Hello blog readers!

I'm John LaRoy, and I'm the TA for the class this year.  I was a participant in the first Hiking Through History class in 2012, and this is now my second time hiking El Camino de Santiago! We have ameliorated the majority of our technical issues, so you should most likely be seeing regular (daily) posts on the blog, so be sure to stay updated on our adventures!

After experiencing a quick taste of Pamplona, we set off on a comfortable 26 kilometer (16 mile) hike to Puente la Reina. Our walk to to the city was initially accompanied by smatterings of rain, but shortly after setting out the drizzling stopped which was quite nice.  The main portion of the hike to Puente la Reina passes over Alto de Perdón, a landmark that is the home of a well-recognized pilgrim sculpture.  The sculpture represents pilgrims on foot and on horse, and has an inscribed quote, translating to "where the path of the wind crosses that of the stars." From here, we could see a spectacular view of the surrounding Spanish plains, reminding me of the words from My Fair Lady: "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."  They were definitely right about that one.

Pilgrim sculptures atop Alto de Perdón

Before heading straight to Puente la Reina, we decided to hike a few extra kilometers to the Church of Saint Mary of Eunate.  This specific church is a 12th-century Romanesque church with an octagonal shape.  The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but the original constructors of their church and their specific motives are unknown.  There is legend that the church is built upon a strong energy center, explaining its choice as a sacred site.

The gorgeous church of Saint Mary of Eunate

From Eunate, we finished our walk to Puente la Reina in the rain before finding our hostel/albergue. Puente la Reina, literally translating to "bridge of the Queen," is located in the Navarra region of Spain; the main bridge of the city was built specifically for pilgrims hiking the Camino, and is a stunning example of Romanesque style architecture. The bridge marks the convergence of two separate Camino routes: the Jacobean (Orreaga/Roncesvalles) route and the Toulouse-Somport route.  Upon our arrival, we all relaxed for a while, did laundry, and then had an amazing dinner at our albergue, with choices including spaghetti, rice with veggies, stew, bread, fish, fries, fruit, and, most importantly, ice cream.

Romanesque Bridge at Puente la Reina

While this post only covers through our third day of the trip, more will be coming to fill you in on the rest of our adventures!  For now, I must be off.

Adios,

John LaRoy

P.S.  While we were in our albergue in Puente la Reina, we met a man who was in the process of running his camino, covering 60-70 kilometers a day, hoping to finish the 790 kilometer trail in less than two weeks while carrying all of his supplies.  That definitely didn't make us feel any better about our sore feet and aching knees.

Bonus picture of a donkey:

Hola faithful blog readers! As the last post mentioned, our technology has been a little spotty over the last week, but we think the problem is solved and will try to be posting consistently from now on.

My name is Henry, but each of us should be posting at least once on here during our journey. We made it into the bustling city of Burgos today, but I'll fill you in on the first few days and someone else can take care of catching you up completely.

Well, we started hiking from a town up in the mountains called Roncesvalles. It was only a few kilometers from the French border, but the trail section coming before it is known to be especially brutal. The gossip among us pilgrims was that a woman broke her hip walking into Roncesvalles the day before we arrived. Needless to say, we were glad to have started past that treacherous section.

In Roncesvalles we had an incredible welcome meal in the Albergue (pilgrims' lodgings) complete with roast duck, sirloin, some kind of fancy paté, delicious fresh bread, and some Basque cake that the girls have been raving about since.

Some real nice, lush scenery in the Spanish Pyrenees. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's been mostly like this. Some snowy peaks off in the distance, but lots of lush forest until we got out of the mountains.

Day 1. Walking over rivers and through the countryside.

My buddy Peter and I after the rain stopped. Beautiful views (and some handsome young men if you ask me).

Dinner with the crew in Zubiri

A cool shot of a fountain in Pamplona. The bulls run right through this square during San Fermín.

On our first day of hiking, we made it to the beautiful little valley town of Zubiri. It had been raining off and on for much of the morning, but the sunny views from up in the high hills, looking down on the many little towns, made the hike well worth getting a bit wet. I'll try to get a few pictures of the day onto here, but don't know if it's going to work out.

On our second day we walked from Zubiri to the well-known city of Pamplona. Pamplona is best known as the host of the annual Festival de San Fermín, where the famous running of the bulls takes place.

The weather was perfect for a long hike, and the city was absolutely stunning. On our way through the city to our hotel, we walked through much of the old city. I couldn't help but imagine pilgrims walking the same streets and looking at the very same buildings hundreds of years before us. There is an historic fort in Pamplona- the city served for centuries as an important stronghold for the region of Navarre.

Our night in Pamplona happened to fall on the same night as the championship game of the European Champions League for fútbol. The game was unique this year because in the final game were two teams not just from Spain, but two teams from Madrid itself! It was Real Madrid (think the Yankees, Patriots, and Lakers combined all into one) versus the underdog Madrid Atlético. We decided we had to head into the city to catch the game with the locals to get the full experience.
Well, it started raining and we were pretty soaked by the time we found a place, but the atmosphere in the little Spanish bar was great, and the fans all watching the same small TV made for an exciting evening. Atlético took an early 1-0 lead, but Real tied it up just before it would have ended. They dominated the overtime and ended up winning 4-1 to the chagrin of our Spanish friends.

Well, that's all I have for now. The trip is going great so far. Parents, your kids are all safe and having a great time. Expect more posts in the coming days (we're hoping for one a day).

Until next time,
Henry Z

Hola from Spain

Hola from Spain. We've had some technical difficulties getting our posts published but hopefully our technology team is working those out. In the meantime I am posting this photo taken yesterday of the group on the medieval bridge in Puente la Reina. We have survived rain, thunder, lighting, hail, sun, rain, and did I mention rain? We were all rejoicing for the sunny day today and hope for the same tomorrow. There are blisters and sore knees and ankles, but everyone was hiking on the trail today and will be tomorrow too! Tonight we are in Santo Domingo de la Calzada and the students are out enjoying the town.