Chula!

Most places I stay at in Spain ask to see my passport. The woman who did so today was funny. She didnt speak a word of English so I thought it was weird when she opened my passport and said "Connecticut". 

There is a Jai Alai cesta hanging on the wall so I pieced together pretty much every Spanish word I know to ask her where I could buy and authentic "pelota" (jai alai ball). 

Since this town (Markina - Exemein) is the epicenter of the Jai Alai world I mentioned that I watched a lot of it when I was a teenager. The two and two came together and I realized why she seemed interested that I'm from Connecticut. Her brother used to play at all of the CT frontons!  I asked if she'd ever heard of Aromayo and she said "the brothers?"  Made my friggin day!  For those of you who aren't Lyle, Dave, Bob or Frank, the highest profile players back in the day were Aromayo 1 and Aromayo 2.

Anyway, she claims that there are plenty of places to buy pelotas in the town I'll end up in tomorrow. I was already pretty excited about tomorrow's destination seeing as its named after a famous Picasso painting. Kidding of course, but I think the idea of walking into a town like Guernica will be a thought provoking experience.

This was just the fourth day on the Norte but so far it has been better than I'd even hoped it would be. It's extremely strenuous compared to any other four day stretch I've done but the combination of mountains and seascapes is outrageously beautiful.

There are lots more people on it then Montpellier to Pau. I even feel like my old unsociable self again, avoiding people!