To Zubiri

The morning after our exhausting trek across the mountains rose cool and clear, only to turn into a radiant, sizzling afternoon during another long walk (22 km) to Zubiri. Lauren and I picnicked with sandwich things we bought passing through a town, and reveled in the beautiful weather and charming basque villages. 

Bilbo walked ahead and then behind, and met a new Costa Rican friend named Providence, an equally small, equally old traveling companion. 

During the second half of the day, the terrain grew more difficult with lots of painful downhills. Here we met Berliner Henning who kept us going and let me practice my German and turned out to be a real friend in the coming days. I ran out of water, and we were very relieved to come upon Zubiri around 3:30. 

      After checking into the sparse municipal albergue (great wifi though) and doing laundry, we were happy to run into many of our Orisson friends at the cafe for dinner. I was more exhausted than id ever been that night, and fell into a dead sleep despite the presence of the insane cockney woman (who will get her own post) .