August 12 To Pamplona

As we drove out of Madrid, we were first struck by how little suburban development there was. The landscape was rather open and arid with little by way of villages. What thoroughly impressed us were the solar farms and the wind farms we passed. Spain seems to be way ahead of us in the renewable energy sector. (In Pamplona, the recycling program is comprehensive with many recycling containers located throughout the old city and the program is heavily promoted).

The roughly 5 hour trip to Pamplona went by very quickly. Maybe it was our one CD we brought of the Beatles that carried us through (ask Caleb to sing “She’s got a ticket to ride” next time you see him). Or maybe that because kilometers are shorter than miles, it felt like we were covering ground more quickly. Whatever the reason, we were delighted to get to Pamplona by nightfall.

Jordan had mapped out direction to our “house” and we had the phone number of Elisa, the youngest sister of Virginia with whom we were swapping. We called her as we left the roundabout near the house…less than 5 minutes away. She was walking over to our place since she lives two blocks away. As soon as we turned into the streets of the old city, we were giddy observing the charm that we were going to experience living in this Casco Antiguo, the Old City, for two and a half weeks. We drove past a small plaza with a playground and saw seats all arranged for an outdoor movie to be shown that evening. Locals were making their way to the square with linked arms. It was almost right out of Cinema Paradiso.

We followed the directions to Calle Mayor, 11, our new address and found ourselves plopped out on the edge of the old city with Calle Mayor immediately behind us, and one way. So we gave it another go, and then another…feeling much like we were in Chevy Chase’s movie Vacation. “Look kids, Big Ben.” Finally on our third try, Elisa was waiting for us and waved down the familiar van.

She was lovely and helped us unload our car and drag it up to the fourth floor (no elevator) of our new residence. I then left Jordan to settle the kids into bed while she showed me the parking place (10 minutes away because there is limited parking in the Old City). Afterward, her novio met us and together we walked me back to Old City and she showed me where the family bikes were stored, and also where the elevator taking us down to the river was located. By that time, it was dark and the city walls were illuminated and the view beyond to the valley below and the mountains behind was spectacular. I was in awe of the destination we had randomly selected for our “intercambio” or house exchange.

I now felt that our vacation had truly begun.