Day 4 Ibiri to the Monastery at Ziotza

We spent last night in a great albergue. Part of what makes the experience is the other pilgrims,  and yesterday we ran into people we'd first met the previous few days.

Another thing that made it great was that the albergue had a bar, and it served gluten free beer.  Yes!

Our wristwatch alarms went off at 5:30 this morning,  but we didn't want to disturb everyone,  so we waited until close to 6 to dress, eat the breakfast we bought from the albergue,  and hit the road by 6:30.

It wasn't raining (yet), so we headed up the mountain hoping to make good time before the clouds remembered the latest forecast.  There was supposed to be light rain all day with heavy rain at 2 pm.

The first nothing town we reached had a bar which the guidebook said was never open.  They were right.  Tina said take a picture anyway. "That's the mountain we have to go over."  She was right. 

Once we got up there, closer to the clouds, you started to feel the precipitation.   On went the cheap blue ponchos.  Off went the ponchos.  On again.  All the while,  nowhere to take a break or have a snack.

After descending at least 1,600 feet, we arrived in the cute small city of Markina.   It was 12:30 pm already. 

The first thing we encountered was a tiny church, a hermitage.  Dedicated to Saint Michael, the hexagonal building was built around three enormous boulders.  This photo does no justice.

This is the view in the front door.  These rocks are twice as tall as a man. Maybe more.

We got to the center of town,  where I finally achieved oral gratification. 

Yes, that's a Spanish Omelet.  

To this point we'd only been passed by three young  French pilgrims.   As we sat in that cafe, lots of others arrived, hungry and damp.

This Camino was pissing me off as we kept realizing that if you wanted a bed, you had to make reservations in advance. That's not how the Camino is supposed to work!  This is supposed to be an exercise in faith, not tourism.

(Editors note: the Tour de France started yesterday in Bilbao and it's messing everything up.  On top of that this is a tourist destination and it's summertime.  The other Caminos go through depressed rural areas.  They're much happier to cater to pilgrims.)

We made a decision to play things  both ways.  Today, we arrived after another 2+ hours in heavy rain at a Cistercian Monastery.   They took us in.  When they run out of beds, they let you sleep outside on the porch. (We were ready to do that.)

In a half hour, we're going to vespers (mass).  After that, they're feeding us dinner.  I bought some wine and their homemade beer in their gift shop. (The beer's not making it to dinner.  We'll see how the wine works out.)

The monastery does this all for free.  You pay what you want.  They've been doing this for hundreds of years.  (We'll drop something nice in the collection box.)

I said we were playing this both ways. Tomorrow,  we've booked two beds and dinner at an albergue in a small town.  We just have to get there in the rain!

The day after that, I made reservations in Bilbao.

Tina will fill you in on how things turn out tomorrow.