Lucas and the king's grandson

Greetings to all from sometimes sunny Spain.
All is well and we are on the Camino, but first a little background. We Arrived on Thursday and spent a little time with our friends Ellen and Miguel Martin who used to live in Lodi. We had a great two days. I went to pick up the Kids from school with Ellen and there was Lucas their one and a half year old boy playing with another kid who turned out to be the king´s grandson. The royal family is known for their common touch and rather than just put their child in some exclusive day care facility, they opted for a good one but one where there was little elitism. So Lucas runs, chases and generally has a good time with Christina, the second daughter of king Juan Carlos and another child who turns out to be the heir to the Fresenet Wine kingdom, not bad company to giggle and swap toys with, eh?
Things started out a little disastrous, Jim forgot his walking shoes. Yes, he´s still Jim. Then the train to Pamplona was totally full, so we had to punt a little. Ellen knew of a good store with lots of outdoor stuff, and I was able to get a pair of shoes that really didn´t need to be broken in, since rule number 1 is never start the Camino with new shoes.
On the second matter, we rented a car, expensive, but our only option since it was a three day holiday and that´s why all trains were totally full. We got to Pamplona and tried to turn the car in, but the agency was closed. But to our rescue came paxti (pronounced Potsy) who found out the rules for us, took us to the rental agency, found where we could leave the car, found us a taxi to Roncesvalles/St. Jean pied de port and we were off and running, so to speak.
All the way I was agonizing as to whether to go to SJPP or Roncesvalles. Weather reports were bad for the Pyrenees and that could turn the 10 hour hike into a 14 to 16 hour day. But to start in Roncesvalles meant not being able to start where we had always hoped to. It was miserable for me. I don´t know why I have this need to continually try to prove myself to myself. I don´t care what anybody else thinks, but I do care what I think about myself. I didn´t want to wimp out and feel that I avoided that first day with its 4000 foot climb in the first ten miles. But it was really the most practical thing to do, so I´m driving myself nuts deciding. Carol is no help. She of the: "Whatever is meant to happen will happen" school is no help to my angst.
Thirty five years ago before Carol and I got together, a woman who was planning to marry me, wanted to see the pictures of my first wedding pictures. That was a very difficult thing for me to relive all that pain and sorrow. But after a lot of resistance I relented, and just as I was opening the album, a song by Harry Nilsson "Everybody´s Talkin" came on the radio.
He sang, "I´m goin where the sun keeps shining through the pouring rain....... and I realized that I wasn’t in that painful place anymore and I could look at the pictures and it didn´t bother me at all.
So.... here we are driving to the start of the Camino and the driver won´t go any farther of than Roncesvalles. I´m trying to figure out what to do, and on Spanish radio, what comes on but Harry Nilsson singing, you got it, "everybody´s talking."
So my spirits were just telling me to take it as it came and stop fighting what I could not change. So it was Roncesvalles, the place in Ancient literature the "Song of Roland" who as Charlemagne´s trusted lieutenant was ambushed and killed a thousand years or so ago.
The refugio is a 12th century monetary and it was such a great place to sleep for that first night before starting off.
Germans, French, Canadians, Italians, some Yanks, Brits, Irishmen, and others of whom I have not a clue bunking in a communal dorm starting this great `pilgrimage of 500 miles.
Our packs are too heavy, but our spirits are light and it has been a beautiful and wonderful first two days. Each day is a journey in itself. We see each day as an event, part of the whole, but totally separate with its own reality and influences.
Yesterday was 14.1 miles of very tough going. The Camino is so varied in structure. Sometimes the Camino is wide and smooth; sometimes it is narrow, rough and very difficult to traverse. Sometimes it is a joy to look around because it is so easy, and sometime we walk with our heads down, one step at a time or we´ll fall down and go boom.
We went up and down, and up and down, repeating the cycle over and over again. The guide says that it should take 6-7 hours and we made it in 5 and 1/2, so we were pleased with our pace. We went straight through without stopping for food or rest, running mostly on adrenaline, probably. We´ve waited so long for this day and to finally be able to begin was exhilarating. The scenery was beautiful mountain greenery, very bucolic: horses, sheep, goats, cattle all blending into a general picture.
Today was totally different. More level, and the ups and downs less severe. However, Carol´s knee gave out and it became very difficult for her to continue. So we decided that I should go ahead, leave my backpack someplace and come back and carry hers to lighten the load. I trucked, I mean I almost trotted the five miles to the next town where I found a church and could leave my pack. I returned fearing the worst, "Did she stop and is waiting for me?" "Will she have to abandon the Camino?" “Will she have to take a taxi to the next town and rest for a day?" In fact, She´s fine. I´m totally wasted. An amazing woman my wife and best friend. I should know better than to ever underestimate her strength, both physical and spiritual. After all, she´s stuck with me for 26 years:-)
Í got back about a mile and there she is coming over a rise. "What in the hell are you doing?" was the only thing I could think of saying. "Walking the Camino," she said simply. I was shocked that she had gotten that far. Her knee hurts on the downhill portion, but otherwise she´s fine and has total confidence in her ability to continue and complete our odyssey. We´re going to get walking sticks tonight and that should diminish the shock to the knee on the downhill parts.
On both days we found a little village/hamlet every 2-3 miles. Wonderful places where time warps backward and houses and barns and pastures are changed little. The cars, satellite dishes, and kid’s bikes out front belie the antiquity of the picture, but it´s still a great scene.
So here we are back in Pamplona that wonderful heart of Basque Spain. 28 miles of our 483 miles completed. (Down from the original 500 because we started one stage later than planned). Loving our trip, happy to be on our way, aware of the difficulties which lurk out there, but confident that our spirits will find a way to show us how to get where we’re trying to go.
Well, this is just a rough start trying to express what at this point is hard to coalesce, and Carol is waiting for me. We´re off to the post office to mail to Ellen pound and pounds of material once thought of as essential, but now just seems like extra pounds which wear us down and out.
We await tomorrow with confidence and expectation that only wonderful things await us.
More to follow as time allows. We hope that each of you is as happy and well as we are.
Jim and Carol