Santiago Eve

I can’t believe that tomorrow I will be in Santiago! What an experience this has been.
Got up early this morning to catch the boat to Pontecessures. It left at 8:30 and when I walked down to the pier at 8:00 it was still pitch black outside. And no coffee shops were even open yet! I guess when you’re eating dinner at 10:00 your day tends to start a little later.
The boat ride was really beautiful and really fun. We sailed by mussel farms and shrimpers all clustered together, crosses out on little rocky promontories, went through large sections of watery mist where I felt like I was on a ghost ship…Many of the peregrinos that I have met along the way were on board. We took a couple of group pictures. (In the one above we have Sylvia and Natalia- my “A Cantina” girls, Noa from Israel, Martin from Germany, and Joan from Seattle. Her husband Mark was taking the picture). And it occurred to me that this has become a little community. Some whose names I know, (like Vidar from Norway who I met on my first day walking and seems I am constantly crossing paths with- he sings “Jolene” every time he sees me cuz that’s how he remembers my name), some who I have spent time talking to and some that I have just seen around a lot. But there is a familiarity and warmth with each other that is so comforting. Many of them were walking all the way to Santiago today, (that’s almost 30 kms- my feet hurt just thinking about it!) so it’s quite possible I won’t see them again. Others, I will most likely see in the square by the cathedral tomorrow. And we will all celebrate in our own way.
As for me, I think the duration of this walk has been just about right. Today as I was walking I found myself thinking, “There’s some sheep. I have enough pictures of sheep.”, or “Man, my feet hurt! When am I gonna get there?” The sense of constant wonder and excitement has faded, as it tends to do and that’s my signal to self that I need to take what I learned here and move forward to the next thing.
That’s NOT to say that I’m not thinking about doing the Camino France, which is twice as long. But if I did that, I would like to have some company at least part of the time, so who wants to go. ?😀. I think I could probably talk Grant into doing a week, but the other three are open…
But there I go getting ahead of myself! Let’s finish this one before thinking about the next.
To tomorrow- the end of a wonderful adventure!Read more