Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Pamplona, Spain

Well, I am over half way it seems. I have done 770 km and have about 730 yet to go. That is a little less than 500 miles each way. (Though the French calculate it at 1689 km or about 1040 miles--gotta love the French.) And we have something unusual today. I think they call it sun but it has been so long since I have seen it the name might have been changed.

It has been overcast for the past 8 or 9 days with 2 days of steady rain all day in that time, not torrential, and lots of small showers. It is the humdity and the mud that is causing all the trouble. I have that never-drying musty smell in everything. Oh well.

I went over the Pyrennes the other day. Incredible views. Sometimes I could see at least 20 feet!!!! Yes it was foggy as hell all the way. We were worried aabout getting up the mountain. It was 12 miles straight uphill. The first third about 60 degrees, the next about 40, and the last about 20. Then a steep tortuous 4 mile downhill.

The alburge on top was something. A huge vaulted lovely stone room with 65 bunk beds for 130 people in 3 rows. The men on one side, the women on the other with married couples in between. Older on bottom, younger on top. I took a top bunk of course.

It was like something out of a nightmare. I dubbed it the Inferno at first. I raced to the shower (one of 2 for the men) and was the first one in. THAT HAS BEEN MY GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE. I then went out and when I got back I saw that the spirits of the camino had conspired to put a bunch of young Italian men in my section. Inferno turns to Paradisio rather quickly. They all spend the evening in their underwear applying body cream all over and examining their feet and speaking in that liquid lovely Mediterranean lilt. Ah.

Last night was another horror but I slept better. The alburgue was small and filthy. It was completely full with people not in the best mood. No stores or restaurants were open. The mayor runs the place and his wife sell provisions from the office--not cheaply. I had some hard boiled eggs and some lentils. Not that bad but I am thinking that the camino in February and March is not necessarily a bad thing.

Pamplona, Spain