San Lázaro

3:30am wake-up, 4am on the road! We wanted to make it to the noon mass and we managed to walk our last 20Km and make it into Santiago at 9, God I love this city. We of course did the obligatory photos in front of the cathedral and went to the pilgrims office to get our Compostela and Distance Certificates. We had filled out the paperwork several days ago, so we had the QR code and were able to jump through the line and within 10 minutes we had our documents in hand! In years past the line has been wrapped around outside, waiting for what seemed like hours. Getting in early made a huge difference. Their new system makes a big difference too. After we all got them (Meelike, Holly, and I) we took more photos, then off to find our accommodations for the night and then get in line for Mass.
I’m going to jump right into the Mass experience. I’ve been a few times before here, but this time was really special. A visiting priest from Dublin was working the crowd a little, asking where people were from, he was the sweetest man. I asked him before he walked away if he’d give me a blessing and he said yes, of course. He said a prayer for me and it touched my heart tremendously. After he was done I was speechless. People were talking amongst themselves and I stood deep in thought, focusing on the altar, thanking God for this journey, helping me get here after all the crazy challenges from day one. I prayed for each and everyone of my friends and family members, blood related or not. I felt so grateful to have this blessing from the priest, I’ve never had that on a Camino except in a group pilgrim blessing in Leon on the Camino Frances. His hands were so soft, his eyes so kind, his humor, ohh so Irish! And what a Mass. While I didn’t understand the actual Mass, the feeling was there. If you’ve been to Mass, you can figure it out. It was felt. I took communion. The whole time waiting for Mass to begin, and through the whole beautiful experience, I was choking back the tears, I didn’t let myself cry, because I was happy, not sad, and more importantly I wanted to absorb every last drop of it and not let my emotions get in the way. The big Botafumerio swung, filtering incense throughout the entire cathedral. It was an overwhelming experience that no matter how many times I see it, it never gets old. Such a powerful ending to a beautiful, challenging, painful, wonderful, eye opening, pilgrimage. Every vivid dream I had, every steep climb, every muddy decent, the damn rain, the blistering sun, cold mornings, the Bilbao bed bugs, hangry moments, little annoyances, laughter to the point of crying, coincidences, little coffees, church bells, mooing cows, crowing roosters, wet shoes, naked people on beaches, tuna fish on salads, conversations in broken Spanish and English, the search for Hollys ‘coffee’-oat milk with Cola Cao, sore back, sore feet, laundry every single day, ponytails and clips, wine, so damn many French fries, sangria, packing and unpacking the same two outfits everyday,..gosh I’m going to miss this…but first, I’m missing my family and friends terribly. It’s time to fly very sooooon!!
Tomorrow we venture to Finisterre, and do one last 3km climb to watch the sunset and share a bottle of wine at the 0 Km mark with Holly. Then, back to Santiago on the 3rd and fly out the next morning. Thanks for all your supportive comments, texts, DM’s, calls, emails, WhatsApp messages, every single one of them helped me keep going. I needed you to get me here. I appreciate you. I’ll do one last entry tomorrow, from the end of the world.Read more