On a pilgrimage there is no dead time. Every minute of every day you are using all your faculties to the full. All your physical strength, of course, and all your mental capacities in the effort to deal with different languages and situations and to stay organised and oriented, both on the Way and in the places where you stop for the evening.
When we reached our destination today after a long day of walking, the ospitaleros at Arrés had a packed programme in store for the evening. We had time to shower, wash our clothes and even sit down for a beer at the local bar, but then we were taken on a tour of the village. With a population of 42, you'd think Arrés wouldn't have a lot of sights to see, but our host Iosu knew every detail about every single brick the town was built of, and he talked at length about the village church, the tower, and various houses. As the only guest who spoke English with a smattering of Spanish, I was appointed to translate as much as I could gather for the English-speaking guests, while Mariella translated into French. As it was only my second day in Spain I didn't do a very thorough job of translating; hopefully by the time I get to Santiago my Spanish will have improved!
The tour was followed by a communal dinner and then a game in which we all had to write down a word on a bit of paper summing up what the Camino means to us in only a single word. The papers were then exchanged and read aloud, resulting in an interesting and multilingual discussion!
We ended the day watching the Pyrenees, already far away, turn pink as the sun set. By that time we were all totally exhausted and fell asleep instantly, and I am happy to report that nobody rolled off the top bunk, even though there was no railing!
Mariella and I may well come back here one day as ospitaleros volontarios, as the hostel is run by the organisation we belong to!
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| Today's walk was mostly parallel with the highway |
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| Lunch break in Santa Cilia |
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| Donkey in Santa Cilia |
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| Puente de la Reina de Jaca |
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| Puente de la Reina de Jaca |
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| Arriving in Arrés |
Jaca - Arrés 25 km
Total so far since Toulouse: 372 km
I fully understand you. Also being involved suddenly to a new heavy project and being included in a team composed by several persons from all over the world and different cultures where you know only little of anything, absorbe all the strength in full and in the evening the only good thing is sleeping to recover to the next day. This is what I hate and love of my job.
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