Santiago!

I’m here! After a rainy start it mostly stopped raining, at least until after we had arrived and soaked up the moment. The walk in was nice, and I got to reconnect with Belinda and her daughter, who I had not seen in some time. We were all so pleased! They had a much more apocalyptic experience of the power outage than we did. Lucky us!

Walking into Santiago brings this power surge of excitement. All these people flooding in after having walked anywhere from five days to five or more weeks. It’s crackling with energy!

For me, the feeling of arrival comes as I walk through the tunnel/portal where there is always someone playing bagpipes. I so love bagpipes!

After that there is celebratory milling in the square in front of the Cathedral, then the process of getting your Compostela, then finding a cafe where you can sit, eat, drink, and watch others stream through, greeting fellow walkers who you recognize. So fun! Time to decompress.

I took some time after that to go to the cathedral. I explored it pretty well last time. I viewed the relics, hugged the statue, attended Mass. This time all I really wanted to do was revisit the beautiful side chapel where my last Camino was capped off in the deepest way. I found it, slipped inside and sat down, and I’m not kidding, it felt as if I walked all the way across Spain just to sit exactly there. So good. Tears? Yes.

Then we capped off the night addressing an emergency! Morne’ realized he had left the tube holding his (and my) Compostela at a coffee shop we had all stopped at. Alejandro called them. Yes, it’s there! And they’re closing in 15 minutes! Picture three pilgrims sacked out on their beds suddenly levering off those beds, throwing damp sneakers back on and flying up the hill (s) to retrieve those documents. We were impressive! And successful. Phew.

Tomorrow morning I start walking to Finisterre.Les mer