Don't believe everything you read. The sign says it was going to be 18 km, the Guidebook said it was 21.9 km, and my Fitbit after we had done it said it was 27.9 km! Or 40,991 steps. That's a lot of walking. At one point we saw a sign that Zubiri was 7.5 km away. After we had walked a little way we saw a sign that said Zubiri was 7.7 km away. That may not sound like much to you, but at this point, we were a little tired. It was another brutally hot day, like around 100 degrees. Luckily a lot of it was through shady forests. 
We stopped for a cold drink in Espinal. I set down my pack and poles and went inside to get our drinks. I have done this hundreds of times on the Camino. Leea was off figuring out which way we needed to go forward on the Camino. I told where it was, but she didn't believe me. I know I the Queen of Lost, but it doesn't mean I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I just get distracted by sunrises, flowers, and cute dogs. lol
Anyway, after we finished our drinks we got up to leave, I put on my backpack and started to grab my hiking poles. They weren't there. I freaked. I really need them to walk with a bad knee. We searched the whole area. One of the friends we met helped us search. No poles, nowhere. There wasn't much we could do but keep walking. I knew it would be three days and a lot of hiking before I could get new ones. I kept racking my brain. I know I always set them with my pack, but it is such a repetitive motion maybe, I dad lost the poles earlier on the trail. But it really is something I would notice the minute I started to walk. Plus our friend who was helping us search said they were behind us and would have seen them. By the way, this new friend is from Houston and is walking the Camino with her daughter too.
I was just sick about the whole thing, but just thought, "It is what it is." We were pretty sure someone had snagged them. So we kept an eye out as we walked and planned to check the containers where Pilgrims are required to leave their poles at the albergues when we got to Zubiri. I was pretty sore I could identify mine because I had put Minion stickers on them before I left home.
Before we got to Zubiri we stopped a refreshment truck by the side of the trail for a cold drink. Did I say it was hot? As we were sitting there two women came up, bought some cold drinks and sat by us. At some point I looked down I saw Minion stickers on the poles. My brain must have been fried, because my thought was that maybe it wouldn't be so easy to identify my poles because other people were using Minion stickers. Duh! Fortunately, Leea's brain was functioning at a higher level. She cleverly thought to exclaim "Que Bueno! You found her poles, grabbing the poles off the ground. They asked, "Are your poles?" By this time my brain was functioning. I said they were and pointed out the matching Minion tape. So then they said they had found them at the coffee stop. They said they were Bulgarian and didn't speak good English. They said they had asked everyone at the coffee stop if they were theirs. But Leea said she saw them at the coffee stop and they left before we did, and they did ask us about any poles. Our friend who left after U.S. Said they did ask her either. But, we went on with the charade that they "found" them, thanked them and they scurried off.
I was so thrilled to have the poles back before we made the long treacherous downhill into Zubiri. We got to our Albergue, showered, washed clothes, rested, wrote blogs, had a yummy dinner with friends old and new, and now we are tucked in for the night.
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