Blogs from Burgos, Castile & León, Spain, Europe - page 7

A little food shopping before we left Pamplona was the first challenge of today. Finding a supermercado would provide us with the makings of a picnic lunch and we headed off on this quest, needing to ask for directions from a couple of early shoppers whose gestures and animated Spanish did the trick. Then time for a return to the old town part of Pamplona for a visit to the huge cathedral and to walk the route the bulls take when they run through the streets to the massive bullring. Pilgrims were everywhere, entering through the old city gate and climbing through the streets, following the distinctive markers set into the roads. Pilgrims are offered special rates for just about everything, especially entry to the cathedrals, food, and accommodation. Perhaps they have already paid large sums ... read more

I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost- Steinbeck Solo a pied. Solo and on foot I started the second phase of my walkabout through Spain. With Linsey safely on her plane back to reality I set my sights on impressing these Spaniards with my newly acquired linguistic skills. It didn´t take long for me to come back to my reality and realize that 5 Spanish phrases is not that impressive, especially when I mispronounce every other word. The minute Linsey sped off in her taxi the experience took on a different dynamic. The people become as much of the experience as the miles of trail underfoot. First: The Trail I have knocked out about 20 miles a day since Linsey left with ... read more

From Belorado we walked to Ages - about 27kms. The walking is finally getting easier! It was a gorgeous walk. Raining and foggy, but nice not to be able to see more than 100 or 200m´s in front of us for a change. Rather than seeing the miles and miles we need to walk. I walked most of that day with Mirkosch, we talked about what we considered to be the big problems of the world and how things could and should be better. It was a really interesting conversation - well, at least we thought so. We definitely decided that being close to nature and keeping life simple is a good way forward. We also talked alot about Germany´s history and how things are in Germany now - mainly with the war and the wall ... read more

I´m in Burgos. The city is alive. I never knew it existed before this. Now I´m here and think I´ll take a day rest tomrrow, stay an additional night and watch the world cup on a big screen in a city park among the Spaniards. Should be interesting. It´s a natural transition point. Been walking long. Here are some scattered photos of the time so far... Enjoy! DREW... read more

Damn this weather, it's almost as bad as Nevada! Last week I skipped class to go lay on the beach... and today it's raining and freezing! Oh well, off to the cafe for cafe con leche (essentially a tiny latte... but way better than anything Starbucks offers-which by the way I haven't had in 4+ months) y bombas con crema (a wonderful fried donut filled with custard) I guess... darn... haha Last weekend USAC went on an overnight group field trip to the city of Burgos: we saw the cathedral (one of the 3 best in Spain) and went to an archeological site right outside of the city where the oldest human fossils in Europe were found like 10 years ago. We went out to tapas where I had my first blood sausage.... SWEET BABY JESUS ... read more