Sunday, June 29, 2014

Camino 2014: Day 0.8 Paris to St. Jean Pied de Port (Lanie)



We were up and moving at 6:30am. We went to bed at around 1am so I felt like I only slept for about 10 minutes. Haha. I got a bad sunburn yesterday when we were sightseeing and the hot shower made it burn so bad that I almost screamed. Hopefully it won't hurt with my backpack on tomorrow. Mimi's almond lotion is making it a lot better though. It'll turn into a lovely golden tan. 

We left at 7am to the trolley-like bus and rode it to the metro that would take us to the airport. We only waited about half an hour and then boarded. The flight was 1hr 25min and it went by so quickly! (probably because we didn't leave the country :P) Us three girls sat together in one row and just journaled and ate some snacks. I had two cheap sandwiches from the market and an Arizona green tea. Wasn't too bad! 

We landed after what seemed like barely an hour. We took bathroom breaks and waited outside for our ride. We each paid 16€ to be driven to St. Jean where our first hostel is. It was a pretty long ride but we all slept on each other the whole way up. We slept like dominoes. Emily slept on me, I slept on Mimi, and Mimi slept against the window.

We arrived in St. Jean and paid the nice lady. The Camino office wasn't open yet so we walked around, explored, and took pictures of the view. At this point, I was insanely excited. We start walking tomorrow! I am also nervous about how hard and hot it was going to be. When the office opened, we made our way inside and took a seat in front of the people who worked there. We paid 2€ for our pilgrim passports and 8€ for the hostel. We also got our very own shells to put on our bags which was my favorite part! Mine has some yellow on it and all the weird edges and spots make it unique and not like any other. :) We stayed in a room downstairs with 3 bunkbeds and a bathroom in the hall. It also had an incredible view. We had a roommate from Australia named Alex and she slept below Mimi. She was super chill. 


After we got settled in, Mimi, Em, and I struggled to find a market because nobody spoke English. We stopped and asked two girls who looked our age and they had no idea what we were saying! So we started playing charades to see if they could understand. After Emily acted out pushing a shopping cart, they sort of understood and pointed us a direction. We didnt get very far with just that little bit because we didn't know where to stop. So we stopped in an information building and a lady who spoke some english gave us a map and more specific directions. We finally came to the market the lady had told us about called Carrefour Market and we all bought some snacks to last us throughout our first walking day. I bought a box of Belvita crackers, four apples, Haribo gummy crocodiles, and Toblerone chocolate. Yum!!! I'm all ready and stocked up for tomorrow. Its going to be hard, but we can do it! Now I shall go organize my bag, nap, explore, and go to bed. 

¡Buenas noches! 
Lanie 

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