May 8th, 2017
Ziortza to Alburgue Eskirika
Km walked: 25
Km total: 125
We sat outside in Gerika on a park bench eating our baguette and salami and cheese, watching people come and go from the grocery store, also with baguettes, sticking out of bags and coats and held in hands. The baguette is a staple food item here and you can find them anywhere, for usually half a euro and sometimes even less, and people eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner and often in between. They break it apart with their hands and don’t mind where the crumbs go, and there are lots if crumbs, all over the table and ground, making a big mess everywhere they are consumed.
Crumbs lay on the brick in front of us as we ate them with salami and cheese. Cured meats are big here and you can get a package for cheap. And cheese is cheap too. You can get by on a nice lunch of bread, meat and cheese for less than 3 euros, and this is enough to fill us both up.
The walking for the day was so-so and wasn’t as grand as the previous days. There was more green hills and horses and goats, some sections on old logging roads under swaying pine trees, and a fair amount of paved walking on multiple surfaces. My ankles hurt from the hard ground, and for the first time I didn’t quite like how much of the path was on paved sections and yearned for more pleasant walking on dirt roads and paths through the woods.
We are at Alburgue Eskirika tonight and were allowed to camp in the garden for a few euros each, a significant discount than staying inside on a crammed bed with rhinos and elephants blaring away all night long. The Alburgues remain the worst part of the hike and it is quite a shame because the trail is so beautiful otherwise. I much rather sleep outside in the tent instead of with a dozen other bodies snoring and breathing away, rustling their things and being all crammed in like sardines in a warm and stuffy room. There is no getting away from this aspect and we knew what we were getting into at the start, but the reality is much more damaging now that I’ve lived it a little.
On the bright side you can take a shower every night (if you want), eat town food everyday (like baguettes and cheese and cured meats), throw away your trash regularly and not have to carry much water. You can do the whole trail with nothing but a small sheet to sleep in and a few extra socks. But we are carrying a bit more, to get outside the Alburgues every now and then to get away from the snorers and the mouth breathers, the poor souls with sleep apnea and the people that have restless leg syndrome. Carrying a few extra pounds is worth it’s weight in gold in this regard and wouldn’t want to leave home without it.
Tomorrow we get to our first major city, Bilboa. We are going to spend the night in a hotel in town, wash clothes and visit the Guggenheim museum. I also need to pick up some sandals, which was a huge oversight on my part, as all the Alburgues require that you have them. I’ve never hiked with sandals because I never really needed them and never wanted to carry them. But it seems I will need to buy some in Bilboa, lest continue to get weird looks and yelled at by hostel owners and volunteers.
You have to play by the rules on the Camino. That much is true.
