I had written this post, but lost it somehow, so this is a reattempt to capture the days events, if you,ve read it before this is the reason for the new post....
I enjoyed my sleep in the pension last night, so glad that I approached this pension and asked if they had a " pilgrims rate", It had a nice bar attached where I enjoyed pinxos ( large tapas/finger foods), and a bath tub! There was no drain stopper so desperate I went to my room grabbed a small plastic baggie and the supplied ash tray and put the baggie over the drain with the ashtray upside down and voila....a drain stopper and a wonderful warm bath.
I set my alarm for ten! WHEW couldn't do that on the Frances where an eight oclock start time is considered pretty late. I went down to the beach and ate my left over salad from the night before while watching a local soccer league play on the beach. This was definitly an organized tournament and interesting to watch how the beach was turned into soccer fields with proud parents and festive team banners. I enjoyed this lazy morning.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me, full of steep climbs and I knew it would begin instantly. SO what is a girl to do but head back to her wonderful gelato spot and treat herself to two scoops of strawberry gelato on a sugar cone!
When I left the gelato place right outside was parked this gorgeous Vespa ( Steve has a Ducati, not certain why I don't have a Vespa:))....I drooled over it a bit and imagined the only possible place I could drive it is to the school and back...I could take one kid to school at a time and pick up one kiddo at a time....I could turn in that ol' minivan....
This day started with a steep climb....I think my guide book said, "steps" , I called them the stairway to heaven. There are two options here , a coastal route that takes you thru trendy Getaria, or an over the hill/mountain route that takes you past Getaria a slight bit and you have to back track to Getaria if you wish to visit it. The coastal route for pedestrians is temporarily closed so was not an option, seems due to road work. My guide book list a visit to Getaria as an option....I can't stress enough that one must experience this little town. On the Frances one would never back track and for some reason the idea doesn't throw me into a tailsspin this trip.
Getaria had my name all over it and is EXACTLY the place I want to be on a weekend afternoon. As I was going over the mountain every local and their family was out walking...dogs leading the way....this is a track that was all too familiar to them as I was passed left and right. As I approached the cobblestone streets of Getaria where I walked under a clock archway I felt the festive weekend feel in this town. Restaurants lined the small street and men manned grills outside that were filled with fish of all types being grilled in simple baskets. People flooded out into the streets and I took a spot in what appeared to be one of the best seats overlooking the water, boats, merchants selling scarves and some sort of celebration below. I wanted lunch and was actually at a wine bar so I had to move....but again lucked out to get a wonderful view a few doors down. I sat out and ate at a restaurant called, Mayflower, and had a nice soup and salad. Beside me sat a family with three children and the grandma and grandpa, the woman struck up a conversation with me and I enjoyed a good conversation with her and her husband. She educated me on the Basque region, the flag, the life....and I treasured our conversation.
Once I paid my bill I noticed alot of bikers sitting at a table, I struck up a conversation with them and one had a Ducati, the motorcycle Steve has, I wished I coukd show them Steve's bike as it is no ordinary Ducat, it is beautiful....Steve would love this town and my mind once again drifted to moving to Europe and even settling into this beautiful Basque countryside.
It was three PM and I had barely moved on the map....I still had a long , tough terrain ahead of me.
At three on the dot I was heading out of Getaria to Deba.
Todays walk was super hard....BUT was amazingly spectacular! I think my favorite walk to date.
I felt like I had an invitation into farmers pastures as I must have passed through atleast ten gates thru pastures, that trusted me a perfect stranger to close them to secure the farmers animals. I ran into two Spanish women walking with light packs but I guessed they were walking a few days. We communicated and laughed the best we could....
My guide books mentions that tonights town has a closed auberge and an off season auberge. It mentions to go to the Tourist office for the key but it was closed and several signs tell you to go to the local police, The Police Municipal, in the off hours until 9:30 at night. Today started day light savings and I rolled into town at exactly 8:30, and a nice older gentleman told me where to go. My guidebooks mentioned an elevator in this town and honestly wondered what it meant, I assumed it meant elevations of some sort and might be a translation error. sure enough thus town did have two elevators!
I got on one, took it to the bottom where another one greeted me and I took it to the bottom, turned right entered a town square and went thru the arches to find the oolice station in the first block on the left. A female officer told me I was, "number 1", I reiterated what I understood, that I was the only one there. She quickly corrected me....I was the LAST one there....it was me and the off season auberge was full to capacity. She was nice but very accurate,confident and professional with the check in process. To stay in an auberge you must present your credidential, a pilgrims passport showingyiu are worthy of this doscounted accomodation. You present your passport , your name is entered in a tracking system, you sign that you are that person and you of course pay. in this case I paid five Euro, very inexpensive. She disappeared to return with what I thought might be a sheet for the bed but it was a boccadilo, a french bread sandwich with a slice of ham on it. This hit the spot as I had no time to eat dinner and I walked down the street eating my sandwich feeling very tired and fortunate that I had a bed.
It was about nine PM....seconds into darkness when I entered a very dark auberge that honestly resembled a broom closet. When I walked in three people sat up in their bunks and one lady ( French) told me that the auberge was "full", I said that I knew and that I just filled it! She said no that there was no room for me and that it was full and all beds were taken. This was when I was thrilled that the female officer who seemed to take a long time checkimg me in was as accurate as she was. I to,d this lady that it was obvious one person in here had NOT paid, nor gone thru the procedure to secure a bed. In a pilgrims hostel. She then reluctantly agreed pointing to my bed and saying that a lady there had gotten here before me and did not " check in", BUT she added she was first and it was her bed.
I asked where was she? You'd assume when she arrived they told her to check in at the police and that she had gone there....she admitted she did not know. She was a busy body....and clearly stood her ground that there was no place for me. I had confidence in the police strict che k in was glad that this pilgrim who had her stuff in my bed would hear her bad news from the police as I certainly did not want to tell her. I left my stuff knowing the police would take care of this ( assuming she aas doing the right thing by going to them) and I ventured out for a drink that I needed more than anything as I was heavily exhausted and dehydrated. I returned to the lady's stuff still in my bed and the lady saying she arrived first....
I then said, " did you pay for thus bed?" , which she kept saying "missionary", in otherwords, "no".
I then as non confrontationally as I could said and showed her
I have a key!
I have a receipt
I have a stamp in my credential
I have paid for this bed
....and....most importantly I have signed beside the number 8 in the registry that I am the pilgrim sleeping in this bed, and thus there is a responsibility that I also have to this bed, auberge, and the property of other pilgrims in this place.
Nosey gal chimed in and ai think realized they had no counter to this...though they were not together they were country mates and while I have no phone access to have the police to clarify this they easily could have....and in my opinion this gal by not going to the police AFTER arriving thought she would get something free here...she gambled, and she lost. I wiukd have felt worse if she did attempt to go to the police but after being told by other pilgrims of the procedure she made no attempt and I am convinced it was to avoid paying. It took her forever to move her belonginfs ftom the bed...my feet were throbbing....but slowly she did as I continued to clutch
My key
My receipt
My stamped pulgrims passport
...and....the rules of the auberge that list a mandatory showing of your credential.
I made my bed....ran out to email....and came back to her sleeping on a nice pallette of blankets on the floor. Occupying two of the beds I would find out were my sweet couple I met from England and New Zealand. Tonights auberge had two bike riders and six pilgrims on foot. I knew the couple would end in a few days, and did not know about the others.
I didn't sleep well, possibly due to the small confrontation....
I used my ear plugs and eye mask and heard snores but due to earplugs that was not what kept me up. When I woke up EVERYONE was exhausted, all said they had not slept because Ms. Nosey snored so loudly that one Swiss guy had to vacate the bed to sleep outside....
No comments:
Post a Comment