Day Five: Puenta la Reina to Estella

Today my mind was filled with music as I walked -- all I wanted to do was sing! Mostly "Lost in the Wilderness" and "Climb Every Mountain" but also "The Climb" and "For Good" -- can you tell we had a few surprise inclines in our day? 

We left Puenta la Reina around eight this morning and headed over the beautiful pilgrim's bridge after filling our water packs from the city fountain. After checking the guide book this morning we thought that the walk today would be relatively flat, but the countryside must have grown some mountains because we started our day just like all the others: walking straight up. After about an hour or so of walking, we came to a tiny town where we ordered some breakfast and rested. Then onward and upward we went! We walked through some really pretty countryside filled with olive trees and vineyards -- the makings of some delicious future meals! After a small break for lunch we reached our destination of Estella. (Twenty four kilometers total today.) 

We passed a beautiful park on the side of the river and a few churches before finding our Albergue. We arrived in enough time that we were able to take a nap, shower, wash our clothes, and then venture out into the town. I had a delicious dinner of shrimp and chicken paella before heading to St. John the Baptist Church for the rosary and then mass. Thanks to Hermana's diligent prayer teaching, I am proficient in Spanish rosary saying, although those ladies are so quick I could barely keep up! The priest thankfully spoke slower, so I was able to follow along with the readings and his homily. Tonight's reading was the one where Jesus declared that it was time to put down his carpenter tools because it was time to do his Father's work. In the homily, the priest talked about how strong St. Joseph was to raise Jesus and also about how at some point in our lives, we are all called to "put down our carpenter tools" and "do our Father's work". I thought this was quite fitting for a church full of pilgrims, all of whom put their lives on hold to find what the Father had in store for them. 

Here are a few pictures from today: 

I think one of my pictures finally almost does justice to the beauty of the day! This is the Pilgrim's Bridge outside Puenta la Reina (it is also the picture on the front of my pilgrim passport). 

This is my "who put that mountain there?!?" exhaustion selfie. Not too bad for having just climbed a mountain! 

We were walking down a cobblestone road in the town where we found breakfast when this little old woman from inside her home calls out to us through her window "Pilgrims? Pilgrims?" And we said we were, and she comes running out of her home in her robe and curlers and starts telling us things in rapid spanish. All I caught was "go that way so you see the world". It didn't really make sense until we saw this ... the world in shrubs. 

Clean clothes!! 

And my bed for the night. 

Thank you all much for keeping me in your prayers -- you are all in mine as well. 

Buen Camino. 

Jena