I’M DONE, OR AM I?

It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.

Arriving in Santiago was somewhat anticlimactic in that the second time around is just not the same as the first.  Not to say that I wasn’t pleased with my effort, just not the same feeling of excitement and awe.  The last couple of days were pretty routine, and it seemed that the crowds had thinned out somewhat.  I saw many a pilgrim waiting at bus stops or climbing into a taxi.  I had dinner with some of the new pilgrims, Robert from Santa Barbara and Barry and his wife Dayle from New Zealand.  I was able to share some of my pilgrim knowledge with them when they were just starting out.  Always good to help a fellow pilgrim.

PILGRIMS WAITING FOR A BUS

GETTING WARM IN A BAR

IN SIGHT OF THE CATHEDRAL 

My last day, I wasn’t in a hurry, sleeping till 7:30 and having a leisurely breakfast before heading out.  I arrived in the early afternoon, went to the cathedral square for the official arrival and customary photos, then headed to my hotel.  The hotel I’ve stayed in before was booked but they recommended and place around the corner.  I was glad I was only staying one night, as my single room was the size of a closet.  A closet with a balcony mind you, but still a closet.  After dropping off my pack it was time to head to the pilgrims office to get my Compestella and  the distance certificate.

I WAS TRYING TO GET A PHOTO OF THE CATHEDRAL BUT THIS

GOT IN THE WAY

There is almost always a line one must stand in to be able to get a Compestella.  The Compestella is in Latin and the volunteers who issue them write your name in Latin.  On this day they were short of volunteers, but there were an ample amount of pilgrims.  It took 2 hours and 45 minutes of standing in line to receive mine.  I hurt more from standing that long than I did on any of the days walking.  1308 pilgrims arrived in Santiago with me and that’s not counting the one’s who don’t stand in the line.  So how far did I walk?  732 Kilometers or 455 miles.  If I ever walk the Camino again, I’ll probably forgo The Compestella.

WAITING IN LINE

I am now in Muxia, having taken the bus here,  a small fishing village on the coast.  Muxia is considered, along with Finisterre, to be the end of the earth.  It is here that pilgrims of old thought the earth ended.  Pilgrims would arrive and many would burn their clothing as they had become rags from their long journey.  Mine still have some life left in them, so I’m hanging on to them.

The coast line here is rugged and there is a beautiful chapel built on the rocks.  On Christmas Day in 2013, the chapel was struck by lightning and pretty much destroyed by the resulting fire.  Today it has been rebuilt and the interior is done in the seafaring motif with models of sailing ships hanging from the ceiling.

MUXIA

THE LIGHTNING STRIKE

ZERO KILOMETER MARKER





I’ll be spending my last days in Spain contemplating this journey and possibility my last Camino.  Will this walk change me in any way.  I believe any walk of this type changes you in some fashion, each person in their own way.  Will I do it again?  Only time will tell.

Below is a quote by Washington Irving, who in 1829 walked in Spain, not on the Camino, but the route he followed is now one of the many paths you can follow.

“Such were our minor preparations for the journey, but above all we laid in an ample stock of good humor, and a genuine disposition to be pleased, taking things as we found them, rough or smooth, and mingling with all classes and conditions in a kind of vagabond companionship. It is the true way to travel in Spain. With such disposition and determination, what a country is it for a traveller, where the most miserable inn is as full of adventure as an enchanted castle, and every meal is in itself an achievement!”