Zubiri

12:45pm

Casa Maitetxu

We’ve walked about 4 hours now, a few kilometers from Roncesvalles to a lovely little cafe where I experienced my first cafe con leche and my heart swelled. A croissant and hard-boiled egg and orange juice topped off that heavenly experience, and we were off again! Walked a few more hours and now we’re here at this cafe. This beautiful, adorable, heaven-sent cafe. It was as if the rest of the world disappeared and it was just me and my new soulmate Tortilla. Ok, that’s a little extreme but not entirely untrue. This stuff is GOOD. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve walked a long way in the last 3 days, but that’s not the whole reason it’s incredible. It’s just incredible.

A soft breeze is blowing to cool us off, and I’m topping off the experience with a cafe con leche. I have a feeling those will be a 2-or-3-a-day tradition for me. 

Have I mentioned this place is magical?

9:30pm

Suseia Albergue

Well. Things got real after the blissful tortilla lunch. It was stunning all the way, but our descent into Zubiri was WOWSERS. Straight down a rocky hill about 4km long. A rock scramble to beat all rock scrambles. My joints are achin’ and my dogs are barkin’. I showered when we arrived and the razor on my calves was enough pressure to hurt. My muscles. That’s what we’re dealing with. But we freakin made it. And reunited with our Camino family, some of the same beautiful people we met on night one in Orisson. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. Our dinner was unbelievable, prepared fresh by the hospitaleros here. Such care and tenderness. Which was clear from the moment we were greeted with ice cold beer after our grueling day. 

More conversations around the table, in many different languages. You know something else I’ve learned? It doesn’t take much to connect with someone. One of the leaders on my college mission trip (hey DJ) once said, "Nothing bonds you with people like doing something that sucks." I think that’s so true. And while absolutely NOTHING about this trip sucks, it’s most certainly hard. So I would say, nothing bonds you with people like doing something really, really hard, especially when that thing is also so full of beauty. 

The universe/god/whatever and whomever you subscribe to, works in mysterious ways. So far on this trip, both nights have presented me with a person who really challenged me and my patience. In one way or another. Enough to actively avoid these people for a period of time, and feel my heart drop when I saw them approaching. And wouldn’t you know it, this experience and this place has forced me to encounter them, again and again, until a moment occurs that makes me turn a corner. Just like that. I might (read: definitely do) still disagree with much of what initially annoyed or outraged me. But I can see their beauty. I can see their struggle. I can see their accomplishment. I can see they are HUMAN. 

I have been directly involved with and/or overheard conversations about the deepest, most vulnerable parts of people’s lives. Divorce. Job loss. Death. Illness. Abortion. It’s day 3. And this is what we talk about. How completely crazy is that?? I can’t get over it.

There is beauty in the struggle, because it connects us to each other. And we will stay connected forever, even if we never speak again.