After checking in for the night at the hostel, we collected our backpacks which had been transported from Valcarlos that morning to the storage room here. What a relief! The backpack arrived as packed, nothing missing and here in Roncevalles as promissed. We took to our assigned sleeping areas to drop them off in the locked storage area next to our beds. Later that evening we were joined by a very nice man from Germany.
It was still early, Vicky, Rosemary and I decided to explore and look for food . It did not take long to find a nice café. We found ourselves in a crowded and lively café sitting near the bar with standing room only. Our waiter brought the menu which surprisingly listed familiar dishes, like hamburger only with a slight change an egg covering the hamburger patty. In addition, another type of burger was also listed, a “colt” burger. Yes,it is a burger of horse meat. No thank you. I would rather ride than eat the meat of a horse. I was later to find that horse meat is not an unusal dish on Spainish menus.
After drinking a thirst quenching beer and eating our dinners, we left the café to return tired and well fed back at the hostel. All of us looking forward to going to bed after our evening shower without incident.
When we returned to our place for our night’s rest, we were bombarded by hordes of Spanish school children. They were gathered in kid clumps of ten or more jumping, laughing and yelling children. Later, we were to find out that the Spanish kids were on Easter Vacation. It was not unusual for the school children to walk part of the Camino during their vacation.
I was sure that the yelling and running around would last most of the night. It was not the case. The children went to mass for the pilgrims and returned somewhat calmed down for the night. The adult chaperones quietly instructed the children to quiet down and turn in for the night.
