From Jaca

Hi everyone,
I last left you last Saturday, now it is Wednesday for me. I am over the Pyrenees, saying si instead of oui and am drinking cerveza. I´ll tell you a bit of how it was to get here.
First of all, we walked to Morlas on Sunday. It was a crazy day. First of all on Sunday and Monday morning there is nothing open. No restaurants or bars or grocery stores. Nothing really. We had enough food for Sunday and Monday till noon. We walked until noon and stopped on a park bench to have our lunch, for me it was sardines on a bagette and apricots and chocolate for dessert. While we were sitting on the bench a woman walking her dog stopped to talk. She was English and said to me " would you two like a beer?¨ more than anything I thought. She invited us to her house for a beer and a tour of her amazing garden. We left he home after about an hours visit. About two hours later some people having a garden party called us over and gave us Pellegrino water to drink. Nice, seeing we are pelligrini. They also told us of a sheep festival in the town we were going to but they thought it was over at 5pm. Apparently at this festival you can eat lots of lamb things. We both liked that idea better than more sardines. I asked Dominique what the festival would be like, because of course I could not understand a thing they talked about. He said that the peoples in the town were dressing up in old clothes and the sheep would march through the town. I loved the image of the sheep marching more than anything. OK. We walked into town and heard a voice over a microphone. We thought the festival was going on longer than the people thought. So we walked over to the sound of the microphone and there was a party festival thing going on in what looked like a Kmart parking lot. We were walking around trying to figure out what was going on and a man came up and talked to dominique. Here is where I feel like the Gary Larson cartoon with the two panels one with a man talking to the dog and saying things like we are going to the park Fido and then you are getting a bath and then going to the vet etc and the dog hearing blah blah blah Fido. Blah blah Fido. I am Fido in this case. Dominique asks me if I want to have grilled lamb dinner for 11Euros. I say sure. Then they walk away to the man´s car. We get in. Dominique says he is going to drive us to the gite so we can wash ourselves and we can walk back. I say how far is it? he says it´s the man´s car. ok. We get left off and settle in and shower and start walking back. We have no idea where to go, Dominique hales a car. I hear "Blah Blah". He gets in the back seat and says "come on Mary". A woman drives us to the Kmart parking lot. Now there are lots of people. It looks like a church dinner. There are lots of tables and folding chairs. There is a truck playing electronic Donna Summers and Simon and Garfinkle music, with a little country western sprinkled in but all in a disco beat. I ask what is this? Dominique says he thinks that it´s a walking association and they are celebrating the fact that he sheep are walking to Bordeau for the winter. ok. People start to sit down, it is now about 8:30 and the sky is a beautiful pink. The music is now disco folk music. The dinner is served by kind of sexy looking church ladies. They put recycled liter bottles full of wine on the tables. They put piles of bread on also. Then they served the first course. It was a plate of cold meats. Fabulous. Next came the grilled lamb with a white bean side dish. The man next to me kept my plastic cup filled with rose wine. Finally, they serve cheese and fruit. By now it is late and dark. Dominique leans over to me and says I don´t understand a thing they are saying to me. They speak Bearnise. ok. Really now it is time to go. I mention to him that we have to go and he nods to the man next to me. Again we walk to the parking lot and the man sitting next to me drives us to the gite.
The next day we stayed at a priest house because the only hotel in town was closed. I really didn´t like the whole idea. It felt so irresponsible to go on to that town without any idea of where we would sleep. It made me think about asking for help, and what that means to me. I decided that I can accept something offered to me, I can ask for something if I´m in trouble, but I don´t like to assume that we can knock on a door and someone should help us. That is what we did. Dominique says see Mary, things work out. I hated doing that. The thing that made me feel better was so little. When we were outside eating our dinner and the priest came out. I gave him a cookie. He accepted it like it was a treasure. More and more I am hating not having any input on decisions.
The next day was the toughest of the whole trip. We walked 18 miles in a forest, up, and up and up. The trail was horrible, rutted and slippery. That night I called Erika and talked with Oscar. He said " I love you Nonna." That night I was so lonesome. I just wanted to see you all. I started to think about coming home early. I mean, really, I´ve accomplished a lot. Why not? The next morning I decided to listen to my ipod and put an end to Dominique´s constant talking. Benji and Alison made play lists for me just for this moment. I listened to "I am woman, hear me roar" and started to tear up, and walk faster. Then laugh. This day was up, up up too but through gorgeous little mountain towns. The morning was as beatuiful as the day before was ugly. Another song was James Brown, Get on up! It was perfect In the afternoon things got interesting. We were walking high on a steep river bank. There were tree tops at our feet. At times they path was washed out or no more than a foot wide. You just had to go quickly and pay attention. It was fun.
We stayed in a gite with another Dominique who speaks French and Italian, Dominique who speaks French and a little English, Heine who spoke English and German and a man from Denmark who spoke German and Danish of course. It was Dominiques 62 birthday, he bought champagne for the occasion. The five of us sang happy birthday to him in our respective languages and drank the champagne. Then we talked about the war. They actually feel sorry for American´s´but don´t understand why we don´t get rid of Bush. I didn´t have a good answer. All I could say is that things work slow in American politics. Usually, it´s for the best. This time I think not.
The next day over the top of the Pyrenees with huge smiles and today down again. It is so exciting to be in Spain. We are in a gite again, now with the two Dominiques. They want to cook dinner for the three of us and another man who I don´t know. But I like this man. He called me the petite American. Actually, I am getting a big head. These guys talk about me using words like tres sportif and they make a gesture which means strong I think. Blah blah blah Fido.
So far I think I´ve walked about 450 miles, almost halfway. I will try to get another map of Spain on the blog so you can follow me after Puente la Reina. I decided to go on...
The men have come back now and it´s time to get to work fixing dinner. I miss you.
Love,
Mom /Mary