And since I have a few minutes...

I have a few spare minutes, so I´ll talk a bit about some other things besides a general update.

Weather: Has been mostly cloudy, today it rained, yesterday it rained, and it rained a few days ago as well. Temperature I guess I´d say would be usually around 10 or 15 degrees (Celsius), but since I´m always moving and I have a backpack on, I warm up pretty quickly, so the cold is only a concern in the evening when it is time to go out for dinner or something. But that is what my reliable green fleece sweater is for.

Terrain: After the Pyrenees, which were huge, it has mostly been rolling countryside. Small hills, lots of farmland, today was full of grapevine fields in particular. Others have farm animals - sheep, donkeys, horses, cows, etc. Usually there are villages scattered about at least every 5km or so, but today they were more widely spaced, and when I get to the meseta, they´ll be even further spaced. But bring water and snacks, and it is okay.

Food: Has sometimes been self-catering, sometimes restaurants. Restaurants in the vicinity of pilgrim hostels usually have a ¨pilgrim´s menu¨ for a price ranging from 8 to 11 euros, which can sometimes be really good, and sometimes fairly terrible. Has a starter dish, the main course, and a dessert, and is quite filling. Yesterday´s was great, the first one in Saint Jean Pied de Port wasn´t. Hopefully tonight´s will be good, since I don´t feel like cooking.

Languages: This has been the interesting part for me. I´ve had to draw on almost every language that I´ve learned bits of. The only language that I can think of that I know that I haven´t used yet is Latvian. I´ve used English, French, Spanish, Basque, Dutch, Korean, German, Portuguese, and even Russian (though that was only once at the Barcelona train station). Yesterday at dinner, the main languages that were spoken by the nine people at the table were English, French and German, but only one person spoke all of them. That lady (from Switzerland) also spoke the best Spanish, and was able to translate the menu for us (more or less). Usually the pilgrim menu is available in at least four languages (usually Spanish, French, English and German, but I´ve also seen Portuguese, Italian and Basque make appearances).

I´ve met four other Canadians - two French-Canadians from Montreal (travelling separately), and a couple that lives only half an hour away from my home in Canada. Reportedly there is also a young Canadian couple travelling the Camino with a baby, but I have yet to see them.

Right now, I want to go rest, but we´ll see how possible that is with the construction noise going on outside. Hasta luego!