May 28

          We left the Albergue at our usual time, but soon found a park bench where we could stop and eat our breakfast that we bought the night before at the market. The path was nice and easy, with few uphills. I am not a fast hiker, but I can walk at a pretty decent pace, given that the uphills aren't too steep and don't slow me down.
          Around noon we had already gone 20k, but had another 10k to go before reaching Najera. We stopped at a bar on the side of the road for sandwiches for lunch. After lunch we ended up walking behind a guy who sang as he walked. He seemed really joyful about the walk. I would like to seem that joyful as I am hiking. It got hot again and we could not find another place to fill up on water, so we moved slower during the last few km, but eventually made it to Najera.
          The Albergue was fairly nice. It was a big building crammed with blue bunk beds. It sort of reminded me of a little boy's bedroom... if there were about 80 boys and they snored and were only seen walking around in pain or massaging their feet. Sorry, terrible metaphor. Caleb and I did our laundry and took showers before heading out to explore the town. I finally found a pharmacy where I could get something for my feet. I think it might actually be aloe vera facial lotion I ended up buying, but it was difficult with the language issue... I am going to try it anyway.
          While walking around we found a door painted like the entrance to Moria in the Lord of the Rings. I walked up to it and said 'friend' in every language I knew, but nothing happened. The fantasy nerd in me was a little more upset than the realist in me thought she should be, while the optimist was happy that anyone cared to paint the door at all. The pessimist thought this internal argument was ridiculous, while the obsessed reader just wanted to go back to the Albergue and see what happened next in the Scorpio Races. The obsessed reader won. We went back to the Albergue until dinnertime.
          For dinner we visited a cafe that was serving pizza. Each individual pizza came with its very own cutter that resembled an axe. I appriciated this because I have always thought that pizza eating should involve more weaponry. After dinner we visited the candy store to buy gummy worms and then the suprmarket to buy breakfast for the next day before making our way back to the Albergue for the night.
(Written May 28)