20130618 Pilgrim Food

English: Map of Spain with Navarre highlighted. Español: Localización de Navarra respecto a España. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most of the pilgrim food is garbage, as you would expect. The goal is cheap and a lot. So pilgrim menus will be about 9 euro and they'll give you a salad or pasta, a meat or fish, flan, a bottomless bowl of bread and a bottle of wine. What I have enjoyed are the communal meals in the albergues that are between the section stops on the guidebooks. So the in between ones, often you'll find 10 or fewer beds, but the hospitelero will cook a big pot of beans, big pot of garlic soup, the ever-present bottomless bread basket, and plunk it all in the middle of a table with several bottles of local wine (usually they don't even have labels) and let the pilgrims just dig in. Those are delicious, and also very social. It's family style eating, WITH the hospitelero and his family and you get to know some very interesting pilgrims and locals. In week 2 I mostly stuck to the in between villages for this exact reason. You'll notice I try and get through the cities as quickly as possible, and that's because you don't find the communal meals in the cities. Instead, you find the albergues with 150 beds and you have to fend for yourself. That's fine too - I had amazing pinchas and pastries and black ink squid paella in the cities, but I like the communal meals better. 

The other thing I like is the local cheeses, especially in Navarra. I get sick of the bacon bocadillos you get at the cafes, so instead, the night before, I shop in the tiny tienditas for my lunch and breakfast for the following day. I buy a pot of yogurt and a fruit for breakfast, and a local cheese. I always look for sheep cheese, local, and if not local, then from Navarra. Then I stop at the panderia and get a baguette. And that's it! That's my lunch for the next day. Many times the albergue will provide breakfast, which is coffee, milk, orange juice, toast, butter, and a marmalade, and those usually cost 2 or 3 euro. 

By the way, I've now entered the Bierza, which I think is "valleys", and this region is supposed to have amazing local wines. I'll let you know!

I'll cross into Galicia tomorrow or the next day. Home stretch!

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20130602 La Rioja

Yesterday I passed out of Navarra and into La Rioja. What a difference! La Rioja has us going on the side of the asphalt highways, behind their waste plants, and in all of their neglected, bare cities. I'm trying very hard not to be too judgmental- I don't know the economic situation or cultural priorities. And while I appreciate the hospitality, I also don't enjoy feeling like an obligation.

Of course, as soon I start feeling too down on La Rioja, I pass a local who will always, always, always wish me a buen camino, and the old men always tip their hat. They can't be all that bad, right?

They say that if you have to skip any part of the camino, it should be the straight, boring Meseta. I haven't gotten there yet, but so far, I would recommend skipping La Rioja.

I'm feeling stronger than ever! And I am still having the most amazing experience.

Love you! Definitely consider doing at least pieces of this, even if its 6km at a time!

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