06/14/07 PAMPLONA #3

Well I did buy some walking shoes, this time regular short treking shoes not hiking boots as I think the going will be better than it was in France. I ask myself how long I will carry the old boots with me; well certainly long enough for me to feel real sure of these new shoes. Hate the weight though. In my mind I worry about the kilogram kilometers. They add up!
Anyway, to polotics, I have had a number of interesting discussions, but up at Orisson a guy which I took for German asked me what I thought of Bush et al. I expressed my views and then he was quiet as is the usual reaction. Then I asked him what he tought of Merkel (the German chancelor). He then started in on a diatride of how the whole world hates the USA now etc. etc. After a few moments I told him that he was not answering my question about Merkel and then he understood what I had asked and laugh, laugh no he was not German rather Austrian. Ha, Ha. Very interesting to hear such from a man who would be living in either the National Social greater Germany with possibly one of Goebel´s children at the helm or living in the greater Austrial workers paradise if it had not been for the Americans. Particularly for a guy from a country which has never really faced up to their part in the jewish holocost etc. as far as I know. But there you go. The opposite reaction which I liked a whole lot better was from a French man. In the same basic type of conversation he told me that America and France were friends and had been for a long time. Friends disagree sometimes but that doesn´t end the friendship. During the build up to the Iraq war when the talk was at its worst between the USA and France his daughter, who is at the university, got on the anti USA bandwagon. He told me that he took her on a little trip down to Normany. There at the memorial he told her something like,`Look at this and never forget what America has done for us. Your grandparents were right on the edge of the invasion and to this day they get all misty eyed when that time is brought up and they think of all those young men.´ All of us who have been to Normandy know how moving that cemetary is. So, just like humans, you get more than one opinion from different people.

The rain has stopped and I am on my way back to the hotel via the bus. Then tomorrow it is off to the races again with the new shoes. I have hotel reservations through Monday so I am a happy guy. Especially since the weather forcast is for dry clear weather!! Lord only knows when I will find a computer again that is hooked up to the internet and that I can use.

06/13/06 PAMPLOMA-2

I must admit that I was really excited the next morning as I walked towards the start of the Napoleon route over the Pyrenees. This route is the same which Napoleon took which in those days was fairly well traveled already by shepherds and pilgrims. Well, it was steep and fortunately I had a reservation at the Orisson Gite which is 7.9 km up the mountain. Well, again, it was STEEP, like doing two or more Camelbacks one after the other with a backpack on. Fortunately it was cool. A bunch of Italians with little backpacks came out of a church and started with me but soon disappeared into the distance. I came across two germans from Hamburg, one happy as a clam about ready to break into a yodel while the other was sitting on the ground just down and out. They had just started and I have to say that anyone who started their first day going up the Pyrenees has my total admiration. Well, I sort of question their sanity, but they like I had no real understanding of the task here. Anyway by 1:30 to 2 most everyone who was staying at Orisson was there and it was 'the sound of music, or Heidi' in real living color! Farm houses down in the valleys white dots of sheep moving around, mist wafting around the peaks. Quite something. A real hard thunder storm cleared the air to perfection. Good dinner and I went to bed in a lower bunk which is really quite important to me as I am continually trying to hydrate myself day and night so I have to pee at least 3 times a night and sometimes more often. Climbing down to do that is not a pleasant experience! Next morning a good breakfast and then for the Spanish border. The weather was absolutely clear as a bell and the scenery was great. I passed the down and out German who had learned his pace and was slowly making it up the grade which was very steep but not as bad as the day before even though it was lots longer. (I am actually at this moment listening in the background to 'The dawning of the age of Aquarius'! I think that I am in a time warp.) When I got to the Roland´s spring close to the top and just a few meters from the Spanish border there was the German´s friend on the verge of yodeling. THEN TO SPAIN!!!, up a little more and then DOWN; DOWN at an increadable steep angle. Very hard on the knees, especially the right one. Then past Roncesvalles to Burguete. (For THE BOOK GROUP: I stayed in Hotel Burguete where, I learned at breakfast, Earnest Hemingway wrote much of 'The sun also rises´. They have kept the downstairs just like it was when he was there and described it in the book. I have not done this yet, but if you go to www.hotelburguete.com you might be able to see it.) The next day, June 12 I ran into a Gordon Lindsay from Walnut Creek east of Berkely hobbling along. Boy did he look rough! He asked me if I was going to stay at the Gite, now called a 'Albergue', the same but much larger with more beds in one room and I fear no more toilets. I told him NO, I was staying at the hotel-restaurant Akerreta, just past Larrasoaña. Oh, did he want to stay there also so I wipped out the cell phone which he did not have and we got him in. I took off and after drinking a liter of cold water was about to go back and take his pack for him but he hobbled up to the door looking really rough. He is, I think, a little older than I and started just at the Pyrenees. He stayed also the day before me at Orisson but collapsed on the down grade and had to lay down in the middle of the path. The next person who came along called someone and by the time the people got there to help him he had been able to get up and try to go on, but the helpers took his pack, put him on a stretcher and got him down to the Albergue in Roncesvalles. He took a rest day and is hobbling along. He says his wife worries too much and his daughter thinks that he is crazy. But, like me, he thinks it is now or never so he presses on. We were able to talk a fair amount that evening and that was really nice. I have found the isolation really hard to deal with and it brings to focus how the isolation I felt when I first went to Germany in 1960 and during the time I was there, as I never really got so that I could have a truly probing intellectual discussion in German, affected me actually for all the years since then. The next day on to Pamplona where Mary had found a hotel for me for two nights; finally after 20 days of walking I am taking a rest day. I have the problem of my boots wearing quickly and I can´t make up my mind whether to try to buy some new walking shoes, or not. I would still have to carry the boots which are heavy for insurance and I am not sure I want the extra weight. But on the other hand my right foot might start hurting badly, it has started to hurt ocassionally already, and I really don´t want that since generally I am holding up fairly well.
I have learned that I am not cut out to sleep in the same room with many people. That might have been OK when I was 21-22 and we slept with 5 in the room but at 68 it has absolutely NO appeal. So I am trying to plan the trip so I can stay in hotels, and the like where I can have a room to myself. I don´t want to have to walk down the hall to the bathroom but that is Ok if necessary. So, I am off to look at shoes. If I have the energy I will post a little blog about people and politics before I hit the road again tomorrow morning.

06/13/06 PAMPLOMA

As you can see, I am in Spain. I have not had access to a computer in ages obviously, but I will try to recreate what has happened since Navarrenx. Axel took a rest day in Navarrenx to wait for his wife so I took off alone. It rained off and on to Boholeguia which is close to Aroue. There was a gite(the 'i' is supposed to have a ^ over it, but anyway a gite is a communal sleeping arrangement usually with bunk beds and depending on the size of the room many or few beds. I don´t like them!)for 13 people and was run by the perfect momma. This was on a farm and she loved doing this during the season. she seemed to like me and put me in the only single room in the place, BLESS THAT WOMAN! so I was a happy camper. She provided enough calories at dinner for everyone to walk all the way to the ocean and then did the same in the morning along with putting out a platter so we could make ourselves a sandwich for lunch. What a wonderful person! The next day was on to Gaineko Extea close to Ostabat. This was a long one in hot weather. I didn´t take any of the short cuts and ended up going up the equivalent of Camelback with a pack on to look at a little chapel that was built in the beginning of the 19th century. God I was beat especially since I had to go down again. When I got to Ostabat I was really thirsty even though I had already drunk 2 1/2 liters of water so I went into a bar and asked for water. The woman filled up a flask for me and just left. I drank the whole thing and left one euro then went out the door. While trying to find my way out of town I ran into Benoit (from the past) and I asked him how he got past me without me seeing him. He told me that he and almost everyone else took the short cuts. Well, it was good training for the Pyrenees. Benoit was waiting for a replacement part for his backpack which broke under way. The company was shipping a replacement to this little village for him. I got to my Gite and having learned from the night before I asked if they had a single room that I could have (for more money of course) and they did. There was a large (13) group there who walk with just water and lunch on their backs and have a van take every thing to the next stopping place. This is Basque country and I think that this gite makes it´s real money from these tours so at the dinner the husband put on a sing along show during the whole time. Really the first that I have seen since I have been on the road. By this time I was running with the same group most of the time even though everyone walks alone we all end up at the same places as there aren´t many options. The next morning I walked to St. Jean le Vieux which is just 4 km short of the starting place for the crossing of the Pyrenees. Stayed at Hotel-Bar Mendy. Saw the French foreign legoner and his wife´s friend for the last time on the road there. Story: Remember the three people way back there who almost couldn´t sleep in the Gite because of the nurses? Well that was the French Foreign legoner, his wife and his wife´s friend. Since we got things strainghtened out they liked Axel and me. for the next week + we/I would run into them almost every day. Well, it seems that the wife´s friend told the wife that she wanted to learn about the Camino but was concerned to do it alone the first time. So, the wife said something like,´well my husband knows it well and he will go with you.´. Good idea. So they drove to the first Gite, stayed overnight and then the wife provided them a nice lunch at the same place Axel and I stopped to eat our bread and sausage. By the time they got to the Pyrenees where they stopped, they hated each other. Every time he would talk she would role her eyes and every time he had a chance he would tell Axel, in french, that she was a wimp and complained the whole time. It really was interesting to watch. Axel, no shrinking violet he, asked her outright if they were lovers, but she made it very clear she was the friend of the wife only!!! The French f. legoner fought in Algeria and Vietnam for 17 year and then has been on pension for 34 years. I saw him without his shirt on and I can see why he is on pension. His upper chest looks like someone used it for a pin cushon. Anyway, they both looked happy when they shook hands shortly before they got on a bus or train out of there!!!

Part 2 and the French health care system

You may remember that I strained my left hamstring way back in the beginning walking in the rain and mud. By the time I am writing about I had a huge bruise on the back of my left leg which went from above my shorts hem to below my knee. So, before dinner, which we made, I was walking around like normal. During dinner everyone was talking in French so I had completely tuned out and was eating when suddenly I notice that everyone was talking and then looking at me, and then talked some more and then looked at me, etc. Axel explained that these were a bunch of nurses (the women who didn't have reservations and wouldn't leave)and they were VERY worried about my leg, and thought that I ought to see a doctor! I tried to talk them out of it as I bruise very easily now but they kept right on it and in a while they had both Axel and me worried. A. and I went out to talk it over but the next thing I knew one of the nurses who spoke a little English told me that it was out of my hands; they had decided that I needed to see a doctor and had called the mayor of the district. The mayor showed up and it was decided that he would take me to the doctor, NO, can't do that because of liability concerns, so they call the paramedics. This is out in the boonies and the paramedics were eating their Sqturday evening meal drinking a little wine and needless to say took their time showing up. When they came they started towards me with a portable EKG machine and that is where I said NO, NO!! So they put A. and me in the ambulance to take me to the doctor. Axel was the only one who could translate. We got to the doctor who was just a delightful guy and he said what I already knew which was that I had ripped a muscle or tendon a little and due to the medication I take there was a huge bruise. If it didn't hurt too much, he said that I should walk! Then the dr. got us into his car and took us on a tour of the area while taking us back to the Gite. He explained the facts to the nurses, which finally shut them up and it only cost me 63.50 Euros which wasn't all that bad considering that I never made a single phone call or consented to any of this. Anyway, the mayor was still there and told us that he made 150,000 liters of red wine each year which got Axel in action and he bought a bunch wholesale to be sent home to Norway. So, I can say with some expertise that the French medical system is doing fine and Dr. Monet is one really nice guy.

06/06/07 NAVARRENX

Since I have seen a computer the last time I have been to Miramont-Sensacq where I learned that all is not what one sees and one may find out about the French medical system without trying when I stayed in a city Gite there, then to Arzacq-Arraziguet where the nurses from the previous stop were talking at dinner at the gite with about 20 people, then on to Pomps where the German who loved to stay in the Gites made us dinner and considering that he had very little to work with, provided us with a great meal before the German bicycle girls showed up,then on to Maslacq which was a very nice quiet hotel demi-pension, and now in a very old hotel in Navarrenx.
The story back at Miramont-... was that we showed up at the gite first and there was a sign which said that the people who ran it were not there and there was a list of the people who had reservations, and there was no room except for the people who had reserved there. We had reserved and staked out our territory. A little later 2 guys showed up, they also were on the list and they went to the other room and staked out their territory. There were three bunk beds in each room. Then four women showed up and asked us to move so they could all be in our room. We said NO. They went to the other two guys and the next thing we know the guys are in our room. These women were not on the list as we found out later. So we were sitting out in front of the gite sipping some wine when 3 other people showed up. They were on the list and had reservations. However the women were not going to leave and they made that very clear. Just as things began to get dicie, Axel, who I was walking with said that with a little cooperation maybe somehthing could be done. I went up and tried to pick the lock to the upstairs but couldn't do it so I started through the drawers of the desk looking for keys. Finally the keys were found and the upstairs was opened. Problem solved. Oh, forgot to tell you, the place had been fumigated for bed bugs and we couldn't sleep in our sleeping bags and our backpacks had to be in special fumigation sacks. Then the fun really began!, which I will put in the follozing blog.

An aside

Dusty attached a comment onto my EAUZE posting and if you want to see where I am at any time click on the comment box at the bottom and read it and he will tell you how to find the places!

06/01/07 AIRE-SUR-L'ADOUR

With the rain comes some interesting observations. Most of the slugs are orange here. They have industrial strength 18 to 20 inch long earth worms. The weather has been iffy but no real serious rain for a number of days now. On the 30th I walked to Nogaro which was my 2nd 20+ kilometer day in a row and I have been having trouble with my upper back. The next day on the way to a little place called Duburry I spent the whole time adjusting all the different parts of my pack and I think, hope, that some of the problem has been solved. We will see. Last night I slept in a dorm room with a German middle school principle - no spell checker- and two of his female teachers, all about ready to retire soon. Very interesting as this is the first time I have done this. And me who has to go to the bathroom about 4 times a night. Well, at least I was in the bottom bunk!
Tonight I am in AIRE-SUR-L'ADOUR after a fairly short walk today It rained off and on but it was mostly just showers and the parts of the trail which are mud were not too slippery. Nice little place, I have counted 4 pharmacies so there are at least 10,000 people being served here. I have a room in a demi-pension hotel tonight! A room all to myself, what small pleasures there are in this life! Dinner served at 7:30 pm. Breakfast at 7:30. I doesn't get much better than that.
By the way, I think I have this figured out a little. You get up in the morning, dress and eat. You walk, you hurt, you eat a little lunch on the road, you go to your sleeping place, you shower, you wash some clothes, you rub the parts that hurt if you can reach them, maybe you take a nap, you worry about where you sleep later, you eat, you sleep, you etc. Life ain't so complicated!