pamplona to ?puente de la rienta?...vitamineral green..and what can i send to myself in santiago...

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE TODAY. so nice to have sun for more than a few minutes, unlike in ireland. and way longer days too. about 8 am to 6 pm. in ireland we were dealing with 9am to 430 pm. what a drag. cold, but 45 or 50 in the sun.


made it the 20 km to puenta today. basically had to because looks like most of the albuergues in between the 20 km marks are closed for winter. i wasnt actually tired, but my feet are killing me... i spent a good part of the trek trying to decide what items i will mail to myself from here to pick up addressed to me at santiago... which brings me to : whats in my pack... : i dont think i have a normal pilgrims pack...here are some of the things that made it in.... --some of which will soon be going out in the mail to myself :p....
portable dog crate...yes. a pop up dog crate. was hoping this would enable me to get into hostels with dog but its just too much weight and seems like its going to be ineffective anyway... at the albergues tonite she was like ¨"no dogs. dog in garden. you inside. i initially had told her i had a tent and could i set it up in the yard and pay to use showers and kitchen. i kept insisting dog would not sleep quietly outside so i would sleep with her. she thought i was NUTS... well, we´lll see tomorrow morning if we totally Freeze tonite.. shes actually quiet at the moment after barking for a while she finally gives up but i will have to go back out for the night. i wish she wouldnt bark
various food-snob items: a small bottle of olive oil made it in, as did himalayan crystal sea salt with herbs, a bunch of nuts and raw chocolate, a pound of seaweed, some chia seeds, herb tea bags, and a few random other things. worried about nutrition so i packed the stuff...im not sure how people survive on the camino on just rice, bread, pasta etc, but others seem to be doing it.. oh yeah and VITAMINERAL GREEN.... the jar weighs about TWO POUNDS. my whole pack is only supposed to be 10 kilo.... but im not ditching that stuff... at the last minute i ditched a bunch of coconut oil vaccuum packs in the car. regret that one though. quick energy.. .
also in kristen´s pack... too much clothing,, namely a pair of huge, lined snow pants, ALSO getting mailed to self... i think id rather suffer in the rain or snow for a day or two than drag these pants all over "just in case". tent. sleeping bag. a bunch of those silver ¨emergency blankets" and yeah we are using them, both over and under the sleeping bag... also a small amount of dog food...yeah, that adds weight too. almost gone at least. i forget what else but i feel like i have some other unusual things in there too.. anyway...

todays trek was rather hard... much uphill, and through this clay-like mud that LITERALLY doubled the weight of your boots. and everytime you scraped it off it just stuck on more as soon as you walked... lovely scenery, lots of paths, rather than roadway...
and, BONUS: my dog still doesnt know how to heel properly most of the time. this actually totally came in handy today :p she acutually helped pull me up hills :) i spent most of the day with a spanish couple (thank goodness im not the only girl now like last night), and the guy asked to borrow grainne to help him get up hils :p id say grainne weathered the day better than i did...she was still bouncing by the end of it...of course she wasnt carrying anything.

ok have to go. time almost out. have to store up those one euro coins. only had one tonite. hope i can find somewhere to mail stuff to self tomorrow. bet i wont even be able to walk tomorrow but they only let u stay one night in each place so they basically kick you out and force you to go. sort of wish some of the in-between ones were open so not forced to do 20 k a day but doesnt look like a choice. on teh other hand, you might as well be walking. just easier if feet didnt hurt!

nite all

k