Day 24 – Santiago de Compostela!!

Yesterday morning in the little village of A Rua started slowly for me.  We were about 22 kilometers outside Santiago so it would be our last day of walking.  For the last few days, I woke up with my feet still aching and painful when I put weight on it. The skin on the bottom of my left little toe had the skin worn off it.  Heike had a good ointment to put  on  open sores and Nancy expertly fashioned a moleskin bandage to wrap my toe.  It made it more bearable to walk.  Nancy, Andrea and Heike had already gone downstairs to eat breakfast.  I got all my gear, looked at the room for the last time in an attempt to take in  our last morning on the Camino. The Hotel “O Pino” is a fine, older hotel with exceptional, friendly service, comfortable rooms and delicious food.  Ramon and Maria Carmen are gracious and warm hosts.  Like seemingly all the other Alberques, Hostels, and Hotels, the staff typically consists of two people who do EVERYTHING.  They claim that they sleep.  I’m not so sure.  Anyway, we had our best breakfast on the Camino, buffet style, so we loaded up for our final walk.  We took some pictures, looked at each almost incredulously saying to each other, “can you believe this is our last day of walking?”  Off we went. There was a very light drizzle with overcast skies but the air was not cold.  As we were leaving this village a woman was following a very playful dog that ran up to us.  I told her she has a cute, playful dog.  She responded that her cute, playful dog likes to run away and she’s been trying to retrieve him for the past 30 minutes. Quickly we were back in the woods following the ubiquitous yellow arrows.  We made comments to each other such as which of our Camino friends we would see in Santiago.   Heike and I continued to get into a few deep discussions about family.  Heike would then walk with Andrea for awhile and I would be talking to Nancy about what we would be doing next after the Camino.  We walked past a family from Utah consisting of a Mom and Dad and their daughter and son in law.  I spoke to a man walking as a trio of men from Lugo, Galicia who started in St. Jean Pied du Port.  One of his highlights was witnessing a wedding when he reached La Cruz de Ferro, the highest point on the Camino.  I also spoke for awhile with a woman, Madeleine, from Cologne, Germany who also started in France. She was walking the Camino to discern how she wanted to continue with her self employment. We continued with the rhythm of the Camino.  At times walking with complete strangers exchanging a few words or no words, “buen camino” as we passed them, talking to people we’ve already met on the Camino from previous days or weeks, walking alone, walking next to a loved one, walking with a Camino friend, but walking, constantly walking with an occasional stop to take a picture. We made a rest stop.  The girls hit the toilets, they had a cafe con leche, I had a orange flavored KAS drink (I prefer Fanta but it’s primarily KAS in Galicia), we paid our bill, had our Credencial stamped and returned to what we’ve been doing really well lately, walking. We could hear jet planes taking off in the distance.  We knew we were getting close.  Those jets were taking off from the Santiago airport.  Before too long, we were walking parallel with the runway.  I took a picture of a jet landing.  1015 Sunday morning.  We soon realized that although we were still walking in a wooded area we were actually walking around the airport.  When we approached the fence at the end of a runway I saw the fence covered with makeshift wooden crosses similar to what we saw last week or was it two weeks ago?  I don’t immediately recall.  The days are really starting to blur. We made another pitstop for cold drinks, cafe con leche and a bocadillo for Andrea, she was really hungry.  Walking everyday has really given her an appetite!  We moved on going up another hilly area.  I walked next to a young woman from Barcelona who is walking the Camino like many Europeans do, in segments.  She was walking with a girl friend.  We made way for some pilgrims doing their Camino on bikes.  My walking pace has picked up over the last few weeks.  My personal rhythm is a steady pace that is faster than most but certainly slower than some. Up ahead at an intersection we heard a Galician band playing what sounded like Celtic music with Galician style bagpipes.  Very interesting and a reminder of the strong Celtic influence in Galicia.  I quickened my pace so that I could get a picture of the band playing from the bed of a pick up truck.  We turned left still following the yellow arrows and Andrea shouts out, “there’s Janice!  There’s Adel!” My uncle and aunt, Adel and Janice Sanchez had been planning on experience their own Camino.  They’re sharing this experience with very dear friends of theirs, Charlie and Paula Glendening.  Although we made Camino plans independent of each other, we knew that there would be a possibility that we would meet each other in Santiago if we arrived at about the same time.  They left from Sarria about 10 days ago.  We inadvertently caught up with them about 7 or 8 kilometers outside Santiago!  The Camino truly creates amazing experiences. We stopped for a quick visit then resumed walking.  I reached the point a few days ago that as long as I walked, my feet were just sore and tired but relatively pain free.  When I stopped for a few minutes or longer, my feet became painful and it would take me about a half to one kilometer of walking to get back to a normal gait.  It literally hurt to stop walking.  Before we knew it we approached the Monte de Gozo overlooking the city of Santiago!  We walked up to the monument at the top of Monte de Gozo and then Heike and I saw the Santiago skyline below us.  We smiled and hugged.  Nancy and I smiled and  hugged.  We were all smiling and hugging.  Although we weren’t there yet, Santiago was literally  within sight! After a few pictures at Monte de Gozo we resumed our walk with more resolve than ever.  We waved goodbye to Adel, Janice, Charlie and Paula as we moved on to Santiago.  There was a sign indicating the St. James Cathedral was 4.6 kilometers away.  At this point, the four of us could have done that on our hands, if necessary.  Figuratively speaking of course!  We walked steeply down hill toward the city.  As we entered the city I was immediately reminded of the day we left Burgos 24 days ago.  The weather was very similar with the overcast skies.  Thankfully, it was much warmer in Santiago then when we left Burgos.  It had taken us 24 days to walk from Burgos to Santiago.  We walked through the city as we were reminded of city life, with the traffic, cars whipping by us, families out on a Sunday afternoon.  We walked passed a church in which Mass had just ended.  We spoke to an old  lady sitting on a park bench who wished us a buen camino and that we continue to walk with God.  We were getting closer, I was getting anxious. The girls made one more pit stop and then we started walking through what was clearly the older, historical part of the city.  There were a lot of people.  Locals, tourists, pilgrims.  Then I heard Andrea shout, “Dad, look it’s Thomas!”  Thomas is the young German pilgrim who was walking the Camino with his father.  The  had started in St. Jean Pied du Port.  Nancy, Andrea and I met Thomas in Burgos the day we arrived in Burgos.  Thomas had met a young woman, Claudia from Austria who was walking the Camino with her mother.  They were all leaving Burgos the next morning.  A day before we left Burgos.  Thomas was the first pilgrim we met in which we had an extended conversation with.  Is it a coincidence that the first familiar pilgrim we see in Santiago would be the first pilgrim we had an extended conversation with in Burgos?  The Spirit of the Camino is REAL!!  We started walking up hill again through narrow streets.  We kept walking then finally entered a small plaza but we could see that we approached through the back part of the Cathedral.  We walked through a portico, down some steps, turned left and there we were, in the expansive Praza Obradoiro and the Cathedral of Santiago!  We arrived!  We made it!  We were amazed at how big this Cathedral is.  We were all a little surprised but also in awe of the scene.  Pilgrims hugging one another, pilgrims sitting on the plaza soaking in the experience of what they had just accomplished.  Nancy, Andrea, Heike and I just looked all around us also in awe of what had just happened to us.  Not a lot of words spoken to each other.  Just smiles, hugs, kisses and pictures taken in front of the Cathedral.  Then the familiar faces started appearing.  We went into the Cathedral briefly.  We approached the altar, sat in a pew and the four of us each went into our personal thoughts and prayers.  I prayed and gave thanks for a safe journey and for all that I had experienced. Andrea looked at Nancy and I with emotion in her eyes saying, “we made it! can you believe we made it!” We left the Cathedral then walked toward to the Oficina del Peregrino (Pilgrim’s Office) and got in line to receive our Compostela.  While in line we saw Jana, the German woman we met several weeks ago on the Camino.  I saw Natasha, the young, German woman who is in the German Army who was part of the Germans who gave Heike and I such a warm welcome (and noodle soup and wine) the day Heike and I walked 40 kilometers.  We gradually moved along.  It took us about 40 minutes before we finally were face to face with the person who was instructing us on filling the form in front of us that was documenting our name, our nationality, where did we start on our Camino, was our Camino for Religious, Religious and Other, or Non – Religious.  The young spanish woman evaluating my Credencial looking at the stamps asked me where I started my Camino.  I told her walking 500 kilometers across Spain was a dream of mine that I was so grateful to be able to do.  She looked at me smiling and saying you had a good Camino.  “Yes” I responded, “I had a very good Camino” and then the emotions started welling up as my eyes got wet.  It was indeed a good Camino!

Ramon and Maria Carmen at the O Pino Hotel. Warm and exceptional service!

Our last morning of walking!

We were still treated with more beautiful, lush Galician woods before reaching Santiago.

We’re getting close! A plane landing at the Santiago airport.

Another display of makeshift crosses we’ve seen on fences along the Camino.

Meeting my uncle and aunt on the Camino. Should we really be surprised by now?

Top of the monument on the Monte de Gozo, Mount Joy, overlooking Santiago.

The four of us by the monument on Monte de Gozo.

Santiago is within sight!

Should we really have been as surprised as we were to see Thomas again?

We made it to Santiago!

Heike, the Camino Queen, Champion’s League!

We accomplished this pilgrimage as a team and as a family. Buen Camino!