Stage 37: O Pedrouzo-Santiago

20 km/12.4 miles, about 58° all day, about 5 hours to outskirts of Santiago, 6 hours to the center
Planned an early start but all the bars serving breakfast on the main street near my pension were packed so I just traipsed off into the dark woods, hoping a town would appear not too far away. And thankfully, an hour later one did appear with a bar where café con leche, fresh OJ and a croissant could be obtained.
By then the Pilgrim groups were thronging the path. The excitement was palpable, emotions were high, some people were practically running, maybe to make it to Santiago in time for the noon pilgrim's mass? I decided not to stress about when I got there and to just continue my slow but steady pace, which is about all I can do at this point. Don't got many oompahs left, the "hurry" switch is disabled.
Stopped again at noon for more coffee and a slice of savory empanada then pressed on. The rain held off until the outskirts of Santiago, where I wandered into a fascinating stone sculpture garden created by the old man who let me and a couple German women in to look around. Then began the walk into Santiago in the steady rain and wind.
I got to the cathedral about an hour later, in light sprinkles, quickly snapped a few photos, then scooted to the Pilgrim office thinking there might be a line to get my compostela. I was in and out in 10 minutes, met Kirsten and Jens coming out as I was going in, and Lindsey from Portland who had been with me at Orrison. I was going to head back to the cathedral to get the victory shot with the cathedral in the background when the heavens opened in a deluge of biblical proportions, completely clearing Praza do Obradoiro, the square in front of the cathedral. So I made a beeline to my hotel and hunkered down until a break in the rain to head to the post office (they evidently lost the box I forwarded from Estella, or couldn't find it) and retrieve the suitcase shipped by Express Bourricot from St Jean to the Loop Inn (it was there!) Then I heard from Janet and David from Longview and we made plans to meet at the cathedral for the 7:30 pm mass and have dinner together afterwards. The mass was lovely and the botafumeiro swung! We found a cozy restaurant and had our last pilgrim supper together.
Tomorrow I'll figure out how to rearrange my stuff to get ready for the next phase of this journey, 2 weeks in Portugal! And maybe get back to the cathedral for the victory shot. And life post-pilgrimage will begin. I'm sure I'll be unpacking and assimilating the experience for a while.Read more