The silent partner speaks...by ER

First of all, thank you VERY much for your encouraging posts, prayers and positive thoughts. Nikki has done such a great job at blogging, while I have served as the official photo journalist of the trip (I promise to put some pics up soon) haha! Yesterday we saw the legendary festival of San Fermin, patron saint of Pamplona, otherwise know as ¨The Running of the Bulls.¨ It was just as chaotic and rowdy as I expected. We woke up at 5 am, or normal waking time, to be in the city by 7. I think everyone in the city was still buzzed from the night before, except us of course. When we entered the main plaza, we were pushed around the sea of red and white bull runners, trying to hold on to our bulging backpacks...we looked ridiculous. We found the perfect spot to watch the bulls run out of the gates and see the city choir sing their chants before the run. It was incredible. Imagine a city of 20,000 people being occupied by 2.3 million for one weekend...es una locura!! Luckily, we survived the event unwounded and went on our pilgrim path for the rest of the day. I want to share with you a bit of my overall experience en El Camino: I never could have imagined the diversity beautiful sights we´ve seen thus far. Every day is a different landscape, new people and a fresh state of mind. I never thought I would be able to walk for 8 hours a day in the rain or sun and have that be my only goal, besides finding a bed at the pilgrim hostel before they fill up. The first few days, it was so dangerous, foggy, rocky, slippery and grueling. We´ve gone through the thick forest, alongside the highway and my most favorite so far, the wheat feilds of Navarra province. I wouldn´t change a bit of it, even the cold an rainy portions. At night all the pilgrims get together, share war stories, nurse our wounds and get to know eachother. We´ve been hanging out with Spanish and German people mostly. The other night we stayed in a tiny monestary run by a 70-year old man. It didn´t appear to be much from the outside, but the doors open to a beautiful sanctuary, rose garden / courtyard (where everyone washed and dried their clothes) and the back house was equipped with bathrooms and 36 beds. We all shared a meal together and we laughed so hard I cried. I love meeting other pilgrims and finding out their stories...how they found out about El Camino and where they plan to walk. We all begin our days at different times, pass eachother, wait for eachother, salud eachother from afar, knowing that each have unique rythms and speeds. We arrive separately to the pilgrim hostels, but dream together at night, and rest our tired feet, in preparation for the challenge of the next day. It is a lovely, simple life.