After awhile I told Laurie that I didn't feel comfortable walking through these groups of men with rifles and shotguns. We turned around. Right after that, I could swear I felt pellets dropping on us. We had walked for about two hours before we turned around.
It was so beautiful out that we took a long way back. There were less hunters there so I was good. We did see a few other hikers out.
We stopped for lunch and then walked back home. We got back about 1:00. I worked on the puzzle for the afternoon.
About 6:00 we walked up to Itzian's house. We told her that we might come by. She wasn't home so we just walked back. The sky was absolutely beautiful. It had 360 degrees of colors; blue, pink, and purple.
November 3, 2003
Laurie and I were up and at the bus stop for 7:00. We needed to take the early bus because we had a long hike and the next bus wasn't coming until 9:00.
We took the bus to Orio which is about a 20 minute ride. We got off and then had to wait for a bus to go to Zumaia. We were going to hike from Zumaia to Deba, but since the tourist office wasn't open until 10:00 we couldn't get maps. So we decided to take the train to Deba and start the hike from there.
We got to Deba and went in search for where the tourist information office was. We walked to the area where the information center was suppose to be, but couldn't find it. Come to find out it was closed and in my Spanish/English language skills I was able to get my question across. The woman at the post office called some where and got some information. She told us where to go and I understood the first part, but not the rest. I asked her to write it down. We went in search for it. We had to ask a few people where it was. We finally found it. It was like a town hall. There were two women who heard us and they asked if they could help. They spoke English. We told them what we wanted and they explained it to the clerk. The thing was, they really didn't have what we were looking for. Finally one of the English speaking woman told us to wait and when she came back she had a map. It still wasn't exactly what we wanted, but it would work. It was a small road map of the area and it didn't have any foot paths on it. The other English woman told us what direction to go in and what town.
So we headed out. It was a beautiful day and it felt good to be out walking. We were mostly on the road. Once we got up in height, we had a beautiful view of the coast and ocean. Deba is right on the coast. Zumaia, where we were walking to is also on the coast.
After a couple of hours we arrived at a village called Elorriaga. The English woman had told us that we might be able to get maps there. Well this village looked like it only had a house or two and a bar. But it did have a map on a bulletin board in the village and we saw markers. We decided to take the trail. It was a beautiful walk and a great day. We arrived in Zumaia about 12:45 and we hiked about 16 kilometers. In Zumaia, we had to catch the train to Orio. Since we had taken the train earlier to Deba, we knew how to get there. Once we arrived in Orio, we had to wait for the bus for about an hour. They don't have many buses that run. We were back home by 3:30.
I started working on the puzzle right away. I wanted to see if I could get it done before we leave here.
So that's about it. We started a fire in the fireplace and I read and worked on the puzzle.
November 4, 2003
Today we took the later train because we weren't going as far. We changed buses in Orio and went to Getaria. This is also on the coast and again the tourist office was closed for the season. We did find the town hall and again I practiced my Spanish. It is funny because these people don't speak English, but when we went into the office, they had American songs on the radio.
We got a map and the man showed us the way. Again we were blessed with another beautiful day and beautiful views.
We got to Zarautz about 11:00. We decided to walk home from Zarautz since it was still so early. Before we did we stopped in a bar and had a few treats. Most of the bars have plates of all kinds of small portions sandwiches. They are called pintxos in this area, but also known as tapos in other areas.
We found our way through the city and back on the trail. We got home about 1:30. I went right to work on the puzzle. Laurie and I managed to complete it. Good thing, I might have wanted to stay another day.
The woman that runs the place came in to show a couple the place. When she was done with them we asked her for the bill. She then asked if we wanted to see where they make cheese. They make cheese from sheep. She gave us some to take with us.
This has been a great place to stay. It has been like a home. We got friendly with the man at the local grocery store and Itziar from the town hall and the people that own the place.
Tomorrow we move on. My bags are packed and I am ready to go. I just wish I didn't have to.
