Day 7 - Estella to Los Arcos

Respect. A few albergues posted notes to remind people to respect other pilgrims by lowering the voices, cleaning up the kitchen, etc. The albergue in Estella had one like that. Is it really necessary? Aren't we all grown up enough to do that automatically? Apparently not. Last night, one of the very loud Korean actually got admonished three times by the hospitalera to calm down in the kitchen. I have never seen that before, not even once. Also, for once the Americans are not the most rowdy, even there are a few at the same table. Of course we met many Americans who are very nice. Unfortunately, there were many others who did not represent their country well.

And then this morning, we walked past the Fluente del Vino, the wine fountain, in Bodegas Irache. I thought the idea was to take a little bit of wine using the shell that pilgrims have with them and drink from it. Today a young man from Poland carefully cleaned his plastic bottle with the water tap and proceeded to fill the entire bottle using the wine tap. By the time he was done, there were a dozen people in line waiting for the experience. No respect. Unfortunately, it seemed to have caught on when I saw other people with half bottle of wine along the way.

Lots of rules for the Albergue Isaac Santiago in Los Arcos. No going in to crowd the registration desk (they can only handle two persons at a time), all others have to wait outside the front door. You have to take the bed you are assigned. Apparently, people roamed around to find better beds. How come we never thought of that?

Shopped for grocery when they opened at 5 pm. Lots of people shopping. Fortunately we jumped in and started cooking before many of them were ready. Packaged rice today but they are surprisingly good with some spices. Also shopped for breakfast and lunch tomorrow for about 24€ altogether. I can get used to this.

Foot problem starts to creep in. I had a blister during the Camino three years ago. The skin bunched up just behind the toes and I felt it once in a while when I took long walks. I should have taken care of it one year ago when we first decided to do another Camino. I should have taken care of when we started to book the trip 6 months ago and I should have taken care of it last month when I can feel it after 2- hour walks. Well 7 hours a day is not 2 hours and it is now giving me problems. Doing it day after day is not helping.  I will get through it just like last time. Somehow.