I arrived here in logroño the night before last and getting here has been almost as much of an adventure as being here. At the beginning of my walk from los Arcos I realized that our trail was following (more or less) this road that had smooth pavement, low traffic (it was winding enough to keep cars at a low speed) and all downhill. So I took my skateboard off my back and took the ride. It worked out perfectly and after a cup of coffee in Viana I felt more than ready to walk the next 8-10 ks into logroño. So I’m walking along and notice a similar rode situation except even “better” because this time it is a rode for tractors in the middle of a lot of wineries. So I try my luck again and take this downhill cruise but after 3 kilometers or so the road starts to trail off. This ended in me getting spat out into a major freeway and kicking my self as I walked along the guardrail all the way to the center of logroño. Amongst arriving in logroño however the times have been amazing. I always look online to see any possible skate communities in the places the Camino takes me through and in logroño I saw that there is this place called the Del mar skate house. So, after getting settled in I went out to find it. Luckily it was only a 10 minute skate from the alburgue I stayed in. When I arrived there they had a bar so I ordered a cup of wine since logroño is apparently known for its wine. The bartender laughed at me saying “ooooh American comes here and wants wine.” At first this made me feel uncomfortable but 15 minutes into skating with these people I felt like I had known them my whole life. I have never seen a skateboard environment containing so much positivity and energy nor have I seen skateboarders specifically this “Paublo y Paublo” duo skate with so much energy. Every time they would drop in (we were skating a half pipe) they would let out this huge rebel yell and just fearlessly charge. I mean really going fast. It seemed to me like the only thing that mattered in their skating to them was the energy and speed and everything else was pure improvisation and ultimately a result of the former. I had an amazing night skating this ramp with them and so I went back in the morning. When I went back I found out that they are also instructors. They run a skate school out of the park for young kids in the mornings and then they skate and party in the evenings. As I asked them more about it they told me that they were all childhood skate friends from elementary school on and that logroño always had a meek skate scene (it was really only their group of friends that did it). Then, an older surf head built this park as a sort of mid life crisis thing (this is how they described it). He wanted to do something with the money he had saved to give back to the communities he loved. So he constructed this small indoor skatepark (really it’s only a small 4-6 foot deep bowl) and stocked it with all the skate gear anyone could need, an espresso machiene and some booze. However, apparently the owner is a little crazy and really has some drinking problems so the running of the shop is left to all these kids around 18-25 years old. I didn’t ask how the money works of course or any of that but one thing that anyone could notice is that the money is obviously secondary. This was a community built off of family and friendship if I’ve ever seen one. So we talked more and more and I must say that these were the most hospitable people I think I’ve ever met in my life. I asked if they knew where a laundry mat was because my clothes where stinky and one of the Paublos (the older one with the van) immediately said oh I’ll just take it to my place for you and help you do laundry and then this kid Iñigo immediately offers a fresh pair of socks from his backpack. I ended up going to a birthday party for one of the kids (actually the one that made fun of me for ordering wine, his name is Sebastian). The party took place at the older Paublos house which was in a smaller village about 15 minutes away but man it was quite the house. It was up on this hill with a beautiful view and we went to the store and got all the meat we could to cook a huge bbq in the fire pit. This Paublo was an interesting person. Apparently he lived out of his van in Amsterdam for two years just cooking out of it. Also the van had amazing artwork all over the inside and splatter paint anywhere there weren’t drawings. I asked about these and Paublo said it was his friend who lives in Barcelona and does graffiti “but the cool kind”. However, Paublo warned me that he’s a crazy man that has a “dark side”. I don’t know what I’ve experienced these past two days but it is some sort of blessing because I can’t explain to anyone how excited about life I am in this moment. Good people are the best pain killers.

I made it to Pamplona via bus two nights ago and walked from Pamplona to puente la reina. I was very pleased to find that every town I passed through had pavement I could skate on. I did find a skate shop and park in Pamplona and I met some local skaters however in the smaller towns I have had a hard time. When I made it to Puente la Reina I asked a boy if there was a skatepark near by and he said yes just take this road “sobre la colina” (over the hill) and it will be to your right. So I skated up this hill but it just went on forever and before I knew it I was on the freeway. So I stepped over the guardrail and continued to walk up this hill. It got to the point where it wasn’t even worth it but I didn’t want to put in all the effort for nothing. Then I came to the next town mañeru is what I think it’s called. I asked a couple of people and the only thing that is there is a covered concrete soccer field. I walked all the way back to puente la Reina kicking my self that I didn’t at least bring my backpack with me and stay in mañeru. Today I am very sore to say the least.