Ostabat: the real Basque Pays.
Leaving Navarrenx by the old city doors was like leaving old San Juan by the old doors. Two cities with great walls as fortifications.
We did not sleep last night. The Antilles party went all night at the plaza. The heat wave helped with the ambiance to be in the Caribbean. Many of the musicians were from Guadalupe.
I went to the church concert. The theme was Alleluia. The choral sang over ten Alleluias. The second one was from an American Composer, Randall Thompson. I invite you all to listen to this piece.
I leave the concert earlier. Well concert started at 9:15pm. French people eat at 7pm. I like to be in bed by 10:30pm.
I started walking today at 5:30am. I have 43km in the agenda. It was very dark, but the night lights on my forehead helped me to navigate very well.
Navarrenx was very illuminated, until I hit the village of Castetnau-Camblong. It was very dark there, but beautiful paths.
Have you heard barking deers? I heard them all morning. I have like 15 in the fields. They barked. I have never heard that before.
The sun came up at Charre, when I saw the first tobacco plantation. From there on, there was absolutely nothing. No food, no water! If I move to France, I know where to open my restaurant.
I reached the village of Aroue/Arue by 11:30am, but did not entered. Something good about turning on this road at this point was the gentle breeze. There were so many ups and downs on the hills. At Benta, I started to get thirsty. I had eaten fomage and an apple from a tree that was planted by the French pelerin commission. Without water, it was a torture. I had to eat my lunch at the shade of a house by Casabonne. When I was eating, the post arrived.
400 meters before Larribar, I called in a house, and the women refilled my bottle of water twice. There was a water station at Larribar too.
Passing by Larribar was interesting. An old man ,with dementia, had came out of the house, and had took his cloths out. Oh my! I just kept walking.
Passing Etxartea, a man passed by me very fast. But because I like to run the ascendings, I passed him. He never saw me again.
It was graduation day. The test of the Le Puy Way was in front of me. Today was the last day of the French tour for me. There was in-front of me, the tallest test of the Pyrenees with all the possible challenges in front of me. I just said, after 24 days, it is nothing. I took it as a champion, and forgive my humility. I was light speed! The experience was amazing! Then of course, if you go up, you must come down! A dog came from no where and starting barking to me. It was frightening, but I just kept walking.
I arrived to an old church, the chapel of St. Nicolas at Harambeltz. There was water there.
Arriving to Ostabat was impressive. The path took me to an old walk. It was full of Sheep. The temperature was so high that there were all looking for the coldest place. I have the opportunity to touch them. The lower part of the village was covered of manure. The first gite on the road did not look like a gite, but a barn for cows. I follow the path and took the to uptown. There were so many pelerins buying groceries for tomorrow. I asked the lady at the grocery store for a place to stay, and she sent me next to the church. The gite was full, but there was a bed for me. The roommates told me that I had to call the restaurant by 5pm , if I wanted to eat. Mercedes offered to call the restaurant.
At 7pm we went to the restaurant and had a great soup. It tasted like Puerto Rico. After the soup we had pasta with some meet, that tasted like Puerto Rico. What is happening here? I think I am Basque.
After dinner I went to the other restaurant to have a drink with Cecile and Clement. It was interesting. They eat the same. The family at this restaurant was so nice: Daniel, Marianela, and grandma. I told them that I was from Puerto Rico, when Daniel said: everyone from this village moved to Puerto Rico.
This is a precious beautiful region of France. It is forgotten in time. There are few residents and they have mass every month and a half. One priest, nine parishes. The owner of the gite told me that the next time I pass by I should tell them that the church should be opened for mass. That was sweet!