The human body is amazing. After a good night’s sleep my legs felt much better. The angry red welts up and down my legs from heat rash had subsided to a mild blotchiness, and I wasn’t sore.
Today was the day I jumped ahead a few stages, to Najera. Jacotrans had picked up my bag, and I walked with my lightened backpack to the Logroño bus station to catch the bus to Najera about 35k away.
The bus station was in a super modern building that also housed the train station. It looked very similar to the Academy of Science building in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, with grass growing on the roof.
It was easy to buy my ticket (1€! For bring a senior). It was clean and felt so safe it was boring. I noticed that I wasn’t in high alert mode like I would’ve been in an American bus station.
I wonder why there can’t be a similar bus station in downtown Oakland. There’s the new, fancy Transit station in San Francisco, but nothing like it anymore in the East Bay. There used to be the Greyhound station but now it’s abandoned and covered in graffiti. I wonder if there’s even Greyhound service anymore? Maybe I’m just out of touch, and not a Greyhound rider. I do know that we are such a car centric culture that riding an intercity bus is not as common for most Americans.
We boarded and off we went out to the highway, and swooping back off the main road about 15 minutes later into the small town of Najera.
I saw Najera with maybe more open eyes than in 2013. This time it looked tattered around the edges. Maybe COVID had not been kind to it. Lots of graffiti and closed stores. Or maybe it was still early in the season? It wasn’t overflowing with pilgrims like I remembered it. But that sparkling river still runs through it. That still felt kind of magical.
I hiked through the quiet, narrow streets to find my little hotel, La Ciudad de Najera. It was on a street that dead-ended into the red cliffs that backstop the old town.
The guy behind the desk was very helpful. He reminded me of someone I went to seminary with. Tomorrow I was going to make an even bigger jump ahead, to get in position to arrive in Burgos when Hale arrived on the 28th.
My Spanish worked well enough to have a discussion about calling a taxi for the morning. He made the call and I balked a bit at the price, but decided to go with it. I also had to call Jacotrans and arrange a longer than usual bag transport. That went ok too.
My logistics set up, I went out to visit the Monastery de Santa Maria Real that I really wanted to see again. That’s where the figure of the Virgen in the cave is, which was so amazing when I saw it the first time. At 2:00 I walked over and the door was shut even though it said they opened again at 2:00. But when I really studied the sign I saw that they were closed on Mondays. Oh no, it was Monday! Of course I’d lost track of the days.
Just then I saw an elderly woman putting cat food into dishes and pushing them underneath a big iron door next to the monastery. She called for cats to come partake, and they did, lining up behind the dishes of cat food. I asked if they were wild, and she shushed me in Spanish.
I wandered down the street, intersecting where the Camino exits Najera. Who did I see but Mark and Linda, whom I’d last seen in Estella! Amazing! They were on their way through Najera to stay at the next town. We caught up for a few minutes and then they shuffled along their way. I hoped to catch them in Burgos when Hale and I were there in a couple of days.
After a sandwich at the bar on the dusty square, I wandered back down by the river. Who should I see sitting at a cafe table but Dick and Sue from Phoenix. They invited me to join them and another couple from Pennsylvania for wine and tapas. I enjoyed hanging out with them and having someone to talk to. It felt funny at times to feel like the Camino sage, since I’d done it before and knew what was coming up ahead.
It felt too late to find dinner at that point, and no place looked appealing, so I went to a little grocery store and bought some cheese and rice crackers, and fruit. I had a simple meal in my little room overlooking the tile roofs, and it was just right. Took a shower and called Hale to check in, and packed everything so it was ready to go in the morning. I was scheduled to meet the Jacotrans driver outside at 7:15 since this was a special request, taking it about 70k up the Camino to Ages.
Tomorrow felt like a big day, taking the long taxi ride and walking 20k from Villafranca de la Oca to Ages.
One Footestep at a Time 