Monday 21 March updated 22 march

I woke up with a sore throat, hopefully it won't be to bad.

Jose Antonio and Mercedes leave promptly at 8 a.m.  We do a light cleaning today. Jesus drops by to tell us he is  going to Logroño for a mass the bishop is giving. After he leaves we go out for coffee but find everything is closed shut. So we decide to talk a little 3 kilometer walk, hoping the'd be open when we got back. As we are walking we pass one of the area owners, he's doing the same walk we are. Sign that nothing will be open, and sure enough that is the case.

Today we are supposed to get another hospitalero to help with the anticipated Semana Santa rush.  All we know is he is from Pamplona and his name is Javier.  Wonder what time he will get here.

One bar finally opens and we go in to use the wi-fi and check our mail. I finally get a chance to make a reservation in Haro for 1-2 April at the Hostal Aragon.

My Castiliano is not getting better. I swear it is getting worse. I seem to be forgetting even easy words that I've used repeatedly. I had trouble remembering the word for honey today. Very annoying.

It is now 4 pm.  Our first pilgrim arrived around 2.  A mother daughter pair.  The mother is originally from the canary islands and was married to a Brit but now lives in Valencia.  They came in with Max who I don't think is with them but met them on the way.  A couple Germans came - one speaks English and Spanish the other only German which is unusual.  The Germans showered and then walked around in their underwear for a little while.  2 Canadian women checked only to discover friends of theirs were staying at a different albergue so they left. A vegan couple arrived and were happy to find they would get something besides pasta for dinner. Cullen made a big pot of rice and beans a la New Orleans the other night and we'll use it tonight for our vegan couple and 2 vegetarians one of which is our new hospitalero, Javier, who just arrived from Pamplona. We have 12 pilgrims, 2 of which have been hospitaleros in the past. We are also being told there is a huge wave of pilgrims on their way.

Today's pilgrims are:
Richard from Texas, USA
Hans and Hans from Germany
Maxima, Anna, Vicki, Roco, Angela, Raul, Nicango, Tamera and Flávio from Spain.

We are thinking of making arroz con pollo, my way.  That just means we are  using what we have in the house. Cullen is starting to feel crappy, his throat is getting really sore. :-(

The male vegan (Flávio Mayor Sponza) plays guitar and started out with "Blackbird " by the Beatles and I joined him in singing.  Then the Spaniards joined him in singing some Spanish songs.  Such fun and good memories for them.  The Germans were a little weird - after we had set the table for dinner they made a salad for themselves and sat down before the rest of us and ate it with a bottle of wine and when the rest of us sat down they ate some of our salad with us and drank some of our wine which is the meaning of "communal" meal!  Cullen's arroz con pollo was a big hit including the Spaniards.  Most everyone came to mass tonight including the two Canadians who had left earlier.  Not everyone came To the pilgrims blessing.  Cullen told the ones who didn't come that they could join us or clean up the dishes so four of the younger Spaniards stayed behind - too bad.  The pilgrims who join in really seem to get a spiritual boost.  When we finish we go to Bar Teo and had sol y sombras with a few of the locals and took a couple of selfies.  We had an older American from San Antonio stay with us and he resembled Dieter.  He is a deacon in the Catholic Church there.  Max Martinez from Madrid only uses chopsticks to eat!  What a great spirit he has.