DATE
2019.04.17

START
San Sebastián-Donostia
Koisi Hostel, Paseo de Heriz, 38

END
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Refuge Municipal, Rue de la Citadelle, 55

DISTANCE TRAVELED
~ 75 miles

TRAVELED BY
Foot • Train

PLACES VISITED
San Sebastián-Donostia > Hendaye > Bayonne > Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

HIGHLIGHTS

Another good night’s sleep, more weird dreams (that I wrote down!) that I’ll share with you at some point. Planning on continuing to keep a journal of them.
Said goodbye to Emma and parted ways with well wishes on both our journeys from here on out.
Smooth train rides across the board. Had a nice amount of time between each to do some minor exploring around the train stations.
Got a croissant chocolative in Hendaye.
Successfully pulled money out of a French ATM!
Worked a little more on “Sad Lion.”
SJPdP is beautiful. Walked around and got acclimated.
Found a bed in a hostel for 10€.
Sampled some cheese, pate, and foie gras at a local shop. Ended up with a pate sandwich (aka cat food sandwich). It was delicious.
Walked around SJPdP some more.
Got a few glasses of cidre basque.
Went to a mass in French and received a blessing at the end along with the rest of the caminantes in attendance. I understood very, very little, but the church was old and pretty. Plus, the old (I mean OLD) French women were adorable.
Started uploading pics from my trip. Decided to do them as IG stories and organize them as Highlights. The location tagging stopped working midway through the San Sebastián pics, so I’ll have to add to it later.
I’m excited for your departure. We’ll be in similar (if not the same) time zones in less than 2 days! That will be weird, but really cool.

CHALLENGES

I was stressed about the ATM/money situation. Very relieved that was resolved.
I haven’t made any connections yet with any of the other caminantes. Not too worried about it though. I’m feeling quite quiet and reserved today, and nobody has seemed too compelling.
I’m struggling with the languages. Particularly my own. I think once I got to France, I entered into “this is foreign land” mode, and for some reason, that has made it very difficult for me to initiate conversations using English. I have been tending to use Spanish, but then realize that’s not really helpful either. It’s been comical.
I’m in the shared kitchen/lounge area right now, and some Spaniards just came in making so much noise. The dormitory is the next room over and lots of people are trying to sleep, and it is quite frustrating. Their ringers are on super loud and their phones keep going off. Oof.

SOME THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO TOMORROW

Walking through the Pyrenees. This will be one of the tougher legs of the Camino elevation-wise, but it will likely be incredibly beautiful as a trade off. I’m looking forward to finally seeing what it will be like and how my body reacts.
Hopefully we can touch base once I find a place in Roncesvalles before you make your way to the airport. And if Lauren is with you, I’m excited for a potential over-the-phone meeting!