Follow Your Arrow

The walk today from Ruesta to Artieda was almost meditative. I say “almost” because I took a road rather than the pilgrims’ path today, which allowed me to be more certain that I was going in the right direction and freed me from attending so closely to my GPS. The landscape kept me company: the Pyrenees in the distance, big brooding and gray clouds with dappled bits of baby blue sky, deep green rolling hills and green-yellow fields in the foreground. It was quite a lovely way to start the day.

After three hours, I arrived in Artieda – high up on a hill. The last hour was a steady climb up.

Artieda is a sweet little town with an albergue staffed by very friendly people. I had made a deal with myself in the morning that I would walk to Artieda, and if I could find a taxi, I would take it to Arres, my destination for the night, and if no taxi could be found, I would walk the necessary 20 kms. When I asked the friendly woman at the Albergue about a taxi, she smiled and said, “yes, we have two taxis in town.” I was relieved and at the same time, disappointed that I would not be walking the rest of the day. I was feeling really good. But my wiser self knew that it was best to be conservative and take it easy. So, I had a very nice omelette, looking out over the valley with the Pyrenees in the distance, and then took a cab with a very nice man who carefully drove me to Arres – another little town on top of a hill. I was grateful not to have walked to the top of another hill today.

I checked into my room for the evening, did the necessary bit of hand washing some clothes, and went to the only bar in town – at my pension, the Hostal El Granero de Conde. There are only two establishments in this town – the El Granero and a donativo albergue. There are no other services in Arres. The woman who runs El Granero, Marie Luz, seems to serve as the unofficial mayor of the town. With Marie Luz behind the bar and a few locals drifting in, I was afforded a short glimpse of Arres in motion on a Wednesday afternoon.

Soon after I sat down with my beer, a couple other people came into the bar and something about them made me know they spoke English, and they did. One was from L.A. the other from Oxford in the UK. We chatted a bit and then a few other pilgrims joined, one from Germany, another from the UK and one from France. It was fun to be at a table where three different languages were being spoken. At their invitation, I decided to join the other pilgrims at their albergue for dinner.

Dinner was prepared by one of the hospitaleros, and it was delicious: pumpkin potato soup to start, a green salad with tuna, and a stuffed baked potato, and for dessert, a version of tiramisu. Another happenstance occasion that brought me joy in today’s Camino.

This was also a good and restful day for me, physically. Tomorrow will include about 22 kms and I will be ready.