Rest day in Estella

October 11, 2011

Rest day in Estella (pop. Between 14 - 15,000)

Estella , meaning "star", was founded in 1090 especially for pilgrims on their way to Santiago and they were encouraged to come back to settle there. I did sleep in and allowed myself a leisurely morning but my legs wanted to go. So, I decided to do the city walking tour which included hiking up to some castle ruins to get a great view over the small city and touring past old churches and beautiful parks.

Did some window shopping of the latest Spanish fashion and was liking what I was seeing. They like to dress very nicely in Spain. They are all about the shoes too. Every second shop is a shoe store. Sometimes side by side.

I found a lovely park by the river, and sat on a bench and ate some lunch I had been packing around. I had hoped to finish reading the book I was carrying and study a bit of Spanish.

And then along came Alfonso Antonio Costa, a Portuguese man but called Estella, Spain his home. Actually I only know this because these are the basic things people can communicate when you don’t speak the language. He spoke no English, and I no Spanish. I took out my Spanish – English dictionary to try to figure out what he was saying. He sat on the bench and took the book from me to look up words. What I learned about Alfonso was that he was 61 years old, divorced many years, 2 male children. He had been a barber, if I interpreted it correctly,  but was now collecting a pension of 1000 Euros a month. He just lived in an apartment on the other side of the river. Then he got to the topic of matrimony, husband – wife and pointing at himself and me. He would come to Canada and did I want to come over to his place...just over there .. pointing to the building. I am now saying “ No gracias, guess I better get going.” Seemed like a nice man but I wasn’t going to stop the camino for him. Lo siento, Sorry. I realized later that I did get to study espaniol that afternoon.  It just happened in a way I would never have expected.

I picked up some food to eat at a large grocery store, which is a whole new experience, and got laughed at in the line, by some teenage girls. I hadn’t weighed and stamped the price on my own bag of tomatoes. I didn’t know you had to and had a communication problem at the till. The cashier had to go and do it for me and it was busy, with a line up. The girls giggled at me and the cashier sort of scolded them. After that I learned to work the machine that weighs and prices your fruits and veggies before you get to the till.

I had a great little feast in my room and tried to watch some TV but all stations were Spanish. “Off to sleep cause the day off is OVER! And Don’t forget to take your Ibuprofen.”