We left Uterga at around 9:30 am, reaching Muruzabal for breakfast at the Los Nagales restaurant and bar. Eggs and ham with bread & coffee. The trek was easy until Puente La Reina. That was when I experienced an incredible pain in my left leg (possibly due to the fall from yesterday). I limped into Puente La Reina. Given the pain, we looked for tylenol as I packed mine in the backpack and had none with me. The pharmacies were closed this day.

I managed to buy a walking stick to help me walk so that I am not leaning on my left leg too much. As we were leaving Puente La Reina, a local old couple encountered us. They told us of a land slide on the camino after Puente La Reina and advised us to walk the highway instead as it was dangerous. Our objective was to reach Cirauqui for the albergue Maralotx this night.

So we took their advice and walked the highway instead. Here´s what happened though. We were about ten minutes away from Cirauqui when a cop car flashed lights and stopped us. Two cops came out of the car and began questioning Marybel as she was the one who spoke fluent spanish. They told us that we are not supposed to walk this highway and we were going to get a fine for doing this. It was also a heavy find of $300 Euros per person. Marybel told them that if we got tickets for this, our camino will be finished there and then as we cannot afford to complete the camino with a substantial budget being cut due to this misunderstanding of spanish laws regarding the highway. Hooray for Marybel! She talked the cops out of giving us the tickets. One of them then walked with us to the entrance of the town of Cirauqui and also recorded our passport information. He told us not to do this again and will let us go this time. I believe that pilgrims must hold a special place in this culture and he might not have wanted to upset God too much by stopping pilgrims from completing an important pilgrimage. Thank you Lord!

On reaching Cirauqui, a local spanish woman recognising us pilgrims was incredibly helpful and kind. Maralotx is situated up on top of a hill so we had to walk a steep road to the albergue. She saw how tired I was and grabbed my hand and provided steady support right up to the albergue. I mean ÁLL THE WAY!! This is where I truly know how kind God is and how he loves us so. If only we see each moment as such. She gave us kisses and wished us ¨Buen Camino¨and hope that we have a pleasant journey.

We reached Cirauqui and met up with Craig again. We also met Mirabel, a seventy one year old woman performing the camino. What a strong woman for her age. There was also Engolf and his son, Lassi (pronounced Lasso) from Germany. This was our family for this night´s dinner. We shared stories, spinach soup, pasta with bolognese and a custard dessert. Oh, let´s not forget delicious spanish red wine. I am getting used to drinking wine with each meal.