Happy Birthday, Sophia and Ellie.

Deborah and Sue had their packs shipped yo Pamplona today. Deborah has been having hers shipped every day and Sue injured her toe last night. The walk today was not very hard. We left at 7 am arrived in Pamplona by about noon. The first part was a tranquil walk crisscrossing the Rio Args. The later part was along roads, but very pleasant. We crossed a couple of stone bridges along the way.

At one a man was fishing with his dog.

When we arrived in Pamplona, I was able to store my backpack in Sue’s and Deborah’s pension as we walked around the town. We went out for lunch at a wonderful tapas bar.

At 3:30 I picked up my backpack and walked to Susana’s apartment. She is my incredible Servas host. We sat and talked most of the afternoon. Then she went to a class while I went to a free concert in Plaza de Castillo. Susana met me there. She took me to see the Art Deco cafe,I runaway and to a church with a beautiful interior. Then we went to a building that used to be a castle. We were viewing a photography display when two men began playing a Basque wooden instrument called a Txalaparta. The sound was fantastic.

They played the instrument and the wooden stairs. How lucky we were to be there at that moment.

 

Go to the internet to hear the sound.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX0Gg33GIuw

Then Susana saw some people she knew and I met the photographer, Ricardo Spilborgh, who explained his reflective photographs to us. Wow.

We went back to Susana’s apartment where she made supper (fresh egg omelet and tomatoes with garlic) for us. We cracked walnuts and talked until almost midnight.

I am staying here with her for two nights. Tomorrow we are going to the local market and to a barbecue in a local town at the house of a friend of hers. I can’t believe how fantastic it is to stay with a Servas host.