First days of the Camino

Hola from El Camino!! We haven't been able to post much because of wifi and time shortages, so here is a bit of catching up on our travels so far:

We arrived on Monday evening in St Jean Pied  De Port, the quasi-official start of the Camino Frances, and as you can tell by the name, we were still in France at that point, on the French side of the Pyranees mountains. 

Mike had booked us two beds in what turned out to be the best hostel in the whole world, Beilari.

Joseph, the owner, welcomed us after our long travel day and invited us to sit out on the covered patio/garden where the whole group would be having dinner shortly. Dinner ended up coming much later, because before we ate Joseph welcomed us to the Camino and we learned about one another by "throwing" an invisible ball to other guests around the table. We learned that Michelle from Ireland has done the Camino before, and Denise is a retired NYC homicide detective looking for peace, and Hugo from the Netherlands just got laid off and feels adrift. We met Kate and Topher with their son Callan, who is five and a half years old. They are doing the Camino to prove to themselves that life doesn't stop when you have kids. Lenín is walking with Luíz, who is in remission from cancer. About half of us were teachers, and most of us were waking our first Camino. It was an amazing evening, and I can't imagine a better start to the experience than the one Joseph gave us.

 

Our "Camino Family"

 

The view from our dorm's window

Ready to start the first day of walking, pilgrim passports in our packs and seashells (the symbol of the Camino) tied to the outside. 

The view as we walked out of SJPDP that first day. 

It was a little foggy on the way up the mountain! We only went halfway up on our first day, but it was still quite a hike!

We were excited to reach our first stop on the Camino- Orisson. The climb was so steep, it felt much longer than it was... We arrived at 10:40am!

The next day, it was time to really tackle the Camino. We had come halfway up the Pyranees and now we had to finish the job. It was still foggy the morning we left, which was nice for an uphill hike. 

The sheep walked with us for a bit, and very smartly filed off of the road when a car came. 

View from the top

Some of our walking companions. Yes, Topher is pushing a stroller for Callan, who is a trooper and walks most of every day. And I thought reaching the top was hard with my backpack! And actually, the way down was way harder...a story for another day. 

That's all for now - with love and lots of sunscreen-

Buen Camino!

Meg and Mike