We are in The town of Gernika, Spain, still in Basque country. A couple of our  peregrino  ( =pilgrim ) friends from Poland are sitting on a bench outside our hostel  lamenting the loss of their girlfriends. one a graphic designer, one a photographer, both newly unemployed, both dumped by their women. one has a sore knee. They covered 100 km in 2.5 days, but somehow have slowed up enough to be in Gernika with us tonight.

Other companions in out room at the hostel:
 Valentina, a tall and lovely young Veneziana 
 Nicole and Daniel, a middle-aged couple from the French Alps
 Yanna, the picture book version of a German freulein with blond pigtails and rosy cheeks
Vicente, a shy Spaniard

There are a few too many of us in one room. Daniel the Frenchman says we are "like chickens in a coop."

We are all tired from walking 22 kilometers today from Makrina to Gernika. after showers we feel much better.

Bob and I strolled through the town and ate pintxos, which is the Basque version of tapas. I had the best one yet tonight: a fresh slice of the local bread topped with a slice of Spanish jamón =(the best ham you could imagine: a harder, drier version of prosciutto, sort of) and a slice of a cured green chile pepper and a local goat cheese and a sweet sun dried tomato). 

  Gernika is a town with a shocking past.  in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Franco hired German aircraft to bomb the city, since they were on the side opposing him,  and we're Basques to boot, which he didn't find very appealing. This was (I think) the first air strike ever ( remember planes had not been around long in 1937.)

Most of the city was destroyed utterly, and many civilians were killed.  This disturbed Pablo Picasso so much that he painted his masterpiece Guernica (Guerra in Spanish meaning war),and subsequently left the country and lived in France in exile until Franco was gone.

After winning in the civil war, Franco oppressed the Basque people, prohibiting the use of their language called Euskara and their self-government. this did not go over well.

From what I have leaned here from the Vascos who have talked to me, they do not consider themselves Spaniards , and find it incredibly important to maintain their own culture and identity separate from the greater Spanish culture.

It's very hard to get Wi-Fi ( here pronounced "wee-fee") so I can't post enough here. There is an unbelievable amount of stimulation here, and enough happening each day to fill a book.