Camino

What a day. A lot of activities, thoughts and emotions. I set off early, in the dark and heavy rain again, to make the final push into Santiago. After a false start where I followed someone who was actually walking in the opposite direction towards the airport, I finally got going. Met up with Joe and Kaori in the first coffee shop and then Dalia and Marilyn, who were a bit ahead. We all stayed together the whole way in, making the most of every photo opportunity.

It's a weird feeling when you actually arrive. We had the required, obvious photo opps in front of the cathedral, bumping into loads of random people you have met along the way. It's a strange contrast of feeling simultaneously emotional and empty. I headed off alone to find my Albergue which was a handy seven minutes walk from the cathedral. On the way I unexpectedly passed the pilgrims office which was a model of digital efficiency, providing me with my personal Compostela in under 10 mins of arriving. On exiting I found myself immediately outside the chapel where the daily English mass was being held in 10 mins. My plan had been to go to main cathedral mass at 12 o'clock in my tourist desire to bag a view of the famous swinging Botafumeiro. But I was assured by one of the lovely lady volunteers that the priest here put on a great show and that I could dump my stinking backpack at the back of the chapel so it seemed like an offer I couldn't refuse.

She was not wrong. The priest gave a really touching talk before the service, the hymns were lovely, loads of hugs and cheeriness during the sign of peace, an Irish volunteer gave a haunting acapella rendition of "The Prayer" during communion. One thing which was particularly effective is that for the bidding prayers people were invited up to make their own prayer aloud to the congregation and light a candle. The only thing which marred the experience was that I kept getting wafts of stench from my trainer's throughout. Afterwards we were invited to stay for a cup or tea and a bit of a chat about our Camino experiences. About 12 of us did so and it was lovely but after about 45 mins it was getting a bit kumbaya for me so I made my excuses and finally made it back for a shower.

Had a superb lunch in a seafood Mercado, followed by fried dough and chocolate with Dalia and Maz where they made a real fuss of me which was fabulous of them, as they had just finished their own epic journeys. They had gone to 12 o'clock mass and had been lucky enough to see the swingy incense thing but were kind enough to play this down so I did not suffer from too much fomo 🤣🤣. But I decided to take myself off to evening mass anyway as I had not yet seen the cathedral. As luck would have it, it was a double Botafumeiro day. So I still got to see this very impressive, if a bit daft, spectacle after all. More food! with Maz and D, then wander home for nightcap and bed. Lots of thoughts going which will take some time to filter through, but feeling very peaceful, calm and content.Baca lagi