As of this afternoon (Spain time), we have finished our first day on the El Camino! Hiking this trail is something that many people dream of doing one day! To keep track of what has happened and to bring you into the experience of the hike and what God is doing, I am going to post a blog every day of the adventures we have! So with out further ado:
Day 1: Shew! It has been a long time since I last backpacked! I am sorer than I would like, and I have two blisters that I usually only get if I haven’t hiked in a long time. No worries though! It was a wonderful day!
We knew today would have a 1000-foot climb in the middle, so we set out at the hilarious hour of 4:45 am (because everything is far funnier at this time of the morning). It was cool and dark as we took our first steps to escape the quiet town of Pamplona.
As we walked, we encountered our first directional shell! The shell is the symbol of the Camino and as you walk the shells act as the trail blazers. The trail is very well marked and easy to follow.
As we left the city, we moved into farm land which is where we spent most of the day. It is beautiful! We hiked among the fields as we watched the sun come up.
The main climb of the day was up a hill that had huge wind mills on the top that peeked in and out of the fog. I have never been that close to a wind turbine. You could hear the woosh of the blades as they went around. It was so beautiful!
At the top of the mountain, we found the iconic metal pilgims that appear in the movie The Way! It was pretty cool. Really foggy, though.
After hiking down the mountain we hiked through a small town where we got lemonade from a very fancy stand! It was about a euro a glass and we wanted the stamp so it was well worth it.
The reason we wanted the stamp was that we have something called a Pilgrim’s Passport that you must stamp twice a day as you hike so that you can stay in the cheaper lodging along the trail. The stamp from the stand was a fun one!
As we hiked the second half of the day Rebekah and I talked over Cambodia and began processing everything that had happened that month. We came to the conclusion that we were both really thankful God had set up the month the way he did. We could not get away from each other as a team so we had to get to know each other. It was really good. Talking through the month with someone who was there was super helpful.
The last bit of the day we met a 20-something school teacher from Barcelona who is hiking for 4 days. She is a really cool person. She has asked a lot about the Race and seems pretty interested in the work we do as Christan missionaries. I hope we get to spend the next 4 days hiking with her.
Now I am sitting in my bunk waiting to have dinner then call it a night. We got stuff to make sandwiches for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.
I am praying for no soreness tomorrow, divine appointments with people along the road and that our conversations will go deeper with the lady we met. I am super excited to see what tomorrow has in it!
Until then, Good Camino to you!
Elise
