So, despite packing away large volumes of food, I suspect I´m actually a bit undernourished, because owing to the need for sleep a.s.a.p., I need to eat whatever is available, which is usually nothing very nutritious (my highlights so far have been two-minute microwave paella-in-a-box and a vending machine waffle). Everybody is on blooming siesta until some ungodly hour, so *every single shop* is closed when one is hungriest. It has resulted in a) frequent sense of humour failure and b) my eating some peculiar combinations.
That said, I have never in my life been personally responsible for the death of so many whales and pigs (pork and chocolate). There is not a vegetable in sight here. The closest you get is a chilli on your bocadillo if you are lucky. Also, because the Spanish insist on waiting until practically midnight to eat food, they must be starving by the time it arrives, because I have never in my life seen such volumes, either. The first pilgrim meal I had was in a b&b in Roncesvalles, where I only got to have dinner at NINE after walking 30km up a mountain in the rain. (I was *not* amused - the barman had told me dinner would be served in my room, and i found out after 3 hours of desperate waiting that I had to go and get it downstairs in the restaurant. I am not a violent person, but I swear I nearly threw something at his head. So much for pìlgrimage making one peaceful.) Anyhow, I was handed a giant mountain of pasta - primi-piatti sized, say - plus an entire basket of bread. I did the best I could on it (and you all know I am not a girl of shy appetites) but had to confess defeat near the end. Turns out that was the starter!!! When the waitress came to collect my plate she asked whether I would like meat or fish. I explained that I was full and was met with a look of pitying disbelief and urged to ´try the small fish´. Not wanting to be rude, I said okay, thinking I could take a bite and send it back. She brought me AN ENTIRE FISH. A whole one. Plus a whole plate of chips. I was seated with a Spanish family all doing the pilgrimage and they all ate both courses plus dessert! And wine!
Another thing. There is a LOT of wine going down here. Last night I went down to the bar to eat and was asked if I wanted wine with my meal. I said okay, and they brought me a not a glass, but a bottle. This seems to be normal. You order something to eat and get a bottle of booze with it included in the price. It seems a terrible waste to me; I hope the waiters at least take my leftovers home and drink them or something. It´s good wine, mostly (the coffee is great also: most of the time it´s nice enough that I can drink it black).
Other things: nobody seems too fussed about gender divisions in the hostels. I alarmed the living daylights out of a poor middle-aged gentleman by making the fatal mistake of getting changed in my room. I didn´t realise it wasn´t a women-only dorm. The hapless chap walked in, found me stark naked, and was so alarmed he looked at his feet and tried to make small talk all at the same time. It was all very British and definitely one of my weirder interactions. The only thing that would have made it more uncomfortable would have been if he could only speak Japanese. I think he was more horrified than I was and ended up having to comfort him quite a lot.
Tonight I am staying in a wonderful hotel that has an albergue attached at the back. This means one gets to take advantage of hotel facilities at hostel prices (this includes a massage I booked for tonight). I´m sorry to say I was not above limping a little and asking the receptionist if I could stay another day, although most hostels do not allow this. I like to think she said yes out of pity because I looked sufficiently desperate. Mind you, I actually *was* sufficiently desperate. Yesterday was very tough; I´d got sunburnt the day before and had to walk for 7 hours with backpack chafing on the burnt bits. The day before had also been strenuous:
a) I took a wrong turn and mistakenly walked up an entire mountain before a nice farmer at the top shook his shears at me enthusiastically and told me to go back down (I nearly cried);
b) I walked a longer route than the specified one for the day and ended up doing about 7km more, which doesn´t sound like much until it´s you and you actually have to do it and it´s uphill and you ate all your lunch at 10am;
c) I had intended to stay in Pamplona but got so sidetracked I walked through the entire town and only realised what I´d done when I was halfway to the next town (by which time it seemed silly to waste it).
Tomorrow I am walking from Puente de la Reine to Estella, which was founded in the 11th century as a pilgrim town. I am really looking forward to it, although as a matter of interest, I think the Spanish need to review their definition of the word ´hill´. Every day so far I have been promised I would walk up at least one ´hill´ and the *smallest* of these ´hills´ so far has been the same height as Table Mountain. Tomorrow´s ´hill´ is a little over 500m, which is about 250m less than Table Mountain. This is progress.
However, the views have been spectacular and I have used up about 2GB just on obsessively photographing the countryside. The canola fields are in full bloom and there are poppies and red cosmos everywhere. It´s beautiful. The weather has also improved and everything smells of spring and meadow. It is like wandering through a giant perfume factory (ja I´m sure I could have found a more poetic way to say that). So far it is quite amazing what your brain comes up with if you just let your thoughts run all day; I met another pilgrim who refers to hiking as ´emptying the bin´. It really is like that, although sometimes a little disappointing to find just how similar one´s brain actually *is* to a bin - and how un-profound your thoughts are. (In that spirit, the first of my self-discoveries was that I was afraid of cows. Mercifully, there are fewer of them in this section of the route.)
Now I am off to see if I can find an open shop (I doubt it). I am really looking forward to tomorrow; today I was so grumpy and tired, but feel a lot better now after the day´s rest. One must remember this is a holiday. Note to self.
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