Day 45: Day “off” in Santiago

I don’t know how many miles we walked on this “rest” day but I walked over 14,000 steps! There’s a lot to see and do here.

We started with a nice breakfast. I awoke with a very sore foot (beyond the blister) but after a soak in epsom salts I’m pretty sure it was just muscle fatigue from those 21 miles in one day! We switched hotels (to a quieter and cheaper one) and then attacked our itinerary for the day.

First we went to the pilgrim office. Part of the pilgrimage ritual can be collecting stamps in a little booklet (“credencial” or “pasaporte”) to show where you’ve been. That itself is a souvenir, but the stamps can also prove to the pilgrim office that you’ve walked as far as you say you have. They will give you a Latin certificate (“compostela”) with your name (also in Latin) affirming your achievement. This has religious import if you’re Catholic but is a nice memento for the rest of us. They’ll also give you a distance certificate. We went to get those. I was again surprised at how emotional I got. I don’t need a certificate to feel like accomplished something, after all! The woman at the office was very kind about me boohooing.

We did a little shopping and eating and napping in the afternoon, then went to a pilgrim mass at the cathedral. I went last time I was here but this was a longer version of the mass, I think. I was very excited that they included the swinging of the huge botafumeiro (incense holder) at the end of the mass. I didn’t see this last time, and my understanding is that they don’t often do it due to the expense. My guess is that they do it during the St. James festival. Lucky us! It’s pretty amazing to see (and smell) in person.

We saw a ritual of a very different kind at our late dinner afterwards. One of the restaurant employees did this whole chanting ritual while stirring a burning concoction. We learned afterwards that it’s a pagan ritual called queimada meant to repel evil spirits. Obviously we accepted a cup of the resulting drink. Hopefully it works on blisters!

It was a great day off but we’re excited to hit the trail again and head towards the coast in the morning.Leia mais