Day 5 & 6 Estella and Los Arcos

Day 5 greeted us with a building heat wave. From Puente la reina we pushed off towards Estella, another 22km. We headed out a little early to try and beat the heat. But some injuries are starting to slow us; Joe’s knee and blisters on Marko’s foot. We arrived in Estella later in the day than we wanted… right during siesta. We hear stories about this in the USA but until you experience it it’s hard to believe. Yes pretty much every business closed from about 2:30 to 5:00. There is nothing more disturbing that to walk through a town in mid day and see everything closed up tight. It’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Very much like the Apocalypse or something.

In Estella we stayed at Albergue ANFAS which is staffed by volunteers for those with metal retardation.

We have met some new friends, Danny from New Jersey and Maria from Italy.

The day was mostly uneventful with the exception of a collision with a bicycle. While descending a narrow path with weeds and blackberry bushes a cyclist cane upon us with no warning. In my attempt to get out of his way I “biffed” him with my pack as I turned, knocking him down. He was tangled up with his bike face down on the path. Pulling the bike off of him we got him back on his way… not sure what language he spoke but he was gracious as one could be from a face plant on a trail. Either that or he cussed me out politely.

Day 6 was even hotter as we pushed on towards Los Arcos. Today saw the split of our group as Joe could not keep up and Marko and Mickey itching to move faster. It was great while it lasted and I am sure we may see some of the again on the Camino.

Over the last few days I have met up with a few Scottish people. The last two days we have run across a group of 5 who are doing a short 5 day Camino. ( It’s common for a lot of Europeans to do this) this group is quite memorable as the are usually drinking beer at the first stop whilst others are drinking coffee. Same thing occurred today. Imagine my surprise to run into them conducting a mass at one of the churches. One of them being a priest.

I also met another couple today from Scotland, Joy and John. We walked and talked for about 1/2 an hour, and as I pressed on the gave me a gift, a Scottish ribbon.

The Camino is filled with many gifts some as simple as a conversation and others more tangible.