more pics

vitamineral green goes bye bye...well, the jar anyway. about 4 days in, in lorca VMG went into plastic bags and the lovely amber jar got donated to the guy at the coffee bar. at least i didnt have to pitch the jar. i liked the vmg better in the jar cuz it kept it fresher, but this baby just had to go.













below and to the left is churchyard in lorca where we spent our 4th? or 5th night. turns out if i had gone up to the bar, we could have unofficially stayed inside at a closed albergue. ah well. the spot wasnt too bad. but i DO hate sleeping in the tent. i really actually hate camping. i love outdoor "stuff" but i hate and generally have hated for a while, sleeping in tents. i hate how everything is damp when you wake up. hate that. i dont mind roughing it a bit but i really need a real bed, a hot shower, and to be inside....and, as i have learned on this trip, preferably in a HEATED structure if it is winter/cold! i dont need lectricity but gosh i hate sleeping on the ground in a tent. ... anyway, it was a nice churchyard and it felt safe. generally if i have had to pitch the tent in villages where there is no albergue, i aim for churchyards. they usually feel safe. vendosa did feel dodgey though it was so isolated. but this one was nice and with beautifulviews and the sun was out though chilly.

left and left below drinking from the free wine faucets that are there particularly for peop.le on the camino. i guess most people fill their waterbottles but i knew that amount of alcohol wouldnt do me any good. but i had to at least have a sip. interestingly enough though, i have foudn that while i usually cant drink anything at all, even a half of glass of anything, without a hangover the next day, on the camino i seem to be able to handle some alcohol without a problem. must be that its all getting burned off or used up or something with all the hiking.

where i pitched my tent after the second day. yep these pics uploaded backwards in order. it was easy enough to peg the tent here despite the cement cuz the cement had cracks and the mortar in the walls was crumbling. my tent was invisible from the road. pretty cool. but i STILL prefer INSIDE, in a REAL BED

gro was totally ready for bed at the end of our first few days. now, not so much. although if its a windy day she tries to hunker down in the tall grass and make "beds" on the side of the road...she thinks she will sleep there till the weather gets better....

below. first night.puente la reina we had to sleep outside cuz no dogs. i had nevr even put the tentup before. it was suprisingly easy but i couldnt believe i was going to sleep in this tiny thing!

below. this mud-thing began first day but continued through much of first week and i still encounter it on occassion. sticky mud that resticks with the next step when you knock it off and LITERALLY adds 1-2 pounds of weight to each boot. makes you stronger i guess and ive pretty much given up on trying to knock it off now when i do encounter it, but it made the first few days VERYdifficult. the second day i trudged through several km of the stuff and it took hours. i couldnt believe when i had been walking for like 5 hours and thought i was near our destination and i came across a marker that said we still had 15k left....we´'d only gone 5 k in 5 hours...all through the sticky mud. i knew we could no way make it to the next albergue so we had to pitch the tent along the way.

Below:SUN!! near pamplona and companion for first week or so, ALONG with WARMTH. now we get sun some days but no warmth. i was SO craving the sun when i took this pic. think i was vit D deficient from being in ireland, seattle, ireland. no sun in either when we had the bad summers in ire.

to left path out of pamplona. first day.

me and gro at end of firstday. feeling good but tired.

hmmm therewas a LOVELY pick here of the path through a stone bridge or something, one of best pics. but i just deleted it by accident and cant seem to get it back. will have totry next time i have access to upload again. darn.

OK im finally at a computer that is recent enough to upload photos. i wanted to try to edit previous posts to put photos where they belong, but the hospitalero is being kind enuff to let me use his computer and i dont want to stay on it all night. so i guess theyll all go here for now.