Santiago de Compostella

Entering the outskirts of Santiago

The last day walking into Santiago was cold and rainy and seemed longer than some of the days before but still a great experience. Passing the airport and outskirts of the city was a reminder that our camino was not the one of the pilgrims of hundreds of years ago. Still, it was solitary for most of the way and for me, a prayerful time of gratitude for all the things in my life that have taken me this far...especially my health, wealth, Ricardo, family, friends, fortitude, higher power, determination, creativity, flexibility....I guess I could go on and on but these are some of the major highlights that I thought about. There were also several alters to persons who died along the camino which brought the family and friends who have passed on into my mind and I thought of each of them.

I arrived and just before starting to look for where we had reserved a hotel, Ricardo was waiting for me in the street. We had a nice simple hotel with the luxuries that we had missed along the way....sheets, towels and comfortable bed with no sleeping bag and it was nice to spend a few days in one spot.

At Monte do Gozo just outside

 Santiago

The Cathedral in Santiago

Butafumiero

Our friend Charles from Spain who read during the service

 

 

 

 

releasing the Butafumiero

During the Sunday mass

Santiago is a great small city and the energy was very high with hundreds of pilgrims walking in on Saturday and Sunday. There are several rituals that become important for all of us and we did it all...getting the compostella which is the certificate of walking at least the last 100 K. Not sure why all the ones before do not count but that is the rule of the camino. They check our credencials for stamps along the way and we had to get at least 2 for each day of the last 100K. I got a compostella and Richard got a different certificate as he had walked over 300K but not the last 100. I loved getting the stamps and each small bar, restaurant and albergue as well as all the churches had their own stamp. This is a great souvenir for us to remember our "Way".

My Compostella and Richardś certificate

my passport or "credencials"

Next it is on to the Cathedral which is an amazing place, again with the energy of pilgrims, tourists and locals. There is a large statue of St. James and we all walked behind the alter to place our hands on him. It is suggested in some of the literature that St. James may, indeed, have been a brother to Jesus, not only an apostle. ¿Quien sabe? (Who knows?) Anyway as a non religious person with my own spirituality I was quite moved by all this ritual and connection to some form of religion and spirituality of many. For me this was not an end to my journey but a beginning of trying to be an even better person than I have been and to remember my connections to my own internal spirit and to the spirit of my "god" which shall always be with me.

There is a crypt below with the body of St. James which we visited as well. We attended a mass on Sat. night and then again the special pilgrims mass on Sunday at noon. Each time we were able to see the special "Botafumiero" which is the very large incense that swings from one side to the other of the sides of the church. It takes about 5 men to release the rope that it swings from. In todays times it is an event but in the olden days it was used to coverup the smell of the thousands of pilgrims who had been walking for days with no means to shower or clean their clothes. I am grateful that I walked the camino in the current situation as even that was less than the normal of situations of our lives.

Our friends from "down under"

octupus (pulpa) which we did NOT eat

scenic village on the coast

small granaries that hold corn

We had time to catch up with our friends from Australia on Sunday evening and then went on a tour of the lower estuaries (coastline south of Santiago) to several cute fishing villages and other little towns. It was a nice restful way to end our trip before heading to Barcelona and then to Madrid. More about that trip to come.