Flechas Amarillas and Reunions

The Camino itself is made up of gravel roads, dirt farm roads, wooded paths, old roman roads, rocky paths, wooded paths, roads, sidewalks, etc. The camino is very well sign posted with many flechas amarillas (yellow arrows). These yellow arrows are painted on the pavement, walls, buildings, road signs, everywhere. In the cities you tend to see blue stickers with a yellow arrow pointing the direction --the are stuck onto road signs, lightposts, etc. There are also scallop shell signs pointing the way. The early pilgrims used to continue on to Finisterre (The end of the world--as it was then thought to be--where Spain meets the Atlantic ocean). While there, they would get a scallop shell from the beach and wear it home. The scallop shell is now the symbol of the Camino de Santiago. I think the camino was marked best in Navarra. In Rioja it was a bit confusing in spots but generally after you´d walk a bit, you´d see a yellow arrow pointing the way. I am now in Castilla y Leon which is the largest region in Spain.
The weather has been something. The last two days, although gorgeous for most people, were a wee bit warm for us walkers. I don´t know the actual temperature but it felt like it was about 80. It was probably in the low 70s but very hot. People who do this in the summer are crazy. This morning started out nice and cool and it has turned extremely windy. It is VERY HARD to walk with the wind blowing so strongly. I´m taking a little lunch break and hoping it will die down a bit. This is our third day of 20-22 miles per day and it is a bit tiring. Especially in the hot weather and now in the wind. I left Logroño after having tasty tapas and some wine the other day and Ina and I ended up in Navarette--the only ones there. It was great place. By the way, the showers have been great for the last few days. If I don´t complain, you can assume they are fine. We stayed last night in Santo Domingo de Calzada--a really nice town. The albergue was in a beautiful old building and was pretty comfortable. Most people walk at their own pace and not necessarily together. Until yesterday, the only people apart from Ina and the Norwegians that I´d encountered on the Camino were cyclists. Yesterday I passed about 11 people. I hadn´t seen that many before. Since we had long walking days we thought we might catch Christian but I was shocked when I entered the albergue yesterday as I did not expect to see young Juan. We figured he was halfway to Santiago. I had told Ina that we would never see him again unless he was injured--and sadly, that is the case. Evidently his knee is quite bad. He is very dissapointed and has had to take buses the last couple of days. Evidently his low point featured him lying on the trail calling his father to come and pick him up. His father told him he could be there in 7 hours so Juan sucked it up and hobbled to the next village. Toby made him a walking stick. Poor Juan. It´s like he´s had the life sucked out of him. He informed me that the older Australian couple had been preparing family meals for everyone at the albergues. I asked if they accomodated his Vegan life style and he replied, ¨No, I´m eating everything now--ham, beef, fish.¨ He doesn´t seem happy about it but it is easier than walking out to eat. Today he won´t even attempt to walk and we should see him at the next village. I was happy to see him but wish he would have remained well. He´s thinking of just going home. We also saw Korean Dana who the day before had walked a shocking 50 km. (30 miles) --it was not her intention but all the albergues where she tried to go were closed. As a reward though, she did get to meet Christian who cooked dinner for her. We also saw the Austrian guy from my second night. The friendly Australian couple cooked a big dinner for everyone which was really nice. We met Nigel, a violinist with the Bilbao symphony and finally met the Dutch couple whose comments we´ve been reading in all of the guest books at the albergues.
Today we might end up all split up. We said that we would meet in Villafranca Montes de Oca but I think with the weather many will stop sooner (someone here at the restaurant has just said it was raining--so that with the wind)...I don´t know. Juan was planning to take the bus there but I´m not sure the rest of us will make it. I¨ve walked about 15 miles already today and it´s another 7. I¨ll give it a go but the rest of the group is behind me (I tend to walk fast) so not sure that we´ll all meet up. I am looking forward in a few days to meeting up with my Spanish friends from Valladolid. I can´t wait. Since I am ahead of schedule I might even go and stay with them one night. Staying in a real house and not an albergue would be really something.
Hope you all are enjoying your breaks.
Not so amusing-things aren´t quite as funny when you are tired and hot.