May 13

May 13 3:00 PM Day one is officially under my belt! Well... almost. But let´s not get ahead of ourselves. I believe when we left off, our hero had arrived in Pamplona a few hours late and had missed the bus to Roncesvalles. After walking in circles around Pamplona, we finally found the Albergue and after a quick Salami like sandwich (thanks Pablo!!), we went to bed.  I took the top bunk (rookie mistake!!) in a room of probably 100 pilgrims.  It was hot and loud and since the thing I am most paranoid about (though nobody else seems to think about it) is getting my pack stolen, I slept with it in my bed.  Needless to say, I did not get much sleep.  I was out of bed by 6:00 and ready to go.  Pablo, on the other hand, needed a coffee and a cigarette.  We finally found a cab at about 7:00 and made it to Roncesvalles at about 8:00.  Roncesvalles is incredibly beautiful.  It is a tiny little mountain town right near the French border.  I was champing at the bit to get moving though, so we found someone to stamp our pilgrim passport and started walking. 

Before I go much farther, I should probably tell you a little about Pablo.  He is a very nice guy, but from the time we got together, he basically never stopped talking, and I understand about 40% of what he says  (he wanted to practice his English so that he could talk to American girls).  Mostly he liked telling me what Spaniards (not necessarily HIM mind you... but Spaniards in general) think about Americans.  That leads me to my:

Pablo funny of the day -- Americans keep their doors unlocked because they all have guns so they are not worried about people breaking in. 

That was the best of the bunch, but there were other notables:
- ¨Why are Americans afraid of Jews?¨  Note:  he asked this before we had talked at all about religion, and before he had any clue that I was Jewish.  My answer:  Good Question.  Of course, he went on to provide his own theory on why Americans were afraid of Jews... apparently it is because the Jews have all the money and power. 
- Things he likes about America (he had to think long and hard on this)... The Simpsons.

So... Pablo and I started off together at about 8:30.  I was cooking!  Pablo, on the other hand, was quite a bit slower.  Though he is only in his early twenties, he is a smoker (actually -- to be accurate -- I should say that he WAS a smoker.  When we got to Roncesvalles he declared that he was quitting, smoked one last one for good measure, and gave the rest of his cigarettes to a very grateful woman) and he was carrying two packs, one on his back and one in front, and it was not long before I was pulling away.  We decided we would meet again in he next town, and as of yet, I have not seen him again.  I do not expect to see him for a while... if ever!

As for me... did I mention that I was cooking?!  Well... I was.  I was FLYING!!  Uphill.  Downhill.  No one passed me, and I passed quite a lot of people.  I stopped for lunch after a few hours (I was there a half hour -- still no Pablo!) and then started cooking again.  This was going to be no problem!!  I could easily do 30 days of this.  No pain.  No blisters.  No heavy breathing.  The entire time I was composing my blog in my head... ready to tell you all how amazing I am.  Then -- about 13 km or so into the day, I came upon a hill.  This hill... as hills often do... started by going up quite quickly, and then back down even more quickly.  For the up part, I was still cooking.  Still flying.  Feeling GREAT.  Then came about a 3 km down (literally and otherwise).  My legs were burning.  My knees were starting to buckle.  And by the time I arrived in Zubiri, I was pretty spent.  The good news is that, though I am very tired, it is a good tired!  The bad news is that I did not make it to my final destination for the day which was another 5 km down the road.  At the end of the day, I had walked 22 km (almost 14 miles) in around 5 hours or so.  Not bad for a first day, but I did learn that I need to pace myself if I have any hope of finishing this in the 32 days I have allotted myself. 

Here in Zubiri I walked into the first Albergue I found (actually, it is the second -- the first was already full) and realized that it is a private Albergue, not a public one.  The good news is that it is really gorgeous.  There are only ten people in my room and I get free internet (thus the very long blog today!).  I am looking forward to a great night sleep (sans pack!) and getting up early tomorrow to start walking.

I am completely loving every minute of this trip.  I can´t believe how beautiful it is here and how lucky I am to be doing this.  On the one hand, I wish that everyone could share in this incredible experience with me.  On the other hand, I love being alone with my thoughts and having no one to answer to.  I miss my kids though and I hope they will take the time to read this.  Talia and Zach -- if you are reading this... As much as I am loving this... I love you even more.  I wish you could both be here to share this with me, and I can´t wait to get home and see you.

Until tomorrow...