Jour 6 - 27 août: dedicated to this person because of what happened before sunrise...

We left Puente la Reina at 6;30 am. It was still dark, me in the lead. Suddenly Ju yells for me to return because someone is telling her we are going the wrong way. She doesn't understand more than that. The man, who has pulled to the side in a roundabout,now pulls his car right up onto the roundabout centre island. To make along story somewhat short, I listen and tell him we will turn around. We can't see a thing because it is pitch black. We only have our headlights. He jumps back in his car, goes back from where he came, parks, puts on his flashers, and waits for us. God bless this angel that St. Jacques has sent us. We could have stumbled around and been lost for a while, which brings me back to today's dedication - which is for my middle brother Jean-Marc. This is something he would never hesitate to do, help people, and especially those like us who didn't know we needed help. My thoughts were with this angel and Jean-Marc, during Day 6.

We hiked 22.4 km in 7.5 hours. I was alone much of the day, which was good. It tested my mettle, to be alone. Our hotel type accommodation that night was great. We three wanted our own space. No Symphony of Snores during the night. Only we found out Genghis Khan worked there and he was just a nasty, rude man. It was the first time I cried since I left Canada. He wouldn't help me so I just went back to our room and figured out a solution to our problem - getting our big backpacks to our next night's lodging - all by myself. I don't have fond memrories of Estella, but I did get my first good night's sleep. Plus we had a fan. The weather is getting hotter and hotter. We have to stop earlier each day.

Ju will be leaving us soon, as she is on a tighter schedule.  Here are a few jewels from Ju and I quote without quotation marks:
Why do you have to pick the hotel at the farthest end of town, every time? Where is my bedbug magnifying detector? You should write a book, Joanne, entitled, " The EffinThings They Don't Tell You Aboout The Camino" like all the men walk around with their boys hanging out. (She used another word, not so nice!) All Spanish towns look the same. I only hang around with you guys because you speak English. (Never mind French and Spanish as well!) I had to take anger management classes cause I stabbed my boyfriend with a knife. Well, he put his hand in front of the knife! Last but not least - there are four types of people who do the Camino:
the young and the restless; the old and the useless; the fat and the hopeless; and the stupid and fearless!

There - I am done with Ju stories. We have had so much fun with her. They say the first week is the hardest?  Well, she has made our hearts lighter by making us laugh. God bless her!

On a more solemn note, there are many memorials on the Camino. People have died,and their families have set up these simple crosses, as memorials.  Many were in the Pyrenees- because of weather conditions and hazardous passes. One simple cross just said - Fin del Camino,the name and the year.  How sad! Another had the same, but also a picture. He was a young Belgian man in his forties, and he died after climbing a long, but not steep hill out of the town of Cizur Menor.  It makes me stop, think and reflect upon my own physical fitness. There are many, many people struggling on this journey.  I have seen blisters that look like wounds.

We are happy, healthy and reasonably fit, Nancy and I.
Bonne nuit - my dear brother Jean-Marc, another good Samaritain on earth.  Papa would be proud of the good man that you are!
Love and gratitude from where I am.