The next morning my phone alarm woke me up early.
Luckily no one else was in my cubicle (with 2 bunk beds) so I didn’t have to worry about waking anybody up nor about the fact my clothes and stuff were lying about everywhere on all four beds.
I quickly packed up and headed to the shower with my valuables.
It was then it became clear to me, what I didn’t realize the previous night, that from the toilettes to showers everything was unisex and everything (and everybody) was stuffed in one room.
And it was already crowded.
Well, what can I say, the truth is it is not the most pleasant thing for a woman, especially when she traveled a lot and didn’t eat properly…
And the shower cabins! Super tight, no place to hang your clothes or towel where they won’t get wet, and well, wet clothes are also not the most comfortable to hike in in October.
Whatever, it was still nice to take a shower.
I got dressed quickly, put my backpack on and followed the already many people heading outside, even though it was way before time to meet the others.
I didn’t know anyone else but Mauricio, so I didn’t know how I would recognize my other travel companions.
I just stood close to the entrance, probably looking very uncertain when I saw a guy, about my age looking equally unsure.
Somehow, we engaged in conversation and yes, it turned out he was a member of our crew.
His name was Jeremy, he was a year older than me, worked in a bank, and at this point of his life he felt stuck, that’s why he decided to walk the Camino.
While we were talking, the others had arrived (Mauricio and a retired Spanish gentleman, Manolo) except for one person, but we couldn’t wait for much longer for him.
All of us got into the taxi and headed towards Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
Crossing the Pyrenees
It was a nice 1.5-2 hour ride and once we got out from the city area the landscape was beautiful at this time of the year.
I would have enjoyed it much better though if I didn’t start to worry due to the realization that I’m locked in a car with 3 stranger men, plus the taxi driver, in the middle of nowhere (abandoned mountain serpentines).
I must be a very naive idiot.
Then I found some comfort in the fact that if I had to face something horrible, it could have already happened.
What if I accept the idea that I’m guided and protected by higher forces and I can trust life?
I tried to focus on this concept and on the beautiful view around us, and before I realized, we arrived at our destination.
We paid the taxi driver and all of us got a small Camino notebook with a pen as a souvenir.
Entering the tourist office 3 nice French ladies welcomed us and we started our registration for the pilgrimage.
We got our pilgrims’ passport with a nice stamp in it, an emergency phone number, maps of the Pyrenees, and a piece of advice not to start our hike today.
It was getting late, they said, and it was dangerous to walk the steep roads of the mountains in the dark.
And they also showed us a path on the map not to take under any circumstances in the autumn, especially not after it rains, because it’s slippery and life threatening (it has rained recently).
We kindly thanked them and decided to start then, in the afternoon anyway.
All 4 of us stepped outside the building and took a photo of our group, or as I called it, “the fellowship of the ring”.
I could have better associated the 3 men and myself, the only woman with Dorothy and her companions from the Wizard of Oz, or with the like characters from the Camino movie, but back then I had never heard of that, ironically.
The weather was perfect, my personal favorite.
Right after rain, the sun just came back out from behind the clouds, which I considered a sign that I am at the right place, the right time, doing the right thing, in perfect harmony with the Universe.
We walked across an ancient stone bridge, cobblestone streets and dirt roads higher and deeper in the Pyrenees…
In Munay,
Emese
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