Day 3: Arantzazu to Araia (July 4)

After a difficult mountain climb yesterday, we gave ourselves some extra time to sleep in this morning. Once we packed up, we had a quick croissant at the hotel cafeteria for breakfast and started our walk off with another mountain! This one wasn't as painstaking as the one the day before, and it was nice to complete the big climb at the start of the day instead of closer to the end. At the top we found a little church and a home/bar/restaurant where we paused to readjust our packs before continuing on.

From this place, called Urbia, we followed a gravel road past a few more homes, through a group of horses grazing by the roadside, and eventually to the far edge of the mountain where we could see down into a valley with expansive fields. From the road, we moved onto a dirt and stone path that led us downward through a very wooded area...now and then we had to cross little patches of mud and water by hopping from stone to stone, which was kind of fun! At some point in this wooded area, our way met up with the Camino Santiago, and we followed the same route for a while, though we didn't come across any other pilgrims. Our wooded path eventually led us back to the road where we travelled down a steep hill for a significant time. On and on along the road we travelled until we turned and parted ways with the Camino Santiago. From there we passed some swimming pools, which looked incredibly refreshing, and shortly our destination of Araia came into view. Today's walk was about 18 km.

Once in Araia, we had a little challenge finding our hostel...a little old man near the entrance to town was confused but sent us walking to the left; we consulted our GPS and continued that way; then we came across a younger man who may or may not have been smoking an illegal (in the states anyway) substance, and he directed us in the same way toward the stop sign; finally, a third man seemed to have no idea what we were asking about until Greg called it an agro-tourism hotel (yes, like Dwight's farm in The Office), then the man confirmed that a cousin of his is the owner. Finally we found the right place and met the owner who showed us to the guest quarters, which included three bedrooms and a kitchen for our use. Since we had a kitchen to use, we were excited to go to the supermarket and cook dinner, but we would have to wait, as the store is only open from 5-7:30 pm (they do have some morning hours).

With showers and laundry done, we sat outside for a while, picked up some food at the store for dinner and the next day, and enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta, chicken, and bread...we figured we should enjoy our carbs and the energy they might offer on the next hike!