Intentional Pilgrim

Pamplona, Navarre, Spain
Stayed in: Aloha Hostel

We arrived in Madrid a bit earlier than expected, which meant we would make our 3:15 bus to Pamplona. After exiting the plane the fun began…

There is nothing more overwhelming than entering a foreign airport with signs in Spanish and people all speaking Spanish … And having no sleep in more than 24 hours! We all were exhausted and now the customs queue was awaiting. Passed through with no trouble and found a corner to dump the girls while stew and I ran around looking for an ATM and post office.

Also had to buy bus tickets to Pamplona. For some reason the Alsa ticket desk could not use my credit card…big problem! And the wifi is really limited so no real connection to anything! Cannot even access my camino schedule that is in the Dropbox… For some reason it is not resident ugh! The schedule has direction to the hostel and email info. Hope we do ok without it.

Finally found our bus, met a few pilgrims… Starting other places. But it was cool to see copies of ourselves, packs, poles, funny hats, and looking lost. They were laying around the airport floor just as we were… Exhausted from their journey to Madrid.

Arrived in our hostel in Pamplona at 8:40, we did find it thanks to stew and his previous virtual walk about using google earth. Happily they have wifi. We were hot and stinky from all the walking from the bus station! Showers for most of us and containment of our stinky boots! Then off to a fabulous meal in a little bar that was still open. Little English could be spoken.. Thankful for Alyssa’s high school Spanish! The owner actually called relatives in the states to identify where they lived… Boston. Very good… I think it was a Greek bar. Finally situated for sleep around midnight… All snoring within minutes… We had the room for four so it was a good first start to the hostel experience. Night!