Puenta la Reina to Estella

WHAT A GREAT DAY. This was the best day I´ve had in a LONG time. 180 from yesterday. Yesterday was the emotional low for the first week...today was a high every second.

Felix´s knee was hurting, so he and Kasey Kahne decided to sleep in. I´d been making a mental inventory for DAYS and finally decided I wasn´t leaving Puenta till I found a post office. I set out alone and asked several people where it was, and they all seemed to point me in different directions...till finally I was adopted by two little old ladies out for a morning constitutional. At four different intersections, they took my map and tried to tell me again where to go, but every time, they ended up just saying ¨Ven¨ and led me to the office themselves. It was an interesting conversation. My package was almost 2 kilos...about 5 pounds. (YAY!) She told me that Santiago would only hold it for 15 days and then send it back to Puenta...so I should send it to Leon for 6€, and then to Santiago for 6€...but then told me that it was 22€ to send it home. So home it goes. Sacrificed a pair of cargo pants, my blow'up pillow, my Coelho book, my hair stuff, and several pairs of liner socks. Worth every penny.

Leaving the post office, I didn´t know the way back to the Camino, but I saw a backpack rounding a corner and hollered ¨Peregrino!¨ several times till he stopped. And that´s how I met Brad the Aussie, who is a friggin´ PRINCE. He´s a night'shift chef on an oil rig off the coast of Western Australia, has a silver front tooth, and seven gypsy earrings in three holes in one earlobe. And he´s awesome. He ran twice with the bulls in Pamplona on a three day bender, and started the Camino from there yesterday. His friends back home have a $5000 bet that he won´t do the whole thing, so he´s very driven.

We stopped about a half hour later and shared some SERIOUSLY strong coffee from his thermos, and walked on. We talked about everything under the sun and had a blast. Australian humor is great...similar to American humor but still foreign enough to be hysterical. We talked about everything from Paul Hogan to politics.

Mid-morning, we ran into Christa from Austria, which was AWESOME, and an hour later, we stopped for lunch and found Idaho, Karl from Belgium, and the Germans. Aussie and I teamed up and bought two baguettes...he got cream cheese and salami, I got sliced cheese and ham...we made two hoagies that were simply to die for. We´re sitting there outside a cafe in a little medieval town on the top of a hill, looking down the winding, geranium-lined streets at the view of the sprawling valley below, with everyone I´d met so far on the Camino, and life just doesn´t get better.

But it does. The views were awesome today. My knee was better, though every now and then, I´d take a wrong step and it would hurt again. Up was hard today, more so than down. Different things are starting to hurt, and old pains are going away. New blisters today. Done with moleskin, bought some Compeed, the gel bandages the Germans gave me. The lighter pack helps. Aussie didn´t have two pairs of socks and I felt awful that I´d sent three pairs of liners home ten seconds before I met him.

We leapfrogged all day with Idaho, the Germans, Austria, and the couple with the little puppy from Los Arres (they DO carry her from time to time). We call her OUR puppy. They don´t speak English so don´t mind.

Once, Aussie and I lost the way and had to cut across a field to get back on track...had to leap a pretty sizeable trench at the end of the field. Lots of wheat today, and haybales. Lots of little towns perched high at the top of steep hills. Why is that?? Lots of towns crested with churches that are just gorgeous. Still no guidebook, so frustrated by not knowing what I´m looking at.

The Camino is nothing if not humanity au naturale. You get used to all kinds of smells. I´ve developed quite a knack for choosing the bathroom stall just vacated by the person with the worst gastrointestinal problems possible...but you just deal. I haven´t quite pinpointed which European countries don´t believe in deoderant, but I´m pretty sure Austria is on the list. The smell of sweaty feet is ubiquitous in the albergues. You deal.

¨So an American, an Austrian, and an Australian walk into a bar....¨ We hit an albergue in a little town and stopped for a stamp and a glass of their advertised fresh lemonade (passing up the sangria on the opposite side of the street). There was a big map of the world on the wall opposite the bar. I pointed to Virginia to show my friends where I was from. Christa pointed to Austria, and Brad pointed to Perth...and we spanned the globe. Suddenly I got an idea...made them do it again, and had the bartender take our picture!! The other two did the same and we got a great laugh out of it. There was a pilgrim´s passport on the wall that was three feet long, full of stamps....WOW.

I know now what Aunt Carolyn meant about leaving your bag lying around, hoping someone might steal it...tired of carrying it....

We hit a bridge over a stream with a rocky bed at one point. Austria, who had gotten ahead of us, was sitting eating lunch, so Brad and I stopped as well. Got some good pictures. THe bridge had a ledge where she was sitting, about 8 feet above the creekbed. When we were ready to leave, I swung my pack onto my shoulders...and thought, a half'second too late...¨Oh CRAP...CAMERA!!¨ Too late. It sailed out over the edge. NOT in the water...thank you, St. James. But broke. It´s now being held together with medical tape and STILL WORKS!! But I´m a dumbass, it´s official. I felt pretty stupid about that one. Sigh.

More walking. By 2pm, you hate life. It´s miserable. Lots of good bridges today, lots of updowns...finally made it to Estella. My Liverpudlian friend hated Estella...I love it. We wandered through town till we found the square, which was just beautiful. Church facade, restaurants with outdoor seating, shops everywhere...we got some beers and kicked back...ALL of us...Karl, Idaho, the Germans, Al, AussieKangaroos, and AustriaNoKangaroos. Dinner was wonderful...and EXPENSIVE. Today was not a good day for the budget. I bought a pack of needles(an adventure in gesture) and popped the Aussie´s blisters (we´re married for the day...he said if I´d had a nurse´s costume, I would´ve had a ring), which earned me three free beers. YAY! We had the best time.

Met a Venitian named Andrea...told us it means ¨male.¨ Ha ha, sorry, Andrea.... =)

SO much more to tell, but the guy who runs the albergue is going to have kittens if I don´t go to bed soon...it´s midnight. The albergue is staffed by people with mental impairments...very nice. NO HOT WATER AFTER 10. GRRRR.

I love the comments I get, but PLEASE sign your name!! I can´t tell who you are!!!

Love you all and miss you. Not much today, honestly...but still. =) If there are more days like today, I may never come home.

My toast tonight at dinner: ¨This is for all my friends back home who couldn´t be here because they have husbands, kids, and year'round jobs.¨ Sorry!! =)=)=)