A rather different one (Day 8)

Last night was a special one in Logrono. I went to dinner with Camino friends and had tapas. On Navarra they are called pinchos and as soon as you cross to Rioja and leave Basque country behind same stuff is called tapas. So I had my first tapas. Therefore it was special! Options for a vegetarian are limited but do exists.

At dinner I had a chance to sit across Frank (the comedian from LA) who convinced Amy to go on vacations without me! I hadn't seen him since the day he, Amy and I walked when we left Pamplona on the morning of the 4th. As usual he was funny, warm and just nice to be around. Later Joe from the train also joined our group.

Below are photos of Amy's darling friend (who asked about her the first second he saw me) and my tapas (not pinchos). He is the one from the left. I learned he is a big star amongst US military and performed for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq many times. He is humble and doesn't talk about it but some people looked him up. The guy next to him started his life driving around cities fixing Starbucks coffee machines (Amy would have probably wanted an autograph) before starting his own business for electrical components. Yet another great guy to chat with.

I continue to get inspired by how so many different people from all around the world form this unique bond on the Camino. Asians, Europeans, South and North Americans just became a community within a week after walking for 120 miles.

After the dinner, everyone went to a bar but I had too much discomfort in the foot and decided to go and attend the Sunday mass at the cathedral instead.

The Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda is a grand cathedral built in 15th century that has two towers and paintings from Michelangelo. It can be seen miles away as you walk into Logrono. During the mass, I didn't understand a word (again) but thought being there similar to pilgrims that did it for centuries was meaningful. Below are photos of the cathedral and the mass. I took the outside photo when I arrived earlier yesterday.

My day today was very different. I had to wait for the stores to open at 10am (to buy new shoes) and there was not chance I could do the 30km distance needed today on time as I had a work related meeting in the afternoon. So very reluctantly and apologetically I took a cab from Logrono and got a jump start so I can make it in time. Everyone told me not to feel bad about it but being me, I still felt shamed that I cheated the day. Today I only walked about half the stage and arrived to Najera with the earlier parts of the cohort. Najera is small with only a few albergues so I will see pretty much the entire group.

At this point there are about 30-40 of us on this pace and rhythm as the Camino naturally divided into different cohorts that have different speeds. But within a cohort there seems to be no clicks, no one left out or excluded. There is something special about that, and outside of the Camino, it doesn't seem to happen so naturally in our social lives or work lives.

On the path I longer see wheet fields as every piece of land is now vineyards in the Rioja region.

The last hour I walked with the gentleman I used to refer to as the NEW Serial Killer. He is the Aussie guy who is walking the Camino with his mom (Amy and I met them day 1) but you can never see the mom. It turns out he didn’t bury his mom somewhere on the road. His name is Clifton from Gold Coast Australia. I did tell him there are rumors that he buried his mom on the road which he replied “mate, it’s not like I haven’t thought about it” with a big grin and Aussie accent. Of course, his mom apparently likes to walk very slow thus they meet at the end of each stage everyday. They are on the albergue next to mine with the team Kansas (daughter, uncle and dad).

My albergue is the back of a small grocery store. Put the photo of the entrance. I also saw a guy playing flamenco guitar on top of the hills for pilgrims. I listened to him and felt that I did not need to compare his skills with mine. A first moment where my competiveness didn’t get the best of me. He is also in one of the photos below.

Photos from the day.

Kms today: 15.5 kms

Kms total: 202 kms

Steps total: 158.4k Amy, 279.5k Ahmet