yourself and Compostela. If you take a moment to stop, catch your breath, and look at the beautiful countryside around you, however, the pain becomes less of an issue, and you realize there´s not another place you´d rather be.