Day 25 - 24.3 Kilometres

Navarrete to Naherra

Not quite sure what happened. Forgot to write in my journal. Didn´t post. I imagine we walked. Just a guess.

Oh! We met a lovely Austrian schoolteacher who lives in a village about an hour´s train ride outside of Vienna. His village hosts one of the best medieval festivals in Austria. It is on September 8-10, and he invited us to come and stay at his house and go to the festival. As it happens, we will be in Vienna right around those dates. In case we didn´t post it, the cheapest way to Nepal from Germany is to go Berlin to Istanbul, Istanbul to Vienna, and then Vienna to Delhi. We plan to putter around northern India (the safe parts) and then make our way overland to Nepal. So, we will be in Vienna. And now we will be staying at our new trail family´s house and going to a festival too!

Another thing we did come across were the "Chairs in the Wild." These perfectly old leather seats in the middle of nowhere that afforded the lucky pilgrim with a fantastic view. We couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a well deserved break and enjoy the scenery.

The landscape is beautiful, and I do love Spain, but trail family is what Camino de Santiago is all about. Cz wants to do another "Pilgrim´s Perspective" at some point, and I believe it will be about trail family, so I will be very brief.

Your trail family are the people you meet along the way. They are the people you share meals and stories with. They are instantly as close as home, whether you see them for only one day or whether you walk together over several kilometres. It is sort of like the friendships you form in camp or elementary school. Instant and strong, but without the heartbreak of separation when you are so young.

And my Spanish is getting a little better every day. I even got to play translator for a 2 Polish Girls. One who spoke English, the other only Polish. So, Polish to English so I could understand, English to Spanish for their new friend, and back again. It was very exciting.