Cestou necestou: Deba - Monasterio Zenarruza (en)

It is after all not THAT difficult to wake up at 6 and start walking at 7 in the morning. One can get used on that...Well, the truth is that the people around you make quite a lot of noise from 5 in the morning...But because I had a long and difficult day it was a very good idea to start early.

The most characteristic feature of today was the solitude and beautiful landscapes.

In a village called Olatz I crossed path of one shepard dog (border collie) and stand for a while between the dog and its flock. But I didn't do it on purpose, the house was built on one side of the road and the yard was on the other...Anyway the dog didn't want to bite me, it just wanted to remind me that I shouldn't be there and should move on faster. (It gently placed it's teeth around my calf for a second...)

There is a village called Bolibar, yes, exactly, after Simón Bolívar. He even has it's little museum here. (The whole village has about 100 inhabitants.)

From the village it was actually just few steps to my next destination, the monastery of Zenarruza. The way took me up old stairs in the forest and soon I could see the monastery. It was a quiet place, surrounded only by pastures with sheep. Their little bells creating the music of the evening...

Here I met very interesting people and heard unforgettable stories. One of them is about a Danish man walking all the way to Santiago from the North of Denmark. Another one is about a fisherman from Andlucia who escaped from death by drowning and after that he had decided to change his life and walk to the Santiago. But he decided to take the way around all Spain, first walking along the coast to the East, than following the foots of the Pyrenees and later turning to the West to follow the Camino Norte. And here he was. A man who usually doesn't speak much telling me all his story, telling me much more, about the big change he is going through, about new way of living. Eyes wide open and listening to the heart are the most important features of it. He reminded me of why I am here, to search for this voice of intuition I am carying inside but usually shut it up with reason. I am here to let it speak...

Another very interesting person here was the monk who helped us, served us the food and talked to us. He was telling us the story of his life during our dinner and I was regretting a lot that my Spanish was so poor - I could understand barely a half of what he was telling us and even that sounded so interesting! I wish I could have understood much more...

Once sleeping in a monastery the evening mass is a must! Well, it was short so I could stand it quite easily. And it was entertaining, in a way. In any manner I wouldn't like to be irrespectful, but the youngest monk in the monastery (out of 5) is about 65 years old. The oldest, I have no idea. And they were, for example, singing during the mass... Well, it was..interesting :)

When we were leaving the chapel we found out the American lady sleeping by the wall of it. She was totally exhausted, so tired that she had no idea whre she was. We took her in, gave her food, cared of her. Later, when she was dry, warm and not hungry anymore she was much better. I don't remember her name, but I remember that already in Deba she told me that she retired from the US army where she was working as a doctor of the pilost, going for missions with them and that she is having nightmares. Maybe she was just having some when we woke her up from the sleep on the porch of the chapel, she looked really frightened...

I don't know, but I was feeling a little weird
when they were watching me like this :D
Nevím, cítila jsem se trochu divně, když se na mě takhle koukaly :D
No sé, me sentía un poco raro cuando me miraban así :D

Beauty and solitude.
Krása a samota.
Belleza y soledad.

The view while resting by an ancient stone washery.
Pohled, který jsem měla při odpočinku u staré kamené prádelny.
Una vista que tenía descansando en una vieja lavadora de piedra.